Food board finish

[Charles Grauer]

My son has two (2) walnut boards with the bark on both edges. My concern is finishing them so the bark stays on. He calls it a food board, we used to call them cheese boards. Anyway they are like 16” long and 12” wide and an 1” thick. Any ideas or experiences you can share with me would be appreciated charles

[Jim Becker]

You can use any finish you want and prefer, in general, because all finishes sold today are "food safe" when fully cured. The finish on a "food board"/charcuterie board/cheese board is largely to make them easier to clean.

I agree with your concern about the bark-on situation for two reasons. Firstly, it's more brittle and doesn't necessarily want to stay adhered long term...nature of the beast. Secondly, it's difficult to get a finish into all the nooks and crannies. One solution for that...which unfortunately isn't inexpensive...is to use a vacuum chamber to get thin resin to get deep into the material. Otherwise, you can try to slather it and manipulate it as best as you can, knowing that air bubbles and other factors may not get you a fully sealed edge. Personally, I'd ditch the bark-on design for this particular kind of project unless they are not "users"...decorative only.

[Charles Grauer]

Thanks. I don’t have that big of a vacuum chamber or I would try that. I was thinking of using deft oil (danish oil with a tung oil base and increase the % of oil in the final coats. My friend in W.V suggested coating the bark with epoxy resin but my concern like u brought up is getting it to soak, penetrate, into the bark enough to adhere it to the board. Thanks for your help and understanding my concerns

[Charles Grauer]

Jim: I do have a vacuum bag would that work? Charles

[Mel Fulks]

I agree with Jim. Who wants to be removing cream cheese from the depths of bark? And bark is soft…..except for Gary Cooper bark….
I remember that in the film “High Noon” ,a guy tells him “Mr. You got some hard bark on you”

[Charles Grauer]

Sounds like we are barking up the wrong board

[Mel Fulks]

Sounds like we are barking up the wrong board

unless we can board bark better !

[Rich Engelhardt]

If you plan to sell anything food will come in contact with or if you are doing a job where a food safe finish is required, there are specific finishes which have FDA approval for use there.

If the items are for home use - there's pretty much nothing in any cured over the counter finish to worry about.

[Charles Grauer]

Thanks, good to consider!

[Jim Becker]

Jim: I do have a vacuum bag would that work? Charles

Not really...that's a different kind of thing than a vacuum chamber.

[Charles Grauer]

Not really...that's a different kind of thing than a vacuum chamber.


ok, thanks.

[Jim Becker]

Think of it this way...a vacuum bag is a fancy...clamp. :) A vacuum chamber has minimal touch to the workpiece and extracts air bubbles, etc., so that resin, color, whatever, can better penetrate the wood.