Thread: Sassafras for cheese platter?

It is my finding that most people stop cutting when the cheese or bread or meat is sliced off.

My mother has a 20mm thick pine bread board that I made 35 years ago and it has only just had to be replaced.

Originally Posted by

It is my finding that most people stop cutting when the cheese or bread or meat is sliced off.

My mother has a 20mm thick pine bread board that I made 35 years ago and it has only just had to be replaced.

Did you make her a good one this time, one that would last a while?

I think sassafras is ok, but I prefer to use the hard eucalypt woods. However,
my only comment is using EE & Shellawax as a finish. I dont think they are food safe (?).
I generally use paraffin oil or the foodsafe nut & citrus oil. Drillit.

Food safe or not, I don't believe it would hold up as well as an oil finish and would look second hand very quickly with use.
Cheers, Ian

Thanks for your comments. How would I remove the ubeaut polishes to put an oil finish on it? Do I have to put it back on the lathe and sand the finish off? I have some woodwipe food safe oil which I can use for it.

I think you'll find Shellawax IS food safe! I bloody well hope it is anyway - I've sold a lot of goblets (users) finished with it

for cutting boards I use butchers block conditioner and the u beaut food safe oil, and have also sold the U beaut oil to customers,

Not sure about the Sassy for hardness on a cheeseboard but like I also have made my mum and many others bread/chopping boards out of pine and after around 35 years they are all still going strong, the mother isn't but the board is or was until she went into care. My finish of choice was raw timber. Still is, but our FoodSafe Plus is really good as should be any food safe oil.

All the Shellawaxes are food safe, but probably not ideal for a cheese board, bread board or any other chopping type boards.Back in the early 70's I used to carve sections of cheese boards then colour the carvings (usually flowers or fruit, etc) and seal them with shellac, but leave the cutting surface raw timber. There are a number of these that I know of still in regular use today. Back then if I really had to put something on the raw timber to make it look nice for sale I would use heavy paraffin oil (medical/pharmaceutical grade) which is what our FoodSafe is.

You would need to sand off the Shellawax and EEE if you were to oil your board as the oil won't penetrate the shellawax and twill make the EEE go a bit sticky/tacky. Still not too sure about the Sassy though.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil

PS if you decide to use an oil - whatever brand - it might be worth having a look at this info sheet. It gives some basic info about using and caring for oil on boards.

Thanks Neil.

This helps a lot. I have decided to re-purpose the item, and it will now become something else.
I'm quite fond of the look of the sassafras, and i like the Shellawax finish on it. So it won't be a cheese board.

I have instead turned another cheese platter from purpleheart. That should do the trick in terms of hard timbers, and i have put one coat of foodsafe oil on it.
Now it's sitting on my back deck waiting for nature to do the rest - freshly turned purpleheart is pretty boring, but after a few days in the sun, what a colour!!

Can't add much to what's been said but if it was Blackheart Sassy there may be fungal spores still there that may affect health.

With any timber, voids should be filled. Bacteria will accumulate in them and they don't go away with a wipe-off or wash.

In terms of life I see no need to treat treen with anything other than common sense. In terms of maintaining appearance, take your choice of products and/or returning and refinishing in time. In the case of the latter, leaving a recess in the base makes it easier clearly.

(Like Neil, in the early 70s I used to do chopping boards. Oregon. 'Distressed' with a 5" disc sander hand-held, taking out soft end grain and long grain on the sides. I carved a few leaf shapes on top corners. Sold a few and gave one to my Mum who when she went into 'retirement' returned it to me decades later. Still in good shape despite being untreated. One of my kids is using it now.)