# what glue -fixing



## lardilati (Feb 19, 2016)

Ok first post so be gentle with me. I have a nice piece of Oak which is to be used as a cheese board, to make it even better I want to make a recess for a hand made ceramic tile 100mm square 10mm thick. making the recess shouldn't be a problem, but what to use to fix the tile, the biggest problem I think will be the edges of the tile. I don't want a gap between the wood and the tile. otherwise cleaning the board would be impossible,but when I make the recess I will have to leave a small gap to allow something to flow into because the tile is handmade so not totally straight, any ideas?


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## Rogerdodge (Apr 24, 2014)

Welcome, Martin, to the forum. If that were me, I wouldn't fix the tile down at all, take the it out to wipe and then thoroughly clean the board. That said, you won't be short of advice from the experts, once they spot your post !


Rog


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

lardilati said:


> Ok first post so be gentle with me. I have a nice piece of Oak which is to be used as a cheese board, to make it even better I want to make a recess for a hand made ceramic tile 100mm square 10mm thick. making the recess shouldn't be a problem, but what to use to fix the tile, the biggest problem I think will be the edges of the tile. I don't want a gap between the wood and the tile. otherwise cleaning the board would be impossible,but when I make the recess I will have to leave a small gap to allow something to flow into because the tile is handmade so not totally straight, any ideas?


Welcome Marty to the forums......

you may not care for this but oak is not all that great for a working food board because of it's open cell/grain structure..
juices and particles will work their way into the wood more so than a closed cell wood like maple... 

w/ that said, 5 minute epoxy will work fine for glue and use it as a seam sealer if you wish...
also there are hot melt and an array of other seam sealers...

again...
welcome to the forums...


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## Multiwood (Feb 24, 2013)

Welcome to the forum Martin. It depends on what kind of Oak your using. Red Oak is open grain like
Stick says but White Oak is suitable for cutting boards. If I'm wrong Stick will set me straight a lot of
wisdom comes from that part of Colorado.


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## lardilati (Feb 19, 2016)

Thanks stick, I haven't had a problem with the white oak before but will try Maple next time to compare. There appears to be a whole new world of seam sealers out there, I will have to investigate locally to see what is available, but the idea of the 5 min epoxy looks good to me. Getting a tidy edge will take a bit of practice.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Hi Martin and welcome. I think I would use a kitchen/bathroom grade silicone with anti mildew properties to stick the tile down and the seal the edge gaps. Silicone is commonly used to attach mirrored glass to panels and I have some like that on my bathroom medicine chest that have been on for 20 years. I might size the wood below the tile with a thin glue mixture first as silicone doesn't seem to want to stay attached to raw wood as well as it does inert surfaces.

I agree with Knot Working about the white oak. I'm sure it will be fine and oak is very high in tannin which is naturally anti-microbial.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hi, Martin; welcome!
On a completely different tack, are you using one of those wire type cheese cutters? If you intend to use something like a paring knife, or anything else with a sharpened edge, the tile glaze will ruin the edge.
Just a consideration.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

lardilati said:


> Thanks stick, I haven't had a problem with the white oak before but will try Maple next time to compare. There appears to be a whole new world of seam sealers out there, I will have to investigate locally to see what is available, but the idea of the 5 min epoxy looks good to me. Getting a tidy edge will take a bit of practice.


My Bad...
when you said Oak I naturally thought Red Oak...
White is worlds different in cell and grain...
look for seam sealers in the flooring department...
you may have to build up in multiple layers...
as for matching the tile's edge cut an inlay template using the tile... 
band the edge of the tile w/ duct tape (one or two layers) to avoid chipping the tile and you'll get a fine/thin seam at the same time..

http://www.routerforums.com/guide-bushings-templates/12954-making-inlay-template.html


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