"Jim Willemin" wrote in message
. 97.142...
I just finished sanding a little knife block to hold a Chinese cleaver and
a small chef's knife. I used some red oak that was lying around the shop,
gluing it all together with Titebond II. Now: I think I recall that
vegetable oil is the right finish for food-contact woodwork; my questions
start with this: Wouldn't a vegetable oil finish eventually get rancid?
SWMBO has a hellishly sensitive sniffer, and I'm afraid that if the oil in
the wood starts to get a little manky two of my favorite knives will be
either banished altogether or sentenced to a life lying naked in the
silverware drawer. What *is* the right finish? We have quite a few
different oils in the pantry: peanut, olive, canola, corn, and can get
stuff like safflower, soy, sunflower and more that don't leap to mind
right
now. Of course, I can also get the more traditional woodworking oil
finishes. I am blessed with choices and cursed with ignorance - help!

Food contact? Are you going to tenderize the meat by beating it with the
wood block?

Any normal wood finish oil is just fine. Danish oil, varnish oil, mineral
oil, latex paint will do too.

Avoid the cooking oils.