End grain cutting board oil question

How do you apply oil to

  • Wipe on. (small production, single board)

    Votes: 8 66.7%
  • Oil in a pan(letting it soak in... larger production... multiple boards)

    Votes: 4 33.3%
  • Other... (Neither, let the customer do it!)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    12

Ned Bulken

Member
Messages
5,529
Location
Lakeport NY and/or the nearest hotel
OK Ladies & Gents,
for those who make end grain cutting boards, are you a fan of wipe on oil, or soaking in a pan for applying mineral oil?

I'm about to gear up for a production run of boards... 10-15 or more.
 
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I mix mineral oil with a little paraffin wax to 'thicken' the mixture up, then put it into a squeeze bottle and lay it on thick and let it soak in. After it sits for a while, I mop up the any excess (usually isn't any) and buff it up a bit with a paper towel.

To make the oil/wax just heat up a pan of water, put a mason jar in the water, put a bottle of mineral oil and a chunk of paraffin. Let the paraffin melt and mix it up. Don't put too much paraffin, or else the mix gets too thick.

The paraffin just seems to help give it a bit more of a 'finish'.
 
If I only have one to do I use a baking sheet and slather it on thick and rub it in with a paper towel when it looks dry. I'll flip the board several times and recoat.

If I have several boards at once I'll cover the dinning room table with plastic and coat the boards as above.
 
I chose the "wipe on" method because that's what I've always done but I'm presently working on a run of 15 boards (staff xmas gifts) so I may explore the put them in a filled tub method.

Any recommendations on how long they should soak?
 
I use Watco Butcher Block Oil and Finish from the Borg. It seems to wick into end grain and dries in the wood helping keep moisture from entering and harboring bacteria. After the Watco dries I rub in a mixture of Mahoney's Walnut oil finish and beeswax. Seems to work well on the boards we have been using for several years.
 
I use Watco Butcher Block Oil and Finish from the Borg. It seems to wick into end grain and dries in the wood helping keep moisture from entering and harboring bacteria. After the Watco dries I rub in a mixture of Mahoney's Walnut oil finish and beeswax. Seems to work well on the boards we have been using for several years.

Ted remind me not to eat any food prepared on one of your boards, I am alergic to walnut wood and also the nuts.
 
If the walnut oil is refined, there shouldn't be any issues with allergies.

I can't say that's 100%, but it's what I've been told.
 
Don..I always tell whoever the board goes to what the finish is. There have been many discussions about the possibility of allergic reactions to the nut oil and the consensus is that the process it goes through destroys the proteins that cause allergic reactions. Mahoney's site says: "Mahoney's Fine Finishes are high-quality, non-toxic, and food-safe products…a woodturner's dream!"
 
Ted,
I have heard the same thing but if you haven't had an alergic reaction you just don't know. I choose to err on the side of caution.

Best way to tell, and this honestly comes from a nurse, that if you want to know for sure go to your ER and try it.

But yes, the refining process is supposed to kill the protein that causes the allergy. It 100% works this way for peanut oil - again, if it says refined.
 
I've had good luck with straight up Mineral Oil from the drug store (though I did buy a bottle of liquid gold, or so you'd think...) which was cutting board oil... more than double the price of plain old mineral oil.
 
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Ned, I've always used mineral oil, usually slathering it on both sides, then letting it sit in a cookie pan for a day or so, turning the board over a few times in the process and adding oil when needed. Then I wipe it "dry" with paper towels and call it done.

Don, I have a friend who is severely allergic to all nuts and nut products. If she touches nut meats she breaks out in a rash. If she ingests anything with nuts in it she can't breathe. She carries a syringe of EpiPen in her purse in case of accidental exposure. (I only saw her need it once, when she had a sip of a mixed drink with Amaretto in it.) Anyway, she just visited us for five days a week or so ago, and I just happened to be finishing a batch of eight bowls with Mahoney's walnut oil finish, so I used her as a test subject. ;) She handled some walnut bowls with walnut oil finish that had cured for a day. She sniffed it She rubbed it on her arms. She also spent a lot of time in the same room where I was finishing the bowls. Through all of it she had no reaction.

I'm not saying you shouldn't a void all things walnut, but I offer this as anecdotal evidence that the heat process the Mahoney's oil goes through does indeed destroy the proteins that cause nut allergy reactions. Now if you're allergic to walnut wood itself, I don't know if that would still be the case, but I'd think a walnut cutting board would possibly be more dangerous than the oil on it.
 
Vaughn,
that has been my M.O. up til now, looking at a larger run of them than I've done in the past, however, so I'm interested in streamlining the process. SOaking in a pan would be my preference, vs rub/reapply/repeat .I seem to recall reading that someone (here or other forum) used to park them in a turkey pan and let them soak up what the wood will take, then do one final overall surface rub down and call it good.

More interested in the method than the oil used, as I'm going to stick with mineral oil and be done with it.
 
I always get raked over the coals for this, but, for my own cutting boards, I use olive oil.
Boards made for others I use mineral oil just to avoid arguments.
I'm a wipe on guy, never soak,
 
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