However these food safe wood finishes sometimes called cutting board finishes tend to be the least protective and the great majority are in a kind of limbo with many experts saying most are.
Wood cutting board finishes.
The first step is to choose your preferred finish.
A few vegetable based oils were listed previously that can be used as a wood finish.
Either way this is the time of year you can expect almost one forum post a day asking a question about cutting board finishes or food safe finishes.
You can check some at amazon.
Oil finishes soak into the porous wood surface.
Kitchen utensils bowls spoons platters etc raw meat prep surfaces cutting boards butcher blocks etc eat on surfaces bar tops tables counters etc childrens toys.
Here are the 4 main project types you should consider using a food safe wood finish on.
After scores of conversations with chemists regulatory agencies finish manufacturers finishing experts and woodworkers i found that there are a few finishes that everyone agrees are food safe.
If you ve purchased a wooden cutting board you ll need to apply a finish to prevent the board from becoming damaged with use.
Seems like cutting boards are on everyone s minds these days.
Nor will the finish continue to look nice after numerous knife cuts.
If you plan to use your butcher block as a cutting board you could conceivably ingest small amounts of the finish and the wood when you use it.
Note that there are various types of mineral oils and some are toxic so choose the one that is food safe.
Cutting board finishes come in 2 categories.
A seemingly never ending question concerns how to finish cutting boards.
Mineral oil also known as liquid paraffin and butcher s block finish is easy to apply has lower water resistance and requires reapplication more frequently.
Water won t hurt it and no finish will keep water out anyway after a few knife cuts.
You don t need any finish on a cutting board.
They will tend to shed chips on cutting board surfaces so alternative finishes may be desired in those applications.
Probably because we are all making holiday gifts.
Beeswax another popular alternative when it comes to finishing wooden cutting boards.
That makes it an adequate finish for items that will not be roughed up like serving trays for example.
Mineral oil it is a popular choice when it comes to finishing a wood cutting board because it is colorless odorless flavorless and its prevention of water absorption.
So you may want your finishing material to contain only ingredients that you personally consider to be edible.