Replies

1. 
   UncleDunc | Nov 23, 2004 05:08am | #1

   The top is maple?

1. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Nov 23, 2004 05:39am | #2

   I will check to make sure, but I believe it is.  Thanks for the reply.  Will try to be more specific.

2. 
   lwj2 | Nov 23, 2004 07:41am | #3

   Rob, you can get raw flax seed oil at a natural foods store. It's food grade linseed oil.

   Don't know how well it would hold up, though.

   Regards,

   Leon Jester, Roanoke VA

3. 
   ddougb | Nov 23, 2004 08:10am | #4

   According the several articles I've read in several WW magazines, all finishes are food safe once they have cured. I would use a finish that would be easy to repair and still keep liquids from staining or otherwise ruining the wood.

   Good luck!

4. 
   bigfootnampa | Nov 23, 2004 09:07am | #5

   Get walnut oil at the grocery or a health foodstore.   It takes about 4 to 6 weeks for the first coat to dry (but you can use it during that time).  Then it takes about two weeks for the second coat to dry.  I usually call it good then and just recoat when it starts to look thirsty.  The walnut oil can also be used for salad dressings and makes excellent cookie baking oil.  It's edibility is obvious evidence of its safety.  It makes a nice finish too (better than linseed oil).

1. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Dec 09, 2004 04:55am | #6

   Thanks for the info.  It's been decided that we want to finish the top in a manner that protects it from staining, is somewhat impervious to water and is easily repairable.  Not a small order.  I'm leaning toward a lacquer finish, but spraying is not an option though..............

   Cutting boards will be used for food preparation, thank God!   So, that opens up the options to match the tops of the rest of the furniture as well.

    

1. 
   CharlieP | Dec 09, 2004 05:17am | #7

   I think you are making  a mistake.  We love having an island with a solid maple countertop that we can use for food preparation, including cutting with sharp kitchen knives, without bothering with cutting boards. 

   Every few months we scrub it off with a metal sponge (we call them a Kurly Kate, but I think that is a brand), and slop on vegetable oil.  Whatever is not soaked in by morning (if any) is wiped off with a sponge or paper towel.  Day to day we just wipe it off with a sponge (soapy if required), and put on some additional oil if it looks thirsty - every couple weeks.  Very attractive and extremely convenient. 

   We simply use vegetable oil - the same kind that we use for cooking, and leave in the cupboard for months at a time.  Some argue that it could go rancid, but our counter is washed several times per day, and has never been a problem.  If you are worried, use mineral oil or walnut oil as others have suggested (we use those oils on less-used items like cheese boards and wood salad bowls). 

   Counter to intuition, the wooden cutting boards harbor fewer germs than the synthetic boards.  Lots of theories why, but lab tests prove it true. 

   The only stain we have had on our wooden counter in 9 years is when we were cleaning a brass plate, left it to soak, and the brass cleaner got into the wood.  The stain was gone in a week or so of ordinary use.  ________________________Charlie Plesums  Austin, Texashttp://www.plesums.com/wood

1. 
   MAVERIK | Dec 14, 2004 04:29am | #11

   Nice job,Charlie.Good luck!P.S. Are You Master Cookery too?

1. 
   CharlieP | Dec 14, 2004 05:43am | #12

   I think your kind words were directed to CMR, who included a picture (showing a beautifully executed kitchen), not to me. 

   I do build custom furniture (next month I will be giving up my day job to do it full time), and do cook (my wife says I won her through her stomach - 34 years ago), but I am the one who likes a working kitchen surface, with edible oil finish, rather than a film finish.  I basically want a kitchen workbench that looks good, rather than a beautiful built-in kitchen table that has to be protected.  

   Charlie________________________Charlie Plesums  Austin, Texashttp://www.plesums.com/wood

2. 
   bigfootnampa | Dec 10, 2004 10:16am | #8

   I would use "Breakthrough" (cross-linking acrylic varnish).  This is one of the toughest finishes available for wood and can be applied with a brush (I like to spray it though ... I often spray door and drawer fronts while brushing the frames when refinishing installed cabinets).  It is rated as "for repeated heavy scrubbing" by the Mfrs.  Check out the top below that I delivered this AM.  This was done with a tinted version of clear satin Breakthrough (on teak).

