How To Clean & Restore an Old Cutting Board
A few months back I was at an estate sale and ran into a thick butcher block cutting board. It was dirty. And gross. And I almost didn’t take it because it looked absolutely disgusting. But, I do have a deep love for cutting boards…
I also knew I could restore it back to its former beauty, so today I’m showing you how to do just that. Here’s how to clean & restore an old cutting board that’s definitely seen better days…
Here’s what it looked like before… yuck and double yuck! Here’s how I cleaned it up…
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Supplies:
There was absolutely no way that thing was coming in my house until it had a good scrub.
So, I grabbed the white vinegar and went to work…
I poured about a 1/3 of the bottle into our sink, then set the cutting board face down into the vinegar…
Because it was nasty, I let it soak for about an hour, then used my scrub brush and started scrubbing…
Here’s what the vinegar looked like… holy gross!
Then, to sanitize it, I grabbed the hydrogen peroxide and poured it all over the top…
Again, I started scrubbing away…
I didn’t notice a ton of white bubbles, but this board didn’t have hardly any deep cuts in the wood.
I rinsed it off, then let it dry over night…
There were still a few bad spots, so I soaked it another hour in the vinegar and kept scrubbing away…
I ended up soaking it three times to get it clean. Then, to give it a rich finish, I grabbed my coconut oil…
I just warmed it up and started rubbing it into the wood…
The wood really absorbed the oil and drastically darkened…
I only applied one coat, but if it starts to dry out, I’ll add another one.
It’s such a lovely piece!
And now that you can actually see it, I absolutely adore the pattern of the butcher block…
It’s going to be just perfect for styling and sitting out…
Those little feet are quite adorable as well..
And let’s not even get me started on the combination of the wood and my new vintage napkins that I bought at The Vintage Whites Market…
She’s a beauty!
And even though I probably won’t be using this as a cutting board, it is food safe and ready to go if I ever change my mind! But who am I kidding, it’s probably going to be best friends with my growing iron stone collection…
Wow! It looks amazing. You did an awesome job!
THANK YOU so much, Alie! 😀
Couldn’t you have just sanded it to restore it?
Hi Karen! I could have sanded it down, and I thought hard about it, but since there weren’t any big cuts in the wood, I just decided to use vinegar. Plus, I wanted to see how well the vinegar method would work! 😀
It was worth the work–lovely. I have been using coconut oil on all of my wood pieces lately.
It was SO worth the work! I’m thrilled with how it turned out, and I love coconut oil! 😀
I have a thing for cutting boards too! This one turned out to be beautiful. Your determination paid off!
THANK YOU, Sharon! I’m so happy with how it turned out! It’s a beauty! 😀
I’ve always read that coconut oil can spoil and shouldn’t be used in this way. Have you had any experience with using it long term? I would love to use it on my cutting board if it’s safe.
Hi Jen! From the research that I’ve done, coconut oil is perfect to use on cutting boards because it doesn’t spoil. Olive oil or vegetable oil will turn rancid, but coconut oil lasts for years. You can also use mineral oil, but I had a hard time finding it. 😀
I hope that helps!
-Shayna
Shayna,
You can find mineral oil at drug stores, if you have a Walgreen, it’s with the laxative stuffs. I guess since it’s for internal use, it’s food safe.:-)
THANK YOU so much for the tip, Lee! I looked all over our local Walmart… including by the laxatives. Next time I’m at a Walgreens, I’m going to grab a bottle! 😀
It came out beautifully! I just saw one similar at Williams-Sonoma and they’re asking ….. wait for it….. $139.00 and it’s not even half as nice as yours! Wish I could add the picture of it so you could see for yourself! Great find, and now it’s beautiful again!!
THANK YOU so much, Amy! I am so happy with the way it clean up! 😀 $139.00 is pretty steep…
Great post!!! I just purchased two cutting boards from the thrift and had no idea how to go about cleaning & restoring them – thank you for sharing.
THANK YOU so much, Liz! I’m so happy you enjoyed the post! Happy cleaning! 😀
Thanks Shayna,
Any ideas for restoring a really large breadboard that I can’t soak in a sink? Do you think just scrubbing with vinigar repeatedly would do it? It’s almost 3 Ft by 3 ft.
You’re welcome! I’d try scrubbing on it with vinegar and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised at what comes off! 🙂
I have an old cutting board but I had no idea that I can restore it and to use it again! Thanks a lot for sharing these ideas! Waterloo Carpet Cleaners Ltd.
I buy a product online called Emmet’s Elixir that is awesome for protecting wood chopping blocks and cutting boards. It is food safe, and is made with mineral oil, beeswax and anti-microbial essential oils. I use it on my wooden utensils, too.
Thank you so much. You just saved me a ton of money on expensive products that probably don’t work nearly as well!
coconut oil can still spoil. Personally I wouldn’t recommend soaking in vinegar and hydrogen peroxide either it can make the wood split and if it is end grain damage the glues. Your best bet is to do a sanding progression (80 to 220). Afterwards quickly scrub it with soapy sponge and dry it as fast as possible so the dry wood doesn’t soak up the water. If you’d like to spray it with vinegar, wipe off, hydrogen peroxide, wipe off… at this point to disinfect it… this is okay but do not let it pool or sit on the wood. Wipe it dry immediately. Let it dry a few hours… then get to work applying food mineral oil until it stops drinking it thirstily. Yes none of us love using mineral oil on our eating surfaces but sometimes you have to make concessions. I’ve had coconut oil spoil in my cutting boards before. IT takes a few years so if you’re buying cheap ones to replace go for it. I have end grain high end boards, I do not want them to spoil ever.
Thank you for your feedback! I’ll be sure to keep it in mind if I have another item that needs restored. Luckily, the method I used worked beautifully and the cutting board still looks amazing today!
Stop using food based oils on wood boards!!! All food and food based products go rancid over time. Just use mineral oil or a mix of 2.5:1 mineral oil and beeswax. It’s food safe and will never spoil. I’ve been building custom boards for years and mineral oil is all I use when each one is complete. All board builders will agree that Using food based oils is just asking for trouble.
Thanks for the tip. As of today, the cutting board is still in great shape.
This warped a <1" cutting board, would not try unless you have a thicker board as shown. The sanding method on the other hand mentioned is ideal.
I was told to use coconut oil to season my breadboard, but when I asked if that would attract ants, the answer was yes. Yikes. I am glad to know that mineral oil won’t. It seems like beeswax would be anti-bacterial, would the combination of mineral oil and beeswax attract ants? I have the old fashioned type that slides in and pulls out from under the counter top.
Thank you