Joe Bottigliere

That Velveted chicken anything like mac & cheese?

But those extra morsels of food bits will help flavor the subsequent meals. It’s science.

I agree. But when cutting boards are gifted, it’s nice for them to look pretty when first presented. So I like to add a coat of mineral oil or paste wax as the mood strikes me. Once they are washed, I’m doubtful any subsequent finish would be applied. So all is good. For serving boards not intended to be cut on, I like to use Watco and a coat of wax. after it gets washed, the Watco is still present and the wax is optional.

You do realize that that herringbone pattern is not real herring bones. I don’t see why the wood pattern should interfere with your onion chopping. But we all have our handicaps.

I forget where I read it, but this is logical. Woods high in tannins are natural disinfectants. I was concerned about using some oak in a cutting I was making. I learned then that the small foodstuff left in the pores would be prohibited from growing bacteria because of the tannins that would easily kill it off. In fact, wooden cutting boards were said to be safer than plastic unless the plastic were well scrubbed with bleach to kill the bacteria festering in the tiny slices left by your knife.

Mike,
Like all finishes, wax is non-toxic once its solvent evaporates. Beeswax is very soft on its own but should provide a nice luster. Carnuba is considerably harder and buffs out to a higher sheen. Then there are mineral (petroleum) waxes which I believe, are harder still. Typically, the harder the wax the higher the sheen. The first two are “natural” waxes and by themselves are edible. But keep your supply. If inflation keeps rising, you may need them to supplement your diet.

I do have a concern, though, about applying any wax over mineral oil. The oil will never dry. Trying to put wax on top of it seems futile. Shellac is great and will work with wax beautifully. But the oil leaves me wondering what the surface would end up as. You might be able to create your own mixture of min oil, wax and turpentine or something like that. But I don’t see any advantage. I think if you polish the raw wood to higher grit, you can get away with wax right on the wood. I often prefer that on cutting/serving boards.

Ha! So I was right. Well, I was wrong that I wasn’t right but right that I was… Where was I?

Steve,
I would be happy to ready the tar pits.
Service companies are quite different than product manufacturers. But time moves on and if you don’t keep up with the times you could very well be left behind.
Daryl,
Thanks for posting that. It is a shame we no longer have the tools/brands available that helped build this country and our craft. Thank goodness for people like Lie-Nielsen and others.
I always thought it was Skill who introduced the first portable circular saw. I guess they were responsible for the worm-drive.

Honestly, I don’t do much veneering. I lean towards solid wood in my projects. When I do / did, I never roughed the surface. I don’t don’t use hide glue and never hammer-veneered. But I have used toothed blades in my low angle jack plane and scraper plane. They work great for flattening and prep-ing ornery grain for a smoothing plane just like Daryl suggested. Sanding would alleviate the planing issues. But then, buying furniture would make the whole process a lot easier too. That’s just not as much fun. Is it? And what fun would it be if all agreed on this forum? Now that’s just sillier than trying to convince Charlie to use a toothing plane.

Sorry. But I’m not convinced there was any other reason than some boss telling his apprentice to do it “Because I said so!”