Re: Mineral oil for cutting board

Jun 28, 2006 4 Replies


Pharmacy mineral oil works fine but needs renewed every few months. I


> usually pour a small amount on the board, rub it around with my bare hands
> and blot/wipe it lightly with a soft, lint free rag (t-shirt, sheet,
> etc.). Pretty similar to tung or danish oil application. If you let the
> wet oil set on the board it will take forever to dry.
>

Or, in the case of mineral oil - never. That's the weakness. It collects dirt and microbes in its sticky grip and makes it difficult for polar solvents like water, even with the help of surfactants, to get to 'em.

I use unscented baby oil. It's also called mineral oil if I remember rightly, but I'm wondering if there's any practical difference between the two.

Lint free and disposable.

I use two step process. Walnut oil in several coats until it doesn't want to rapidly absorb. Then I have a mixture of mostly walnut oil with beeswax in it. I heat that up on my shop glue double boiler and spread some on then buff it off when it solidfies.

Seems to work great, but I've never used mineral oil, so I have no point of comparison.

Frank

Everywhere. Like everything, it's dose dependant. If you chug the bottle, might take one or two to show an effect.

Experiments in mice have shown a significant decrease in prostate cancer in mice fed linseed, so you might just want to consider it a medicine and limit your dose to what's on the prescription.

I think I'll pass.

Was the linseed treated with salts of cobalt, manganese, etc.?

See Section B.4 and "Annexe 1" of the following publication:

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