Author Topic: ROUGH rough-sawn cedar aging boards - use? Maintenance?  (Read 5856 times)

Offline ArnaudForestier

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Madison, Wisconsin
  • Posts: 1,546
  • Cheeses: 45
  • Default personal text
    • Paul's FB
ROUGH rough-sawn cedar aging boards - use? Maintenance?
« on: March 08, 2011, 09:12:32 PM »
In flipping my wheels today, I discovered some blue on my white wood (now I know where my newest tomme was getting its local color), and am debating trying to clean it up, or toss the wood and start anew with new wood.  I have some extremely rough, 1x8 cedar (rough on one side, actually) that I have cut to fit and placed into the cave. 

Dumb question, maybe - but I've seen rough sawn, and then rough sawn.  This stuff is really rough, so I'm not sure if the benefit of using the rough side will be outweighed by the devilish time maintaining the boards with weekly changes, and perhaps I should sand it down, at least to a coarse finish.  For the moment, I'm using the smooth surface.  Any suggestions  on using stuff this rough?  On maintenance, on an ongoing basis?
- Paul

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: ROUGH rough-sawn cedar aging boards - use? Maintenance?
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2011, 09:46:20 PM »
The mystique of rough wood nowadays has taken an aura of preferred over other materials, but the reality is that wood was chosen because it was practical. And it was rough because to finish shelving for cheese would be a little silly. And it just so happens that rough wood is better at harboring bacteria than finished wood. And it also just so happens that strains of B linens and Streptococcus inhibit listeria and other pathogens. So, what started as a practical solution became a tradition and used natural ecosystems to manage pathogens.

Nowadays, knowing more about what's happening, it's up to you how you want to play it.  If you want to use native strains, see what grows. If you want to use introduced strains, then sanitize, and inoculate.

In terms of management, two school of thought. One is to sanitize periodically. Two is to encourage natural ecosystems. In both cases, there's still the chance of pathogens surviving or infecting, more so than there is with impervious surfaces. Up to you want you prefer in terms of cleaning, and also in terms of sanded wood vs not.

Offline ArnaudForestier

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Madison, Wisconsin
  • Posts: 1,546
  • Cheeses: 45
  • Default personal text
    • Paul's FB
Re: ROUGH rough-sawn cedar aging boards - use? Maintenance?
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2011, 11:11:32 PM »
Great story, Pav, thanks. My inkling is to leave everything be, try to minimize my hand in it, and only control as necessary to avoid unwanted flora.  That said, I flipped when I saw blue on the whitewood, directly under 2 of my 3 tommes.  I know - likely overreaction...would you suggest I just vinegar wash, something like this, for the blue spots?

As to cedar itself - I would not have thought of using it (because of its aromatic character), but I know many do.  I also discovered that what was listed as "spruce" whitewood is, in fact, pine.  So I've been aging on pine.  So, I'm either making retsinatomme, or it doesn't make as much difference as I would have thought, given pine's rep.  Any experience with cedar itself?
« Last Edit: March 08, 2011, 11:19:03 PM by ArnaudForestier »
- Paul

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: ROUGH rough-sawn cedar aging boards - use? Maintenance?
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2011, 11:20:13 PM »
Salt + vinegar, or steam, or bleach or similar.

Cedar and pine both work. I've used fir, too, and hardwoods. It really doesn't matter that much, unless you have specific sanitation needs. Exotic woods and woods that stain or leach natural resins don't work so well. Oh and the best wood is old growth, and dried to a very low moisture content.


Offline ArnaudForestier

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Madison, Wisconsin
  • Posts: 1,546
  • Cheeses: 45
  • Default personal text
    • Paul's FB
Re: ROUGH rough-sawn cedar aging boards - use? Maintenance?
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2011, 12:34:53 AM »
Cheers, thanks again. :)
- Paul

Tomer1

  • Guest
Re: ROUGH rough-sawn cedar aging boards - use? Maintenance?
« Reply #5 on: April 17, 2011, 11:40:27 AM »
You can simply kill it with heat, I cant imagine it will survive above 50-60c.
If the plank is so enough put it in the oven for a short time, If its large use a kitchen\cigar blow tourch (used to burn the crust of a soufle)

Offline ArnaudForestier

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Madison, Wisconsin
  • Posts: 1,546
  • Cheeses: 45
  • Default personal text
    • Paul's FB
Re: ROUGH rough-sawn cedar aging boards - use? Maintenance?
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2011, 03:13:59 PM »
You can simply kill it with heat, I cant imagine it will survive above 50-60c.

Thanks, Tomer.  Will give it a try. 

If the plank is so enough put it in the oven for a short time, If its large use a kitchen\cigar blow tourch (used to burn the crust of a soufle)

Lol - bois brulée. 
- Paul