Replies

1. 
   rob_ss | Jul 17, 2020 03:34am | #1

   From what I can see, the product does not contain anything harmful.
   The orange oil would not be nice on food though.
   Scrub the surface with dishwash soap, rinse and dry then coat with your choice of preferred finish.

2. 
   lat_axe | Jul 17, 2020 03:51am | #2

   Although these stuffs are advertised as "penetrating" or "feeding" they don't really do either. They all form a very (very) thin coat on the surface.

   However, if there is an exception it's end-grain surfaces such as butcher blocks. The "straws" of the timber are facing their tiny ends up to the surface and any liquid going on them will be sucked a little bit into the wood "straws" more than that liquid would get into a long-grain surface.

   Some timbers do absorb more than other timbers via the ends of their "straws" - the multiple vessels of the timber it uses to transport water and nutrients when its alive and growing . Those that absorb least (or not at all) are the already oily woods such as teak and iroko. Timbers such as beech and oak absorb rather more. It's still a tiny amount down a tiny length of the "straw" ends, though.

   I have half a dozen butcher blocks in the kitchen, all made from off-cuts over the years. The teak and the iroko boards seem to absorb no oil or other liquid at all. If I pour oil on to one it just sits there in the same puddle for hours.

   Beech and oak boards do "drink" oils. However, I've had occasion to sand them off after oiling (to re-flatten, as they can go lumpy a few weeks after being first made, as they settle into a moisture-retaining equilibrium with the kitchen). Despite appearing to drink oil, it takes very little planing or sanding to get rid of the darker oiled surface.

   Wax is unlikely to have gone down the "straws" very far, as it's only a semi-liquid at it's wettest. Why not plane the surface (with a block plane, which is what they were designed for) to have a look? Planing is a lot faster than sanding although you may want to give a final sand to get rid of any plane tracks.

   Lataxe

3. 
   john_c2 | Jul 17, 2020 05:37am | #3

   The Howard people say the product is not food safe. I would sand it off. Plus, it has beeswax, which will mess with anything else you try to put on. Do a lot more research before deciding on a finish.

   That Watco product has been dinged for containing some known carcinogens. I wouldn't use it. I would never use any Howard product. Their advertising is filled with too many wrong and misleading statements. There are too many reputable companies out their to bother with one that isn't.

   Beeswax will never harden. Mineral oil will never cure. Either one will prevent you from trying an alternative finish down the road.

4. 
   gulfstar | Jul 17, 2020 07:54am | #4

   Quite misleading product name, it contains mostly petroleum distillates as solvents and a tad of paraffin wax to allow it to behave like beeswax. I would just plain sand it off, at these concentration there can’t be much to remove.

   https://www.howardproducts.com/sds/

5. 
   john_c2 | Jul 17, 2020 08:11am | #5

   But Gulfstar, it feeds the wood. It feeds it!

6. 
   gulfstar | Jul 17, 2020 08:47am | #6

   Yes, of course, the myth. Penetrating, feeding and the day you strip or sand the finish you find bare wood microns below the surface...take a look at the lemon oil content, 95-99% solvents, 1-5% lemon oil, I guess you could squeeze a lemon peel in a quart of varsol and get the same result.

7. 
   john_c2 | Jul 17, 2020 09:26am | #7

   Are you now asserting that lemony fresh is not a thing? Speaking of which, I need to make a lemon loaf today. I'm going to leave out the alkyds.

8. 
   mikaol | Jul 17, 2020 10:45am | #8

   So this is life in the enlightened world, huh? Maybe if the wax came off in one big sheet and attached to the food. And if you prepare the equivalent of 3 lbs each day on the block and eat each morsel you'll get sick in approximately a year. Unless you're preparing lead. Then the dynamic changes. Oh, the math is based on consuming 1 drop of gasoline each day.
   But, if you're more paranoid than me you could veneer the top, do what the others suggest or buy a new one.
   Another but. Don't mind me, I don't build anything food will touch.
   Mikaol

9. 
   _mj_ | Jul 17, 2020 11:10am | #9

   All of the "butcher block" sold in the orange box is laminated finger jointed long grain... NOT end grain surface. The feed & wax is really designed as a cleaner & polish, not a surface finish and not likely to penetrate much.

   Just give it a good scrub with a strong household cleaner, then a good rinse and let it dry REALLY thoroughly. Sand off the surface to 220 grit so it feels like bare wood... You can refinish it with whatever you like.

10. 
    lat_axe | Jul 17, 2020 11:36am | #10

    So .... this particular post seems to reveal more about marketing double-speak than it does about woodwork. The "penetrating" and "feeding" "oils and waxes" are really not oils & waxes, don't penetrate and certainly don't feed. (What does "feed the wood" even mean)?

    Worse, the butcher block may apparently be not a butcher block of end grain-up blocks of wood but just any old board!

    Where is the product description monitor when you want her!? Why are these lying advert writers not in the stocks, plastered with rotten tomatoes?

    Lataxe, looking for a pitchfork.

11. 
    nickbrak | Jul 17, 2020 12:50pm | #11

    After reading through this post, I agree first go through the clean with household cleaners that you want to. Rinse a couple of times. If you still concerned sand it, My process for cutting boards was always 80/120/220. That by the way will also remove the thin veneer of plywood in a hurry so Your old finish will probably be completely obliterated by then, even with the end grain. I have built many cutting boards both
    Long and end grain, my favorite finish is mineral oil from the pharmacy section. A bottle is like 3 bucks, and last a long time. You will have to reapply every few months, but it is food safe/nontoxic/leaves no film and it cheap. At
    First slop it on, let it soak in for a few minutes, repeat. Wipe off. If the oil slowest weeps back out wipe off again. Done. To clean it, normal soap and water. Reapply the mineral oil whenever you need to. Or don’t put any sort of finish on it. That is okay too. The wood will bleach out over years of use without some sort of renewable finish anyway. Soap and water will still clean it.

12. 
    rob_ss | Jul 18, 2020 04:00am | #12

    There was an old Roman custom of leaving a hole in the top of a family tomb so that wine might be poured in to feed the dead.
    https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-libations-on-graves

    I think feeding dead wood fibres might be only slightly less useful.
    People do fall for words like 'nourish' all the time...

13. 
    lat_axe | Jul 18, 2020 05:41am | #13

    We could have a really good thread the purpose of which is to identify meaningless or misleading WW advert-speak.

    But somehow I feel it won't happen. :-(

    Lataxe, likely to be composted and scattered on her garden by the ladywife when dead, so any subsequent libations will be liquids of a not-wine kind.