Question for a friend

[Bobby Perry]

What oil would you use on a butcher block to reoil???

[Kenneth Hertzog]

food grade :D

[Bob Hovde]

There's a good article on finishes for food items in the latest AAW magazine. He suggests leaving cutting surfaces as is - you'll cut through any finish, anyway.

That said, I've tried mineral oil, but it doesn't dry. If you're not going to use it (just there for show), any oil would do. ("Salad bowl" finish is just thinned varnish. It's name is just marketing.)

Bob

[Mack Cameron]

Here's what I use on my end grain cutting boards! Works great, soaks in, easy to recoat, smells like honey!
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=20087&cat=1,190,42950

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=69486&highlight=grain+cutting+boards

[Joe Chritz]

I use mineral oil from the drug store. It is sold as a laxative.

It goes on better if warmed just a bit under a hair dryer or in the window under the sun. You do have to reapply periodically but the long grain board I use almost daily only gets a recoat every few months now. Even week or so when I first built it.

Salad bowl finish is fine as it doesn't really build on end grain if you put it on light.

Joe

[Steven Wilson]

Mineral Oil or Mineral Oil with some paraffin melted into it (10% by volume)

[Paul Engle]

the cutting boards ( edge grain maple ) my wife used in her resturaunt were not coated with anything,they were washed with warm soapy water , rinsed with 10% solution of bleach and wipe dry., after 24 years not one sick person nor food problem and the Health Dist never had any complaints.

Now, I use mineral oil.....:D

[Bill Stevener]

NOT to sound sarcastic, but I use "Butcher Block Oil". :D

[Ted Calver]

I found a product at Lowe's called butcher block oil--I think it was by Watco? or Minwax? that I used on my last few cutting boards. I worked great.

[Ron McKinley]

I was a butcher when I was in high school and we scraped it with a thick wire brush, cleaned it with a weak bleach solution then oiled it with mineral oil. I'm assuming you mean a real butcher block and not a cutting board........Ron

[Pete Jordan]

I would use Mike Mahoney's walnut oil. http://www.bowlmakerinc.com/

[Allen Neighbors]

IMO, Paul's wife's restaurant had the right idea. Oil will allow bacteria to breed, and live a long life.