If you own a wooden cutting board, oil it!

FanOfFanboys

I own two nice end grain cutting boards. One is a Boos board and the other is made by a local guy. But are roughly 2 years old and get used 5-8 times a week (I rarely go out to eat and cook at home)

Neither have got any attention/care since I bought and were starting to appear a bit rough. Bought some howard's butcher block conditioner and each board got 3 coats total. Took a couple hours to complete it all 

Looks so much better! Looks brand new. And I expect both of these boards to last my lifetime and my son's lifetime. Taking care of them will aid in that for sure. 

Plan is to buy some food grade mineral oil and do once a month or so going forward and then use the beeswax/mineral oil combo every 6ish months

Point is: if you own a wooden cutting board you should drop $9 and take care of it

northGAcock

I purchased a product a while back that I use and have been real pleased with it. It's called BeeKeeper's Gold.....a natural Beeswax and Mineral Oil Blend wood preserver.....perhaps the same you reference above. Mine need a little freshening up....perhaps a weekend task to add to my list. 

andersa

How does these products compare with just applying a little canola oil with a paper towel? 

FanOfFanboys

andersa said:

How does these products compare with just applying a little canola oil with a paper towel? 

I am no expert so please confirm anything I say but from my understanding you do not want any oil that can go rancid. So oils like vegetable would be very bad

Mineral and Linseed are the most common from what I have read and heard for putting on cutting boards. Food grade, of course

The beeswax/carnauba that is a part of some is more for adding a protective layer to the board that helps with beading water and protecting to board. Also, means less frequency in maintenance

NDG

Nice reminder.   SIDE NOTE: I was surprised to hear how many ppl hear use Bleach (diluted) on their wood cutting boards to clean.  After reading forum posts, had plans to use bleach after raw meat contact . .  but never got around to it . . still just using dish soap, hot water, elbow grease.  

Lit

I oil mine anytime I have to soap it. The mineral oil takes like a minutes to do. After you oil it you want to keep it elevated so all sides can dry evenly or you can cause warping. I always oil mine on the stove so the grates on the stove keep them elevated.

andersa

FanOfFanboys said:

andersa said:

How does these products compare with just applying a little canola oil with a paper towel? 

I am no expert so please confirm anything I say but from my understanding you do not want any oil that can go rancid. So oils like vegetable would be very bad

Mineral and Linseed are the most common from what I have read and heard for putting on cutting boards. Food grade, of course

The beeswax/carnauba that is a part of some is more for adding a protective layer to the board that helps with beading water and protecting to board. Also, means less frequency in maintenance

Thanks for the explanation, I wasn't aware canola would go bad. Not that I've used it on a cutting board more than perhaps once or twice in the past.

FanOfFanboys

NDG said:

Nice reminder.   SIDE NOTE: I was surprised to hear how many ppl hear use Bleach (diluted) on their wood cutting boards to clean.  After reading forum posts, had plans to use bleach after raw meat contact . .  but never got around to it . . still just using dish soap, hot water, elbow grease.  

never have and no plans to. 95% of the time vegetables are on the smaller cutting board and meat on the larger one. but I have no qualms nor concerns with swapping. as long as between use from raw meat to vegetables it was washed and had time to properly dry

nolaegghead

Note to all:  Treating the board with oil helps keep water out of it, but more importantly, if you treat it, or not, do the same thing to both sides because not doing that will cause your board to break apart.

FanOfFanboys

northGAcock said:

I purchased a product a while back that I use and have been real pleased with it. It's called BeeKeeper's Gold.....a natural Beeswax and Mineral Oil Blend wood preserver.....perhaps the same you reference above. Mine need a little freshening up....perhaps a weekend task to add to my list. 

northGAcock said:

I purchased a product a while back that I use and have been real pleased with it. It's called BeeKeeper's Gold.....a natural Beeswax and Mineral Oil Blend wood preserver.....perhaps the same you reference above. Mine need a little freshening up....perhaps a weekend task to add to my list. 

different company but no doubt just as good between the two. I assume the biggest difference between companies is ratio of beeswax to mineral oil? actually would like someone knowledgeable to pipe in on that bc some of these brands are $30 range and other $10 range, for what appears ot be same product. curious how much is name brand and how much is differing ratios of the two

FanOfFanboys

nolaegghead said:

Note to all:  Treating the board with oil helps keep water out of it, but more importantly, if you treat it, or not, do the same thing to both sides because not doing that will cause your board to break apart.

really glad you posted that because it was one of my questions: do I need to reat the sides and bottom of the board

seems the answer is yes?

nolaegghead

The sides don't matter in an end grain board, but yes, you need to treat both side the same - especially if you wash the board, wash both sides equally.

blasting

The bees wax makes a huge difference in frequency of application.  

For years, I've purchase organic beeswax from amazon and food grade mineral oil from the pharmacy section at Walmart.  Melt a chunk of wax in some oil and apply warm buff with  a terry cloth towel.  I do all my wooden spoons etc at the same time.