# Conditioning a new cutting board



## valgard (Jan 17, 2017)

I just received my new cutting board but it comes without oil and wax applied. I started applying food grade mineral oil and it's been sucking it like nobody's business. The question is how much oil should I apply? when do I know it's enough? I have applied a few coatings already and it still seems to dry pretty quickly, should I reach the point of saturation before applying the mix of wax and oil?
thx


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## JayGee (Jan 17, 2017)

When oiling timber furniture, the mantra some go by is: everyday for a week, every week for a month, every month for a year... Might be overdoing it, but if its taking up the oil, then it might be useful.


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## Matus (Jan 17, 2017)

Keep oiling until the board keeps absorbing and then apply some board butter. Repeat when the board will start to look dry. I am only using a rather thin (i.e. not too much wax) baord butter every time the board seems to need it.


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## malexthekid (Jan 17, 2017)

I know some of the pro-board makers soak their boards in mineral oil overnight.... so it can take a fair bit....


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## TurboScooter (Jan 17, 2017)

I have a relatively inexpensive Michigan Maple board. I soaked it and wrapped it in cling film a couple of days in a row and it kept sucking it all up, and what I eventually did was stand it up on it's side and pool mineral oil in the finger grip cutout, fairly full too, and it kept sucking it in, so I did that until it stopped and the pool of oil sat and wouldn't absorb. I probably then flipped it on the other end and did the same thing. Now I oil (and board butter) it every once in a while, but it never takes the same amount of oil like that initial one. The surface can look dry after a few washes, but when I grab the board it leaves my hand with just a hint of an oily feeling, which I take to mean that there's still oil in the board beneath the very surface.

Now that I think back, it would have been interesting to take a before and after weight measurement to see how much oil the board actually took up.


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## valgard (Jan 17, 2017)

It seems like the advice is to keep going util it looks like the wood is somewhat saturated of oil before applying the board butter. Thx all


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## mcritchlow (Jan 17, 2017)

JayGee said:


> When oiling timber furniture, the mantra some go by is: everyday for a week, every week for a month, every month for a year... Might be overdoing it, but if its taking up the oil, then it might be useful.



This is what I've done and seems to work well


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## paulraphael (Jan 17, 2017)

I'm guessing from how insatiable it is that it's an end-grain board. If so, this is to be expected.

I have a thick maple end-grain board from the boardsmith, and when it was new I had to apply mineral oil every day for a couple of weeks or so. It would drink it up and it would be gone without a trace. It's important to apply equally to both sides (you probably know this; I'm just mention in case it's not obvious to anyone who stumbles onto this). The board can warp if it gets oiled too unevenly.

After a while, it would take a few days for the oil to soak all the way in, and then it it would take over a week. Somewhere around this point I switched from mineral oil to board conditioner of the type recommended by the boardsmith and others. This was homemade: mineral oil with either paraffin or beeswax melted into it. After a few months, the board seemed satiated. Now I only have to condition once every 4 or 5 months or so. 

I also switched to a commercial board conditioner made by Howard (available for pretty cheap from Amazon). It's mineral oil, beeswax, and carnuba wax. It seems to be much more durable than the stuff I was making, probably because the carnuba wax is hard stuff. I've had great luck with this product.

edited to add: I've been cautioned against immersing the board in oil, because it can become oversaturated and can end up bleeding oil for a long time.


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## miggus (Feb 7, 2017)

Hi everyone, 
what do you think, how much does one need to spend on the oil to saturate the board? I've been warned not to use normal cooking oil, since it can go rancid, and even though I used linseed oil on furniture before, I thought it would be better to be nice. So I got myself this nice oil from a Durch company named uulki, and... the stuff isn't cheap. 15 für 250ml, similar price as for other good quality, food safe wood oil.So far, my two end-grain boards (30x40cm and 35x45cm) have drunk more than 500ml of the stuff, the third bottle is half empty as well. 

So, I thought that there has to be a less expensive way to do the initial saturation - once the board is saturated, I'm totally ok with using good stuff for touch-ups. But maybe it would be fine to use linseed oil or something similar while the boards are super thirsty? It should be food-safe though... the regular oil used for floors and furniture costs much less, but this doesn't seem like a good idea  So what can I use, what do you use, that is less than 60 / Liter?


