What grit sandpaper to use?
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I am renewing/refinishing my breadboards. One of them has been used extensively for cutting bread and has a lot of slices in the wood made by a knife with large, sort of loping, serrations. I've used both sides of the breadboard so am doing both sides. I want to sand it down a little (by hand) before putting the mineral oil/paraffin mixture on it. I have a pretty wide selection of sandpapers, how do I know what grit to start with?
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: (~)};)StealYourFace
start lowest #grit to
start lowest #grit to highest 60>80>100>150>220. 80 grit might be coarsest to start with. Sand in direction of wood grain.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Def. High
Start with coarsest (low nos.
Start with coarsest (low nos.). - check it out, see what it does.
What is the purpose of the oil/paraffin? Not sure I would want a petroleum product touching my bread. Hardwood bread/cutting boards have a natural anti-bacterial effect if not altered with oils or whatever. In fact, less bacteria than hard plastic under identical conditions.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Sycamore Slough
I enjoy sanding stuff. 80
I enjoy sanding stuff. 80-grit garnet sandpaper might be a good starting point, or maybe 100 is better for you. make a sanding-block to keep it level / flat. A little stub of 2x4 would work.
The job would go quicker if you use an electric sander. I have a few and like the DeWalt, Makita, Bosch brands. The Ryobi brand of whatever electric tool don't last very long. While they are inexpensive, they drop dead early.
If the gouges / knife-marks are really deep, you might save time & effort by using a "block plane" and "cabinet scraper". While many use mineral oil for cutting boards, I've had good results with Walnut Oil or even Olive Oil. Many will say that those are prone to oxidation...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Old Fart Message Board
Start with 100/120. Get out
Start with 100/120. Get out the nicks and bumps. Then always finish any kind of wood with 220.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: treat island
I started with 150, went to
I started with 150, went to 220 when I got tired of 150. Probably should have started at 80 or 100. I have problems with thumb and arm so was trying to minimize sanding action. I don't have an electric sander, Stu, and it doesn't make economic sense to get one given the frequency with which I would use it.
I will feel and look at it tomorrow to see if I should go back to a coarser grit and work up again. I may have to wait for a few days to let my thumb calm down.
I don't know why the paraffin. I use that combo ( I shouldn't say use, I've only done it once when they were new in 2003) at the suggestion of the friend who remodeled my kitchen back then - he's from Alabama and learned to make cabinets there, maybe that's what they use? It's funny that you mention the petroleum-ness of it all, he's a very careful eats-and-grows-only-organic kind of guy. The purpose of it is to keep the wood, which is otherwise unfinished, from drying out. I imagine the paraffin is to make some sort of surface. I'm swell with doing just food grade mineral oil; using paraffin means heating the combo and working outside. The more I think about it and Google, the stranger this all seems.
He says I should have been doing it once a year. I wish I attended to things that well. I'll get in touch with him about the seeming paradox of using paraffin.
Thanks, folks.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Def. High
I've never put anything on my
I've never put anything on my maple cutting board but soap and water.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: treat island
These aren't maple, they're
These aren't maple, they're pretty soft. I wish I could remember what kind of wood they are. Not very expensive wood, I'm sure, since we were working with a small budget. There are 3 of them, all different sizes. If I were ever to have new cabinets again, I think I would make the bread boards all the same size so I could move them around. I have a lot of cutting boards, these are just for cutting bread or resting things on.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Backroads Bill
I make a lot of cutting
I 've made a living out of my woodshop for many years.
I make a lot of cutting boards out of my scraps.
A mix of Bee's wax and mineral oil works great and is a very common finish for them.
1 part beeswax 4 parts Mineral oil.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: treat island
Barefoot Boy, do you know why
Barefoot Boy, do you know why wax (bee, paraffin) is part of the finish?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: smiley
Its to preserve the wood from
Its to preserve the wood from getting stained by the material you are cutting and to make it last longer than an untreated piece of wood would in moist conditions.