I bought a cheap bamboo cutting board for $2 to see how they would carve.
It carves way better than I thought it would. This is with a 60 deg Vbit using Vcarve
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Did you fill the carved portion with anything? Looks great. I want to try this but been trying to find a food grade filler that would work well.
For this test I just filled the carved part with a dark mahogany stain and then brushed a clear shellac over the whole board.
The shellac is food safe, not sure if the stain under it will make it unsafe or not?
My next test will be with dark tung oil, just not sure how dark it really will turn out.
That really turned out nice.
I was surprised that the bamboo was able to hold a nice amount of detail.
Next question - where do you buy $2 bamboo cutting boards? LOL
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This one was at Bed Bath and Beyond for $1.99. It is small, the carvable area is only 6.5 x 5.75 inches
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Ikea have lots of bamboo boards, trays etc perfect for cutting. I’ve had success with several different methods, but where possible, I suggest a coat or two of diluted shellac or sanding sealer to stop any bleed-thru:
- Cutting and filling with coloured 2 part resin. Looks really nice, can be sanded flat. Is food safe
- Cutting and painting the pattern with craft paint and then applying either 2 part resin or clear varnish
- Cutting the pattern and using an oil to seal the surface. There are many commercial grade food-safe oils available or you can just use a vegetable oil from your pantry (Canola etc). I used to use peanut oil which looked really nice, but with peanut allergies being a problem for some, this is probably not one to use.
My son did a simple one in pine which came out pretty well for a first attempt at using my toy…
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That’s a darn fine first attempt.