Finishing a Knife Block

I just made a kitchen knife block out of red oak, specifically to hold some of my larger, older, non-stainless high carbon blades. Now I'm wondering how to finish it:

Can I stain it with an oil or water stain or is that not good around food?

Can I poly-varnish it?

Should I just oil it? If so, can I use Tung oil or better stick with Mineral oil 'cause of the food issue?

thanks,

chuck

Reply to
chuck
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pretty much anything you want.

if you're the type to dry the blades before putting them away something like tung or watco will do fine, though if you will want to scrub the rack down you'll probably want a film finish.

if you're the type to dry the knives in the rack (gonna rust your carbon steel knives!) design it so air can circulate and water won't be trapped, and consider a finish like varnish.

Reply to
bridger

If a wet knife touches the oak, the oak will turn black. Poly will reduce this a little. Clear finishes are safe for food utensil use. A stain is safe too in your application, but I'm sure someone will disagree, based on NO data. Fred

Reply to
Fred

And you may get blue-black stains on your knives, too. No real harm, just doesn't look very pretty. It's due to the tannic acid in the oak.

Cheers

Frank

Reply to
Frank McVey

Hmmm ... so that's what happened. I put all the knives in last night just to see how sturdy and all. This morning the big Nonstainless Wusthof had some staining. Must have put it away damp. Won't do that again! Thanks for the tip. Guess I should have chosen another wood.

chuck

Reply to
chuck

Not to rain on your parade, but red oak (actually, any oak) is about the last wood I'd ever want to make a knife block out of. A wet knife will leave black stains all over the block.

Polyurethane might be a solution, but I'd seriously consider finding a different wood and chalking one up to experience.

Jon E

- i used maple and purpleheart

Reply to
Jon Endres, PE

chuck wrote in news:0LBIc.4121$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net:

Maple comes to mind.

Patriarch

Reply to
patriarch

yep. red oak isn't a very good choice for a knife rack, especially one for carbon steel knives.

Reply to
bridger

OK, but my other 2 choices here seem to be poplar or pine. Guess I could probably try to order online, but I hate to buy wood without seeing it's shape and its grain.

As all but 1 or 2 of the knives are non-stain, I'll live with the oak (looks great)and try find something less acid for the older knives.

thanks all,

chuck

Reply to
chuck

Call around to _all_ the lumberyards listed in the phone book. It's very likely that at least one of them is a hardwood yard. Probably the one with the smallest and least promising looking ad.

Reply to
J. Clarke

I've made mine out of beech scraps and finished it with several coats of lindseed oil. It's been fine for a few years now...

Reply to
Woodworm

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