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The first step in finishing any project, including these cutting boards is sanding. In fact these boards get sanded to a higher grit than many of our projects because they're getting a hand rubbed oil finish, but in this case instead of a catalyzing oil like tung oil or linseed oil, we're using mineral oil. This finish does not harden... ever. But it does repel water and is easily renewed and those are our biggest concerns in a cutting board.
 So we get out 150, 180 and 220 sandpaper and sanding discs and work our way up through the grits. After I've sanded the board to 220, I wet the upper face with a little water and let it dry. This causes the little fiberey bits that are just sort of laying on the surface of the wood to stand up -- it's called 'raising the grain'. Once these fibers are standing at attention I sand the surface again with the 220 grit paper to remove them. This will help to keep your board from getting "fuzzy" feeling when you give it a good washing after the oil begins to wear off.
 Then I wipe off the dust and apply a liberal amount of mineral oil, rubbing it into the wood for at least 5 minutes and making sure no dry spots show up. If needed, I add more oil so the wood can drink in as much of the oil as it will take.
 Once the board is saturated I use a soft cloth to remove the excess and buff the board to a soft, low luster. No "curing" is needed, but I will allow the boards to set overnight and buff them again in the morning before packaging them up for shipment. Sometimes we get "weepers" where oil is pushed back out making spots
To read about how to maintain your new cutting board, [Click Here] to go to our Care & Feeding of a Cutting Board article.
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