Stock cuttingboard swelling

[cbadmin]

From: C-Worthy (Original Message) Sent: 9/29/2003 6:09 PM
Anyone had the problem of the stock C-Dory cutting board swelling and not fitting in the stove?

I admit this is a weird problem. The whole thing is swelling and getting wider. It now sticks past the end pieces, and I'm afraid it is going to simply fall apart when the glue in the joints fails. I really like the look of this teak board, though I have to admit that my wife won't let me cut fish up on it, so it's pretty much just for show (and to keep the stove grate from rattling).

Anyone else?
Blain
C-Worthy



From: Mike Sent: 9/29/2003 9:08 PM
Evenin' Blain -

Our cutting board (1987 original) has done just the opposite. It seems to have shrunk some, and one of the end pieces is separating from the main part just a little. I don't know what flavor of wood it is. Give yours some time - after it stops growing, maybe it will shrink with age!

Mike

From: C-Wolf1 Sent: 9/30/2003 4:40 AM
Blain- If it's gowing/swelling, it's probably absorbing water. Test this by taking it home into the house, iknto a dry enviornment. If after a week or so, you findd it's now back to it's original size, you could treat it with something like lemmon oil to stop the water intrusion. There are a lot of other products that would seal it better (Thompson's Water Seal, etc), but I'm not sure they're food compatible. The lemmon oil smells good, too. Give it several coats to help seal up the wood. Where or in what enviornment are you storing it and the boat? Joe

[C-Worthy]

Here's the solution I came up with, and the possible reason for the problem. I bought the boat in Washington, and shipped it up here. We all know that we Alaskans love free stuff, so when my cutting board smelled all that clean fresh air, it gobbled up all it could.

Makes as much sense as any other reason... I'm still baffled as to the why. Same elevation, humidity, and storage on the water for the summer and in the driveway for the winter. It did this the second year I had it, too. Twilight Zone stuff here.

The solution: Two years ago, I trimmed the overlapping edges off with my hand plane. Worked like a charm. The wood planes off just like butta.

Blain