Finishing a wooden counter top

Re: Finishing a wooden counter top

Orion/.Denton, TX

>Wood is not the best choice for a high moistue, high traffic area like a kitchen but the toughtest finish would be a spar or long oil varnish. The glue you use needs to be water proof so tight bond III would be my suggestion.

do you intend to use it

bill tindal, E.TN

>I have two wood counter top sections that we use regularly to cut up everything from deer to carrots, as well as baking (dough handling) activities.

Yellow glue has worked fine for me over thirty years in these applications. I wipe the tops with vegetable oil when they look dry. I get all sorts of theoretical arguments from this forum's participants why vegetable oil won't work but it has worked for us for 30+ years and it is what a profession maker of wooden ware uses. Search the Archives for "cutting board finish" and you will get pages of contrary recommendations.

If you aren't going to use the tops then I suppose one could finish them like furniture.

Re: Finishing a wooden counter top

Clay Foster

>I made quartersawn sycamore countertops for my kitchen about a year ago. Glued up with Titebond II and finished with Waterlox. They've held up fine so far. great for making bread and pasta. I did make a cast concrete section around the sink.

Re: Finishing a wooden counter top

Clint Searl, at the base of Haycock Mtn

>Don't use any kind of varnish or film building finish; it will eventually delaminate and water will infiltrate. Use a self curing oil, like tung, walnut, or BLO.

Clint

Re: Finishing a wooden counter top

Steve Schoene

>You do not want to use spar varnish--its designed for exterior use where direct sunlight is the main enemy, and where wide ranges in temperature and flexing substates calls for a soft flexible finish. If you want an interior counter with a film finish, use a traditional resin interior varish. Behlen's Rock Hard is great.

But film finishes aren't what you want if this is a food prep area, as opposed to being a serving counter. Then I would use an "in-the-wood" finish, such as Watco. Let it be well cured, perhaps a month, before direct food contact. You will have to renew this periodically, but less often than the other widely recommended material, mineral oil.