Belt or 1/3 Sheet Sander

I was given a Jarrah log 60cm dia by 10cm thick. I managed to find a local guy with a horizontal bandsaw who chopped the log in half. I now have 2 pieces of wood approx 60cm dia by 4.5cm thick. I am turning them into chopping boards for a kitchen.

I have used a belt sander (coarse grit) on side of the boards and have managed to remove the bandsaw marks and the board is quite smooth, but not smooth enough.

My question is, do i continue down the sandpaper grades with the beltsander until i finish with the fine grade, or do i switch to 1/3 sander and continue down the sandpaper grades until i finish with the fine grade.

My second question is, a friend suggested i use Orange Oil on both sides of the chopping board to protect it and give it a shine. He says that it is safe for food preparation etc.

Is this good idea, or is there a better off the shelf product from a mainstream retailer in Australia.

Work your way to finer grades with the belt sander, probably around 120 grit would be as fine as you go.

Then with the 1/3 sheet start at 80 grit until all belt sanding marks are gone, work your way up to as fine as you want to go, about 320-400 is fine for cutting boards.

The orange oil is available from Bunnings, it is good for cutting boards, you can make your own with Parafin oil from the chemist and orange or lemon essential oils, a few drops into the parafin works wonders.

Really let the oil get into the board, laying an oil soaked rag over board overnight, alternating both sides until the oil no longer goes in, will properly seal it.

It will take a few days for the oil to penetrate using above method then another couple for the board to "dry", the board is then ready to use.

Beware any drying oils (even"organic oils"), they use metal based drying agents and cooking oils can go rancid.

Exactly what Cruzi said...you can also use wood wipe oil from the organoil company. It is generally used periodically to rejuvinate oiled surfaces that have gone dull, but can be used as a finishing oil. It is made from citrus extractives and completely food safe applied the way cruzi mentioned.

Cheers, Evan

And if you have a random orbital sander this will work quicker and finer than a uni-directional sander IME.

Once you've got a decent finish, prob around 240 grit, you could try wet sanding with an oil product to do get some grain filling effect. Some Jarrah is fairly coarse grained.

Thx to

Cruzi, Evan Pavlidis and Rsser.

Will be trying today.