Posted: 3/5/2015 8:35:46 AM EDT
So I recently picked up a butchers block from William Sonoma. It is a ProTeak end-grain block, that looks very similar to the one pictured, but a little darker.
At the same time, I purchased some of their store-brand mineral oil to treat it with. It is this stuff. 
After reading online about how to season it, I applied the room-temperture oil to the board using a clean wash-cloth. I would dump some on the board, then wipe it around until it was evenly coated. This would always leave a nice thick layer of oil on the board. I would do this in the evening, and by morning, it was all gone. I would do the top, sides, and bottom of the board. After a few treatments, I noticed something odd. If I ran my hand over the board, my hand would turn brown, and the surface would feel almost.... gritty. It almost looked like very very fine sawdust or sand on the board. You couldn't see it, but you could feel it. I thought it was just sawdust from manufacuring, and that the oil soaking into the wood was "forcing" the sawdust out of the wood and thus leaving it on the top. Whenever I would feel this "grit" on the board, I would wipe it off with a damp paper-towel, and it would go away. I treated the board this way probably about 7 or 8 times this way. So last night, I gave it a good wash, as I havent really cleaned it since I started treatment. yes, I did wash it quick before I started the oil treatment. I washed it with warm, lightly soapy water, using a sponge. I used the scrubby-side of the sponge to scrub the block a little, then I would rinse the block with the sponge side. After that, I wiped the board down with a clean paper-towel. The paper towel again had the brown residue on it, just like I saw on my hand before. I cleaned it twice and after the second time, the paper towel had barely any brown residue on it. But now I have a new issue. After I scrubbed it with the sponge scrubber, the board feels... prickly in some spots. Almost like when you refinish wood, and you "raise the grain". Some spots are smooth and some feel rough. As this point, I'm not sure what to do. When re-finishing a stock, you would just lightly sand those with a fine grit paper. However, since the board has already been pretty well treated with the oil, I am not sure if that is a good idea or not. Any help would be greatly appreciated. |
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Quoted:
He may want it food safe. Quoted:
Quoted:
It seems like it'd be better to seal one of those boards with thinned shellac, or maybe a mix of thinned shellac and mineral oil. He may want it food safe. Shellac is food safe. They use it on some fruit and such to make them prettier in the grocery store. Or at least they used to. Think its in a few other foods, too. |
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Quoted: Shellac is food safe. They use it on some fruit and such to make them prettier in the grocery store. Or at least they used to. Think its in a few other foods, too. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: It seems like it'd be better to seal one of those boards with thinned shellac, or maybe a mix of thinned shellac and mineral oil. He may want it food safe. Shellac is food safe. They use it on some fruit and such to make them prettier in the grocery store. Or at least they used to. Think its in a few other foods, too. |
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Thanks allot for the advice guys. I am going to try lightly sanding it and doing a few more coats of mineral oil.
My brother bought an identical block at the same time, same brand and everything. He used Boos Cream instead of oil though. He said it was a little messy, but worked great. Maybe I just got a Friday-afternoon board lol. 
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