cutting board finish advice

[Justin Edmonds]

I received a cutting/pastry board combo for Christmas. It came with mineral oil on it but said I could use a permanent finish such as tung oil or Watco Danish Oil. I'm considering using one of them, Cabot Tung Oil Finish, Waterlox, or one of the Tried and True finishes?



My questions are, what would be both safe and durable to put on? Also, will I need to use some xylol to remove the mineral oil first?

Thank you!

[Todd Burch]

Hi Justin.

Mineral oil is the easy and fast finish of choice.

It might need renewing once a year if it gets only a little use, more often with heavy use, but renewing a mineral oil finish takes every bit of 2 minutes or less.

If you are not going to use it, any finish you want can and should be used, and that would be permanent. On a cutting board that gets used, no finish will be permanent.

Todd

[Justin Edmonds]

It will be used but mainly as a pastry board. About the worst thing it'll have used is a biscuit cutter and the occasional cookie cutter.

[Scott Holmes]

Use mineral oil and either parafin wax or bees wax melted in the oil. Microwave is quickest way to melt the wax oin the oil. I send a small bottle of this with every cutting board I make. Film forming finishes will NOT do well even with dough cutters.

[Justin Edmonds]

Ok. Will that do better than the Tried and True polymerized linseed oil and beeswax finish?

[Scott Holmes]

Better is not what I would consider... have you ever smelled linseed oil? I wonder how it "tastes" on pastry.

Mineral oil and parifin wax; no taste, no smell. Personally, I do not like nor use the T&T products.

[Justin Edmonds]

I have. I've used flax oil, same thing different name, to season cast iron skillets. BLO is the only sealant I use on the fingerboards to my instruments any more.

[Howard Acheson]

I received a cutting/pastry board combo for Christmas. It came with mineral oil on it but said I could use a permanent finish such as tung oil or Watco Danish Oil. I'm considering using one of them, Cabot Tung Oil Finish, Waterlox, or one of the Tried and True finishes?

My questions are, what would be both safe and durable to put on? Also, will I need to use some xylol to remove the mineral oil first?

Thank you!

Use the mineral oil or the following:

An excellent treatment for wooden food preparation surfaces like cutting boards and butcher blocks is a mixture of mineral oil and either paraffin or beeswax. This is what is used on many commercial wood surfaces. It will last longer and be more protective than just mineral oil. Mineral oil can be found in most supermarkets in the pharmacy section or in a true pharmacy. Paraffin is found in the canning section of the store or in a hardware store.

Heat the oil in a double boiler and shave in some wax. The exact proportions are not critical--a 5-6 parts of oil to one part of wax will work fine. Stir the mixture until all the wax is liquefied. Apply the mixture heavily and let it set 10-12 hours or overnight. Next day do it again and continue until the wood will no longer absorb the finish. Let it set for 10-12 hours and then lightly scrape off any excess. Then buff it with a rag.

Reapply whenever the wood begins to look dry.

Never put a wood board in the dishwasher and don't soak it in dishwater for long periods.

As to your other questions, technically, all finishes are non-toxic when cured but many finishes have residual odor that is not good on something used for food preparation. If you plan to use the item for food preparation you want something that has no odor and can be easily renewed. Using Xylol or some other solvent is not a good idea.

[Justin Edmonds]

Would Behlen paraffin oil work?

[Prashun Patel]

I've been making a few cutting boards these past months. I tried a couple different things including tung oil, and oil varnishes. However, I'm now partial to Howard's method. It's easy, and does work well.

[Justin Edmonds]

Thanks for the advice! I hope no one thinks I ignored theirs. This is the first time I've worked with anything like this. Usually it's with something where I need a film to build up.

[Jeff Bartley]

Walnut oil works in place of mineral oil too......buy it at the supermarket. Howies' tutorial is spot-on, the only tip I can add is to put the melted wax/oil mixture directly into the freezer. This cools it down before the oil and wax can separate.
I wouldn't use any oil or wax that you can't eat!

[Justin Edmonds]

Ok! Thanks for the advice! Would beeswax be better than paraffin?

[Kent A Bathurst]

FWIW -

On walnut oil, you should at least keep in mind that there are people out there with allergies to tree nuts. I am not at all an expert, but my understanding is that the symptoms range from not at all serious to very serious.

That fact puts me squarely in the mineral oil, or mineral oil+beeswax camp.

[Justin Edmonds]

That's something I hadn't thought of.

[Jeff Bartley]

That's a good point Kent! I've always preferred walnut oil because it's a nut, not petroleum based like mineral oil, but consideration of allergies would certainly dictate that mineral oil is a better choice! Thanks!