Chocolate cutting board, and cheeseboard complete with Holy face...

Roger Tulk

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St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Back before Christmas, I was trying to make about ten cutting boards before December 25th, but trying to work in the ridiculously small space in the shed made that impossible, so I determined to finish them after Christmas, ASAP. However, on Epiphany, other events interfered (quadruple bypass) and I never got back to them until recently. I had bought two large pieces of Peruvian Walnut to make cutting boards for my son, a professional cook and manager, and my niece's husband, a good amateur cook. So, this is the board I made for my son. It is a single piece, 24" x 16", sanded through the grades down to 220, and finished with mineral oil.

fcutting board matt.jpg

Now, a week or so ago, I decided to try some resawing. Never mind that I had a 3/8" 3tpi blade on my bandsaw, I figured I should be able to do it, therefore I did. I cut a 5" branch, cherry or walnut, I'm not sure, into ½" slices. I took the two middle pieces, and joined them together, to make a 12" x 6" cheeseboard. Interestingly, once it was joined, the face of a bearded man appeared. Now, I'm not much into silly miracles, and I don't think Jesus would come and visit my cheeseboard, but as I'm a member and Subdeacon of St. Barnabas Church, it could be St. B. Do you think I should put it in a shadow box at the church, and charge the faithful $5 to come and worship him? Or just use it for cutting cheddar?

face01.jpg

Now, seriously, folks. I do have a woodworking/finishing question. The board is finished in mineral oil at present, but there are some voids in the face of the thing where you see the dark coloured streaks runing the length of the board. Would it make sense to put multiple coats of a varathane type clear finish on it, until the voids are filled, and could I then use it as an actual cheeseboard?
 
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Nice job on both boards, Roger. I especially like the big one. :thumb:

On the cheese board, the mineral oil is going to wreak havoc on any film finishes like polyurethane. The poly won't stick to the mineral oil. Others may have better suggestions, but I think I'd use naphtha or another strong solvent to remove as much of the mineral oil as possible, then spray it with a few coats of dewaxed shellac before applying the poly. (Dewaxed shellac is a miracle finish that adheres to almost any other finish.) The Zinsser Bullseye spray shellac at Home Depot or Lowe's is dewaxed.


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Thanks, guys! I decided to just leave it oiled, and use it at home. My priest agreed there was a face in the board, but thought that making it St. Barnabas would be a pretty hard sell. Besides, we already have a Madonna and Child in the right panel of the organ, that mostly goes unnoticed.

In other news, my son really liked his cutting board. :)
 
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