Burnishing wood

I was thinking of burninsing some chopping boards to see how they came up.

One is an old face grain camphour laurel an inch and a bit thick (I was thinking of using this as a meat board because it can fit in the sink for easy washing).

The other is an unspecified (light coloured) Tasmanian hardwood cheeseboard that we were given for christmas. It's quite thin.

Both are pretty roughly finished.

Is it worth doing this? What sort of sanding progression should I use? Any special type of sandpaper?

Thanks.

The big issue with this is if they have been oiled they will clog the sandpaper super quickly.

I made myself am endgrain board and got a little impatient and put it to use before going high enough (stopped at 240). So now it is a bit rough and way too much effort to take higher.

So I would just take it as high as you want. But I don't imagine much benefit going beyond 800.

And by burnishing, I take it you just mean sanding to a nice finish?

Thanks Malex.

Yeah, I guess that's what I mean by burnishing. I was figuring that 600-800 would be the ballpark.

Thx for the info about the oiling. I'll be interested to see if this occurs with the face grain (which doesn't seem to soak up as much oil). I might try with the "no-clog" sandpaper.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Nemo said:

Thanks Malex.

Yeah, I guess that's what I mean by burnishing. I was figuring that 600-800 would be the ballpark.

Thx for the info about the oiling. I'll be interested to see if this occurs with the face grain (which doesn't seem to soak up as much oil). I might try with the "no-clog" sandpaper.

I'll let you know how it goes.

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Please do. I have given up on refinishing mine.

Oh yeah, you are absolutely right. Just spent an hour (in 36 celsius heat) trying the get through the oily wood. Clogs up the paper real fast, even the "no clog" paper. You can tap some of the stuff out of the paper, but even so, its a major pain.

Used a surform for a bit which helped (I think). I'm thinking a plane might be better. Or a thicknesser. Or a new board.

Another hour and I'm almost through the oily wood! Absolutely not worth the time but very instructive nonetheless.

Should've taken some pics I guess.

Reminds me of Dave's advice: "use abrasives as if they were free". Has the sandpaper bill exceeded the board value yet? Congrats on not giving up though!

merlijny2k said:

Reminds me of Dave's advice: "use abrasives as if they were free". Has the sandpaper bill exceeded the board value yet? Congrats on not giving up though!

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Not quite, but the time bill definitely has.

The result is OK but reminds me that face grain boards wear knife scores fairly obviously, so I suspect it's a bit of wasted time progressing to 800 grit. Good exercise though ;-)