Blotch Maple

Hi,
I am wondering if anyone has a suggestion regarding blotchy maple on a cutting board I just made. I have just made a walnut and hard maple cutting board. After the glue up and running it thru my drum sander, I used a RO sander thru the grits of 100, 150, 180, 220, spayed it down with a mist of water to raise the grain and then sanded with 220 again and felt that was sufficient enough. I have now put on 3 coats of Howard Butcher Block mineral oil and the board has blotches on the faces and the end grain is noticeably darker. Is this just the characteristics of maple and/or does anyone have this issue also and have any suggestions on how to get rid of the blotching, i.e. more sanding, less sanding, different product. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Steve_

Unfortunately I think this is just the nature of some maple and using any type of oil. Some blotch isn’t so bad, some is just ugly. My only thought is using beeswax only, no oil, since it won’t penetrate as much. The finer you sand, the less either product would soak in.

There is no "solution" here...it's the nature of wood to absorb the oil at different rates and refract light in different directions based on the grain pattern. Presumably, this is a "working" cutting board, too, and if so, it's appearance is going to change daily. Mineral oil also dissipates into the wood so unless you frequently reapply, it's going to become a non-issue on its own. I haven't re-treated my "working" board for a very long time, honestly.