treating my cutting board. welcome to summer.

[boomchakabowwow]

I dont have a fancy cutting board. garden variety Boos Block. I missed out on the fathers day sale for a teak board. I'm not mad about it. it did motivate me to take care of my board.

once/twice a year, I will scrub it down really well, and coat them with a homemade bees wax (my friend gives me some), and mineral oil mix. I let it soak in, on a warm day, in the sun. the rest of the year is just a scrub down and a quick wipe with mineral oil. so much easier waxing my board on a warm summer day. my hands feel so soft and supple as well! haha.

happy summer folks, its here in California for sure. summer.

(man, my old cutting board is taking a beating! it looks kinda rough)

 

[WildBoar]

I usually need to give my wife's cutting board the full spa treatment, which includes a salt and lemon juice or vinegar scrub prior to mineral oil application.

 

[PeopleoftheSun]

Any advice on resurfacing/ sanding down a board (mine happens to be a cheapo Hinoki at the moment) without power tools? Should I just grab a block and go to town?

 

[gentiscid]

You havent missed much on the teak boards and theyre not as good for knife edge. Teak has alot of silica absorption, will dull your knives fast. And dont leave your board under the sun while soaking on mineral oil & beeswax blend. Heat and soaking will make the wood move. Risk to warp. Bring it indoors and let the blend do its own work. Wood will absorb it not matter what and will thank u. Sun, heat, moisture and cold are wood’s enemy. Wood is a live thing. It moves.

Picture is for demo, neglect, heat and laying flat and no oil caused it to crack.

 

[Nemo]

Any advice on resurfacing/ sanding down a board (mine happens to be a cheapo Hinoki at the moment) without power tools? Should I just grab a block and go to town?

My advice is to get a power tool (random orbital sander) if you know how to use one safely (eye, respiratory and hearing protection are important). Or get someone else to do it. If you know a woodworker, a thicknesser may work.

The oily wood clogs up the sanding pads pretty badly. When I refinish my end grain board, I go through 3 or 4 40 grit pads just to get past the oily wood. End grain is probably worse than edge grain in this regard.

By this time, the score marks are pretty much gone and it's just a matter of a progression up to 400 or 600 to burnish the surface.

 

[PeopleoftheSun]

I haven’t actually oiled my hinoki board yet, as I was told they do better without, especially at first. It’s gotten gnarly enough now that my thought was to give it a refresh and try giving it some oil this go round.

 

[BoSharpens]

OK, anyone routinely using any of the Hasegawa, Asahi or Tenryo softer polymer boards and how has it gone with them.

Korin.com has a large range of them.

They seem to be either soft Polyethylene (PE) or Polyvinyl acetate (PVA).

None of the cutlery shops around me sell anything but their stock Polypropylene boards.

 

[JASinIL2006]

OK, anyone routinely using any of the Hasegawa, Asahi or Tenryo softer polymer boards and how has it gone with them.

Korin.com has a large range of them.

They seem to be either soft Polyethylene (PE) or Polyvinyl acetate (PVA).

None of the cutlery shops around me sell anything but their stock Polypropylene boards.

I have a Hasegawa FSB wood core board (60x30 cm version) and it's pretty nice. It's noticeable softer than standard PE cutting boards. It does show some cut marks, but nothing too bad or too deep. The textured surface is nice to help product not slide around, too. I don't have experience with a soft rubber board to allow comparison, but the FSB seems to be easier on knife edges than regular PE and even my end grain wood boards.

My only gripe (and a fairly minor one, at that) is that the boards tend to not be very deep. I'd like 35 or 40 cm of depth, but to get that, you have to get a much wider board.

 

[Noodle]

I dont have a fancy cutting board. garden variety Boos Block. I missed out on the fathers day sale for a teak board. I'm not mad about it. it did motivate me to take care of my board.

once/twice a year, I will scrub it down really well, and coat them with a homemade bees wax (my friend gives me some), and mineral oil mix. I let it soak in, on a warm day, in the sun. the rest of the year is just a scrub down and a quick wipe with mineral oil. so much easier waxing my board on a warm summer day. my hands feel so soft and supple as well! haha.

happy summer folks, its here in California for sure. summer.

(man, my old cutting board is taking a beating! it looks kinda rough)

Thank you for the reminder. I have a “cheap“ Boos too. One other thing I do that makes it more pleasant—at least for a week or so afterward—is to also apply a paste of chopped apples, which removes the smell of garlic, etc. (I don’t use a separate board for garlic) as part of my routine.

 

[mengwong]

Just arrived today, 360x240x15 Hinoki chopping boards from Muji via Amazon JP and Amazon SG. They were on sale (approx USD 17) so I bought 4.

https://amzn.asia/d/cXdnb3o
One short edge has this insert thingy, not sure what to make of it. Anyway: oil or no oil? I have some wax/oil intended for sayas & handles but I don’t know … do I want my food to smell like a cypress tree? Or a beehive?

 

[DrD23]

You havent missed much on the teak boards and theyre not as good for knife edge. Teak has alot of silica absorption, will dull your knives fast. And dont leave your board under the sun while soaking on mineral oil & beeswax blend. Heat and soaking will make the wood move. Risk to warp. Bring it indoors and let the blend do its own work. Wood will absorb it not matter what and will thank u. Sun, heat, moisture and cold are wood’s enemy. Wood is a live thing. It moves.

Picture is for demo, neglect, heat and laying flat and no oil caused it to crack.

Have an end grain maple and picked up an end grain teak during prime day, is even the end grain teak going to be rough on my edges?

 

[LostHighway]

Just arrived today, 360x240x15 Hinoki chopping boards from Muji via Amazon JP and Amazon SG. They were on sale (approx USD 17) so I bought 4.

https://amzn.asia/d/cXdnb3o
One short edge has this insert thingy, not sure what to make of it. Anyway: oil or no oil? I have some wax/oil intended for sayas & handles but I don’t know … do I want my food to smell like a cypress tree? Or a beehive?View attachment 194319

The stringrer on the short edge is a stabilizer to reduce the chance of warping. I was taught not to oil Hinoki boards, however, IME Hinoki does stain and absorb odors fairly readily. The traditional (partial) panacea for this is to dampen the surface immediately before use. Don't soak it! Just a little water is sufficient.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

that's like a tiny ass cheese board? what are it's uses?

 

[mengwong]

that's like a tiny ass cheese board? what are it's uses?

If you set four of them together you get one chopping board.

 

[Ericfg]

Picture is for demo, neglect, heat and laying flat and no oil caused it to crack.

Glad I'm not alone anymore.

 

[TB_London]

Just went over my boardsmith maple with scraper plane before a quick sand and refinish with oil and then wax. Over 10 years in and still a fantastic board

Now looks good as new, but haven’t got a pic to hand