Cleaning an Old Cutting Board to Make a Cabin Sign

When you find a wonderfully old, heavy cutting board at the thrift store, it’s hard to pass it up. But what if it’s SO well-loved that it borders on “gross”? Well, that’s what happened to me recently at Habitat ReStore. And I knew that cleaning this old cutting board would require some effort.

See what I mean, though? Such a great cutting board- thick and solid with those wonderfully cut corners.

But it just felt grimy to the touch. Like it was thick with the residue of preparing previous meals.

I wanted to make a cabin for my in-laws’ mountain cabin, which used to be available for rent. You may recall some of the other projects I’ve made for it, such as this brochure holder!

Anyway, I decided to focus on cleaning this board to make a rustic sign for them. It just seemed perfect for that!

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Cleaning an Old Cutting Board

Under normal circumstances, I’d just do some sanding on a cutting board before upcycling it. But I knew that wouldn’t be enough for this fellow.

First, I started with some basic kitchen supplies: baking soda and a lemon.

Pairing up these two would help degrease the board. So, I sprinkled some baking soda over the board and cut the lemon in half.

Then, I worked the baking soda into the wood with the lemon half. Think of the lemon half as a sponge and the baking soda as soap.

I did this on both sides, as well as the edges. The baking soda and lemon juice reacted to form a clumpy paste, which I simply kept swirling and rubbing against the wood grain.

I worked the baking soda into the grain of the wood as hard as I could. It was a messy job, but I could see that it was already making a huge improvement.

After that, I rinsed off the board in my sink and scoured it further with dish soap and a copper scrubber.

Making a Cabin Sign

Once the board had dried, it was appreciably lighter in both weight and color!

I decided to sand it slightly (with 120-grit disks) just to have a smoother working surface. But check out how pale it was compared to how it started!

When I was satisfied with the smoothness after sanding, I gathered materials to re-stain the board. I wanted a deep, rich color for my cabin sign.

When I was happy with the wood stain, I grabbed a stencil from one of my favorite online stencil stores. I also grabbed some white paint, stencil brushes, painter’s tape, and a clean cloth.

After swirling on the paint over the stencil, I had a delightful cabin sign on the old cutting board!

From there, I simply brushed some fine sandpaper (320-grit) over the stenciling to give it a more weathered look. And that was it!

Cleaning an Old Cutting Board to Make a Cabin Sign

I just LOVE how it turned out. Cleaning the board required some effort on my part, but I think it was worth it in the end.

Such a great saying, too. Makes me want to go on a leisurely walk in a shady, bird-filled forest!

I hope you enjoyed the evolution of this cleaning this old cutting board to make a cabin sign. Even though they’ve opted to sell the cabin, I’ll still make a few cabin-inspired projects from time to time!

And if you ever opted to stay there, you undoubtedly recognized a few projects of mine! Like this beat up paddle that I rescued and repurposed as a coat rack.

Craft on!

S

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