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## miggus (Feb 7, 2017)

Hi everyone, 
what do you think, how much does one need to spend on the oil to saturate the board? I've been warned not to use normal cooking oil, since it can go rancid, and even though I used linseed oil on furniture before, I thought it would be better to play it safe. So I got myself this nice oil from a Dutch company named Uulki (basically Coconut Oil) and... the stuff isn't cheap. 15 für 250ml, similar price as for other good quality, food safe wood oil.So far, my two end-grain boards (30x40cm and 35x45cm) have drunk more than 500ml of the stuff, the third bottle is half empty as well. 

So, I thought that there has to be a less expensive way to do the initial saturation - once the board is saturated, I'm totally ok with using good stuff for touch-ups. But maybe it would be fine to use linseed oil or something similar while the boards are super thirsty? It should be food-safe though... the regular oil used for floors and furniture costs much less, but this doesn't seem like a good idea  So what can I use, what do you use, that is less than 60 / Liter?


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## Jovidah (Feb 7, 2017)

Visit Ikea. They sell plain mineral oil (called Skydd) for 6 euros per liter. It's specifically targetted for oiling cutting boards and can be found in the kitchen area.
My 45x35 board took over half a liter. Don't waste your money on the expensive small fancy bottles, it's usually the exact same stuff.

Later on you can mix it with beeswax to make board butter.


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## bkultra (Feb 7, 2017)

miggus said:


> Hi everyone,
> what do you think, how much does one need to spend on the oil to saturate the board? I've been warned not to use normal cooking oil, since it can go rancid, and even though I used linseed oil on furniture before, I thought it would be better to be nice. So I got myself this nice oil from a Durch company named uulki, and... the stuff isn't cheap. 15 für 250ml, similar price as for other good quality, food safe wood oil.So far, my two end-grain boards (30x40cm and 35x45cm) have drunk more than 500ml of the stuff, the third bottle is half empty as well.
> 
> So, I thought that there has to be a less expensive way to do the initial saturation - once the board is saturated, I'm totally ok with using good stuff for touch-ups. But maybe it would be fine to use linseed oil or something similar while the boards are super thirsty? It should be food-safe though... the regular oil used for floors and furniture costs much less, but this doesn't seem like a good idea  So what can I use, what do you use, that is less than 60 / Liter?



Is mineral oil not readily available in Germany? It's normally sold at the pharmacy as a laxative.


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## valgard (Feb 7, 2017)

Just go to the pharmacy section in your supermarket and get mineral oil (it's used as a laxative) that will most likely be the cheapest option. I can get 500ml for 7 CAD without looking too much (just go to the nearest grocery store).



miggus said:


> Hi everyone,
> what do you think, how much does one need to spend on the oil to saturate the board? I've been warned not to use normal cooking oil, since it can go rancid, and even though I used linseed oil on furniture before, I thought it would be better to be nice. So I got myself this nice oil from a Durch company named uulki, and... the stuff isn't cheap. 15 für 250ml, similar price as for other good quality, food safe wood oil.So far, my two end-grain boards (30x40cm and 35x45cm) have drunk more than 500ml of the stuff, the third bottle is half empty as well.
> 
> So, I thought that there has to be a less expensive way to do the initial saturation - once the board is saturated, I'm totally ok with using good stuff for touch-ups. But maybe it would be fine to use linseed oil or something similar while the boards are super thirsty? It should be food-safe though... the regular oil used for floors and furniture costs much less, but this doesn't seem like a good idea  So what can I use, what do you use, that is less than 60 / Liter?


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## valgard (Feb 7, 2017)

FWIW, I used about 500 ml in my 18"x16"x2" maple ingrain board and still having to oil it regularly as it's fairly new.


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## miggus (Feb 7, 2017)

Hi all, thank you for the quick replies.



bkultra said:


> Is mineral oil not readily available in Germany? It's normally sold at the pharmacy as a laxative.



Yes, it certainlyis available, I just had the idea in my head to go with plant-based products (I know, mineral oil is plant-based, too :spin chair. So I'll get myself some mineral oil next time


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## valgard (Feb 7, 2017)

Jovidah said:


> Visit Ikea. They sell plain mineral oil (called Skydd) for 6 euros per liter. It's specifically targetted for oiling cutting boards and can be found in the kitchen area.
> My 45x35 board took over half a liter. Don't waste your money on the expensive small fancy bottles, it's usually the exact same stuff.
> 
> Later on you can mix it with beeswax to make board butter.