   I

   
1. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Dec 14, 2004 03:48am | #10

   That looks VERY NICE, thanks for the post.  I'll check it out.

    

   Rob

3. 
   jptenberg | Dec 10, 2004 08:14pm | #9

   Rob

   I use a product called Good Stuff.  It is made specifically for butcher block.  It's a gel poly something or another--easy on and pretty durable too.  I think the company that makes it is the Michigan block company.  I get it locally in Minneapolis at Youngblood Lumber, but I'm sure you could find a supplier in your area.

   Good Luck

   Peter

   jpswoodworking.com

2. 
   DBishop | Dec 16, 2004 03:58pm | #15

   Doesn't Walnut oil trigger nut allergies though?

1. 
   bigfootnampa | Dec 17, 2004 09:23am | #17

   Doesn't Walnut oil trigger nut allergies though?

   I am sure that it would if you are allergic to walnuts or at least walnut oil.  Most people can eat it regularly without problems (let alone eating the tiny traces that might find their way from a countertop into food prepared on it).  I suppose that there may be people out there who would be affected by it though.  The walnut oils that are on the market are almost invariably made from the english walnut (not black walnuts) and those are a regular ingredient in cookies, fudge, candies, etc.   the exposure from a countertop finish would be so miniscule that only those who have extreme reactions to nuts would need to be concerned at all.

5. 
   gb93433 | Dec 14, 2004 04:30pm | #13

   I use mineral oil. You do not want to use an oil that will get rancid.

6. 
   bigfootnampa | Dec 15, 2004 05:29am | #14

   The curing time for walnut oil is actually much faster than for raw linseed oil.  The reason that the first coat takes quite a while to dry is because of the deep penetration of the oil into the wood surface.  successive coats dry much faster and successively faster too.  You might well be able to speed it's drying time by boiling (which basically moves the oil further down it's polymerization path).  The downside is that you would also get less penetration of the oil.  Which I regard as a negative attribute.  I would suggest that if you want a thicker oil the technique of sun thickening (as is yet practiced by artists with linseed oil) would be likely to be simpler and safer than boiling with at least as much likelihood of success.  To sun thicken you just place the oil in a clear container in bright sunlight, vent the container and simply check it and remove it from the sunlight when it seems to have reached the desirable viscosity.

7. 
   FineBlade | Dec 16, 2004 05:24pm | #16

   Hi Rob,
   If your friend wants a beautiful piece of furniture, there are some excellent suggestions in this thread. if they want more of a functional/working island top, I would have to chime in and second Charlie's advice. I started, and ran for many years, two bakery/cafes in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and had many, many lineal feet of maple counter top. If it is not around excessive water, like a sink, which can eventually cause deep black staining, it makes a very serviceable working surface. I fought with the Health Department for years, they wanted me to remove the wood and replace it with the nasty white plastic. I was finally vindicated when extensive testing proved that the knife marks in the plastic make ideal breeding ground for bacteria, while wood apparently has some natural anti bacterial properties. I diverge slightly from Charlie's method in care and maintenance. One of the advantages of wood, is that scraping not only cleans up the knife cuts, but supposedly draws the undesirables out of the wood (I have no scientific support for this, but we were the only food service establishments that never gave anyone food poisoning, despite my battles with Dept. of Health.) Michigan Maple, a major maple block supplier, used to sell a substantial wooden scraper, that held a beefy steel blade for maintaining their tops. I simply use a pastry scraper, which I keep sharp with a file. It makes a great tool while cooking, for scooping up sliced veggies, etc., and putting them in the pan. Often just a light scrape and wiping for clean up, and periodically give the top a good scraping to clean and refresh it. This is very satisfying, by the way, scraping fine shavings and producing a smooth clean surface, ready for work. How often do you get to bring your woodworking right into the kitchen? Hope this helps among all the good suggestions.

   
   

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   Edited 12/16/2004 9:31 am ET by Fine Blade Carpentry