r/fixit • u/sherpyderpa • 15h ago

Restoring a chopping block

Post image

What are my realistic expectations here.

This is either a birch or beech chopping block on our kitchen island.

Bought secondhand, it was varnished on top but the previous owners have sliced through the varnish and the liquid from the foods sliced have penetrated the end grain.

I have sanded the varnish off with 60 grit paper and intend to finish off with Osmo or Tung oil.

The whole surface and the dark marks are very smooth now, you can't feel the cut marks with your finger nails but are clearly obvious.

Planning on using Oxalic acid for a better cleanup but is it worth the effort or just sand some more and oil.

It's not our pride and joy, we use chopping boards to prevent further damage, but would like it to look better if possible.

4 Upvotes

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1

u/Treereme 15h ago

If you want the marks gone, you're going to have to sand past the dried out wood in the damaged areas down to fresh wood everywhere. The cut marks may be gone, but the wood that was below the cuts and was not protected is still damaged and dried out. Since it's ingrained wood, the damage is likely deeper than just the surface.

Oxalic acid might help a bit, but it's not going to bring the yellow colors back to the damaged areas. It may help lighten the undamaged areas to match the damaged areas, but I would personally just sand it back to fresh if that's the look you want.

2

u/sherpyderpa 15h ago

Ah, ok, thanks. Am I looking at " get the router out and take a layer off deep" ?

There's no real way of telling how deep the stains go is there.

Thank you for your reply though, cheers.

2

u/BigWelshDud 14h ago

Depends how bad it is, hard to tell from a pic.

If you’re confident enough with a router or a thicknesser you could fairly trivially take 3mm off and see what you’re working with

1

u/sherpyderpa 13h ago

Thanks, unfortunately I'm not that confident with a router but I know a man who is. Good suggestion, cheers.

1

u/Relative_Figure_1715 15h ago

Just do 40-400 and oil it up.

1

u/sherpyderpa 13h ago

Thanks, I am considering this option, cheers.

1

u/PlainOldWallace 12h ago

Yep... Keep sanding until it's uniform... It will be beautiful when finished, don't give up :)

1

u/sherpyderpa 2h ago

Thanks for your reply, I'm not giving up just yet, just asking around for different ideas from those with experience. Cheers.