Can this be rescued?

[Arron]

Hi guys,
So I made a spalted beech end grain chopping board,I know spalted wood may not be the best use for a chopping board but I’m still learning #-o

My issue is...after quite a few coats of mineral oil once the board was wet it raised the grain.
Took it back in the shop and sanded again but this time added nearly a whole litre of mineral oil (whilst it kept soaking it up) followed by a beeswax/mineral oil mix.
Just tried it again and the grain is still raising once wet (hammer)

Is it a simple case of it needs more oil or is this because the wood simply isn’t suitable?

I’ve put quite a few hours into this and I’m rather frustrated with myself!

If it helps, the board is 18”x13”x2”

Thanks in advance guys

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's spalted - part rotten - you'd just as well oil sponge.

 

[Arron]

It's spalted - part rotten - you'd just as well oil sponge.

Wonderful....to the bin it is (hammer)

I should really stick to playing the Xbox :roll:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's a pity, really. Even if you think of a decorative use for it you'd struggle now to get any finish to go over mineral oil.

 

[ED65]

Before you chuck it in the bin, how much sanding did you do?

The thing about raised grain is you're supposed to sand just that off and no more, this can be maybe a few gentle passes with 240 paper or finer if sanding by hand. If you sand too much you go below the already raised grain, exposing fresh wood which reacts just the same as the wood above it did.

 

[ColeyS1]

Try some hardwax oil, that might stop it soaking in as much

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Jacob]

Just use it and wash it between uses. It'll decide how it wants to look. It's a chopping board - if you want a permanent pretty finish stick on woodgrain Fablon but don't use it for chopping.

 

[Arron]

Before you chuck it in the bin, how much sanding did you do?

The thing about raised grain is you're supposed to sand just that off and no more, this can be maybe a few gentle passes with 240 paper or finer if sanding by hand. If you sand too much you go below the already raised grain, exposing fresh wood which reacts just the same as the wood above it did.

Lots of sanding, I also only raised the grain in a small area.
So is it worth raising the grain all over then a Light sand?

Nothing to lose I guess :lol:

 

[PAC1]

The concern I have is that the fungus that causes the Spalting is allegedly bad for humans. In which case you would not want spalting anywhere near food

 

[Beau]

In reality how much of your chopping board are you going to eat even if it is mildly toxic? We were advised that plastic chopping boards were the answer a few year ago and I cant imagine eating plastic is good for us.

Back to the question. Would a drying oil help seal the surface? Not used mineral oil so dont know how it reacts with other oils but Alan Peters recommended Teak oil over Linseed oil to get a set finish surface. Just wondering if say Liberon Finishing oil over the top might do something similar.

 

[Harbo]

Chopping boards do not need any finish just wash , scrub and leave to dry.
Best made from sycamore or Beech unspolted.

Rod

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

It's spalted - part rotten - you'd just as well oil sponge.

Wonderful....to the bin it is (hammer)

I should really stick to playing the Xbox :roll:

Do not throw it in the bin, it looks amazing. Have you considered just not worrying about the raised grain?

 

[sunnybob]

It looks very pretty, but theres no way I would use rotten timber for a chopping board, regardless of finish. over time any finish applied will get damaged, leaving the rot to the surface.

Use it as a background for a sign.

 

[ED65]

Lots of sanding...

Sorry in case it wasn't clear I meant the second time.

So is it worth raising the grain all over then a Light sand?

If you're pre-raising the grain yes you do it all over, then a light sand to knock off the raised grain.

For the next end-grain board you make if you want to finish it I would suggest you head straight to wax and forget using oil entirely. Apply the wax molten, spread it over with a palette knife or a new putty knife like you were icing a cake and once hardened scrape off any excess, quick buff and you're good to go.

 

[ED65]

We were advised that plastic chopping boards were the answer a few year ago...

And we've since discovered that wooden boards are actually more sanitary than plastic because wood naturally kills off bacteria while the plastic just harbours it.

Back to the question. Would a drying oil help seal the surface?

No. Drying oils are rather famously not very waterproof, unless built up over a long time to a really solid surface. Process takes up to six months. This is for a typical tabletop which is long-grain surfaces, I'm not even sure if this is possible on end grain.

Anyway, because the board is now saturated with a non-drying oil any drying finish is precluded.

 

[andersonec]

Mineral oil is the only oil you should be using and when the board is fully saturated it will not take any more. The problem is that spalted timber is so open grained that it will always feel rough, try a scraper, but remember the denser the timber the better a board it will make, the traditional butchers blocks were made from Beech. I make lots of these and once oiled and left overnight a quick pass with a scraper does the trick but your timber may be just a little to open grained.

 

[andersonec]

Little bit more,,,,,Just for some added strength I would make your next board brick pattern so that the joints are not lined up and this thing about the fungus being 'not good for human consumption, I think you would need to be eating the wood to get any amount into your food chain, bit like when people say Yew shouldn't come into contact with food because it's poisonous, again you would have to eat the wood itself for it to have any effect, if any.

Andy

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I don't think it's the fungus or the bacteria that are the problem in this instance - it's that the wood is soft and porous and will absorb any amount of crud. I certainly wouldn't eat food prepared on it.

 

[Jacob]

Back to the question. Would a drying oil help seal the surface?

Even if it did, using it as a chopping board would rapidly unseal it. With that odd end-grain construction one heavy chop would likely split it in two!
I'd just keep it as a decorative platter if you want it at all, or just bin it and make another - but long grain like a proper chopping board, and no finish required of any sort.

 

[heimlaga]

You made a misstake along the way and learned from it. Like we all do all the time.
Now just throw away the prototype you made from rotten wood and make a new one from sound wood.
Then treat it with a non-toxic penetratuion oil like raw linseed oil...... and you will have a sucess!

The wood fired centrail heating boiler is a woodworker's best friend. It eats all your misstakes and convert them to cozy heat for you to enjoy while building up new energy for your next attempt.