Interesting, that stuff is more expensive here than the mineral oil sold at the pharmacy (9 CAD/500 ml) but in the end it's all the same. Oh, and Jovidah's advice about making your own board butter is sound and will save you some $$ without giving you more than a couple of minutes worth of heating and mixing.


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## Devon_Steven (Feb 7, 2017)

bkultra said:


> Is mineral oil not readily available in Germany? It's normally sold at the pharmacy as a laxative.



Mineral oil is not considered suitable for human consumption in the EU. So, it's not for sale as a laxative (nor does it appear in an ingredient in, for example, chocolate, thankfully).

You can buy mineral oil from a pharmacy, but it is labelled as "for external use only".

It's also quite expensive from the pharmacy.

The best price I can find in the UK is this stuff: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0144Z5ZLA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Which is £9 / litre.


Steven


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## miggus (Feb 7, 2017)

Ah, thanks Seven, that explains a number of things. So I made the right choice in ordering this: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B006Y70G2K ... good to know


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## Marek07 (Feb 7, 2017)

miggus said:


> ...
> I know, mineral oil is plant-based
> ...


I guess it could be considered plant-based if you go back millions of years. Mineral oil is a petroleum-based product but is deemed food safe. The reason it's used for conditioning wood products is because it's not plant based. Oils from seeds and nuts eventually go rancid over time - mineral oil does not. There are some who say camellia and flaxseed oils are very slow to oxidise but I'll leave that for others for comment.

Edit: The Ikea Skydd oil is a reasonable option in Australia at ~US$7/500ml.


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## miggus (Feb 7, 2017)

Marek07 said:


> I guess it could be considered plant-based if you go back millions of years.


 Yes, that's what I meant. I'm not an oil expert, but some factors are that linseed oil (and maybe others) will polymerize and thus become relatively dry, while other oils will keep their liquid form. Another aspect is that oils used for the kitchen contain a lot of organic products which will get moldy and rancid. If the oil is refined, this problem is not so large anymore, and usually furniture oil will also contain metal-based siccatives (drying accelerators). Obviously, those are not healthy.. I've been using linseed oil, poured through a filter for a long time now and it never went rancid. The thing is, I used it on wooden furniture and a small amount is enough to touch up on relatively saturated wood. But this is what I do, I can't recommend it, because the risk is there that something will go wrong if you don't use furniture oil for these tasks.

And then, this end-grain wood that will absorb these crazy amounts of oil is a new thing for me. Since all the oil in there doesn't have much contact to oxygen anymore, I would be more careful with normal linseed oil, because this is a different situation.
Some carpenters I know recommended using refined kitchen oils, which are intended for frying (refining allows them to handle higher temperatures).

But all this is just my personal experience, based on trial-and error, and on carefully removing any excess oil. There certainly are others who know more about the matter, its their judgment that should be followed


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## Jovidah (Feb 7, 2017)

One little tip: make sure it's elevated on... a frame... or whatever. End-grain boards at some point start acting like straws, and when they're saturated the oil can simply go through and pool at the bottom. So even though it looks like it keeps going dry, you're just setting your board afloat. At least it happened to me.


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## JayGee (Feb 8, 2017)

If you are concerned about mineral oil or paraffin for consumption, you could use regular linseed oil (not boiled, that commonly has drying agents in it) or pure tung oil. Because they are drying oils, you need to be bit more finiky with application. I've done boards with tung oil (sometimes mixed with beezwax) and had good results. Just make sure to remove any excess after about 15 mins.


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## miggus (Feb 9, 2017)

Hi,
so I did some reading one several woodworking sites, and while it seems clear that there are indeed some people who are pros and still use raw linseed or walnut oil. Then there are those who recommend a mix of oil and wax (beeswax or carnubawax) as a topping once the wood is saturated. So, there are many ways to do it, and while I understand that it is not required to stick with plant-based oil, I think I will keep that up for myself. I just hoep that I won't have to cook for people who are allergic nuts...........


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