Stop Using Mineral Oil for Cutting Boards and Utensils!

Do the new owners of the house know you keep coming back to record a youtube show?

Tung oil is good for utensils and decorative cutting boards. But a film finish on a functional cutting board doesn't make sense. Through oxidation, tung oil (and other drying oils) cross-link to form a polymer film. Expose that film to a knife and you have a minced film finish. For a working cutting board / butcher block, mineral oil penetrates, which hydrates the wood to avoid cracking/checking and helps to avoid absorption of what you're cutting. The addition of beeswax has a twofold benefit - it seals the wood grain to further prevent drying, and it creates pliable self-healing film that resist moisture penetration from what you're cutting.

I made a bunch of those checkerboard cutting boards inspired by one of your first videos, and gave most of them to my friends as wedding gifts. 15 years later, I can tell you they have now featured prominently in more than a few divorce proceedings. I'm just saying, people's love of those cutting boards outlasted more than a few marriages. And for the record, the Salad bowl finish has also lasted the test of time

As a Brazilian I have a responsibility to help you with your pronunciation! Jatobá reads - JA (open A as in lAugh) - TO ( as in TOtally) - BÁ (open A as in BAth like the british say it. Strong silable of the word) Jah - toh - bah. Love your content! I couldn't understand the first 7 times you said it hahaha

I can comment on Cherry. I made a cutting board of padouk and amercian cherry pver 40 year ago, finished with Mineral Oil. It nevers gets submerged in the sink, just wiped off with clean or sometimes soapy water depending, and other than a few knife marks, I have to say that it has served me exceptionally well. These days, I would put bees wax on it to prevent it from being easily washed off by dish detergent as another commenter below has mentioned.

Saving the good stuff for a “rainy” day I see! Literally, all that crazy rain we had in Missouri! Great video Marc! Thanks for the effort as always! 😊

Great job, Marc! I've been waiting on this video since you first teased it before the big move. It did not disappoint. Thanks for all that you do to make woodworking better.

I owe the YouTube algorithm a beer. This was perfect timing as I am going to make a couple of cutting boards and was researching finishes, I think you've made up my mind, thanks for the video!

Thanks so much! I restored an old teak patio set using tung oil, and it truly is amazing!

I've been using pure tung for years, but have never tortured it the way you did. I am so glad your results did not make me regret my choices. Well done.

For those wondering, polymerized linseed oil is just heat treated linseed oil. It's another word for linseed stand oil. The heating process modifies the oil's fats to reduce drying time. It also creates a slightly different coating that yellows a little less than raw oil. Tung oil is usually sold in the same state. It's basically boiled linseed oil. By that I mean the medieval definition of boiled linseed oil in that it's actually heated up. Linseed oil was originally mixed with litharge (lead) to produce a harder finish and boiled to reduce drying time. This very dangerous process resulted in a product called boiled linseed. This was replicated later by using harsh chemicals so that it didn't need the lead additive or to be heated since raw linseed oil's boiling point is just above it's flash point. This VOC emitting product is modern boiled linseed oil. Later, they made a process to polymerize linseed (and other) oils by heating them in a vacuum. This avoids spontaneous combustion and results in a new "boiled linseed oil" that doesn't have VOCs or lead.

Thanks for pointing out the "tung oil finish" issue. I was about to use some of that for a project, and I'm glad I watched this video first.

Really enjoy your channel as finishing is one of my favourite parts of woodworking. It is true that you should look at all ingredients going into your body. Earned some of my respect around the 6 minute mark.

I've used tung for decades, the citrus thinner is a great idea, thanks!

Damn, this video is coming full circle for me; way back when you were first getting started with your youtube channel, you made a cutting board that my dad saw and we decided to try to make out own. We enjoyed it so much that we started experimenting and designing our own and ended up creating a bit of a business. Ten years later we've sold several hundred of our high-end end-grain chop boards. It's amazing that you are all in on Jatoba; because figured out early on that it was the PERFECT wood for cutting boards (but sanding the end grain is insane! We've always been just using mineral oil / parrafin mix, but mabye we will do some experimenting after watching this vid.

This is such a useful video. My mom is allergic to bees and everything to do with them (including beeswax) and we've never loved mineral oil on boards and finishes, so it's nice to know that other food-safe finishes are more available, and it's useful to know what sorts of things to request from craftsmen if/when we have things made. Thank you!

If you want a polymerizing "drying" oil that is food-safe, consider black sesame oil. It takes a good long time to set, but it does set hard, makes your kitchen smell nice, and requires about the same maintenance as tung or linseed. It's delicious for stir-frying greens too. I do still prefer mineral oil which really isn't a finish per-se because it's not drying.... mineral oil definitely is the highest-maintenance of all the options (as you point out) and does require occasional reapplication but my experience with cutting boards is that the boards last longer than with drying oils.

4:00 Polymerization might be partial. Polymer chains can be short, medium, long, etc. Shorter usually means more liquid. I think of polymers as legos. The individual molecule is a brick and you can squish bricks together to make more chains. The shorter, the easier they move around each other. The longer, the more stuck/hard they get.

Pretty interesting results indeed, Marc! Thanks for testing it! 😃 I'm going to look for tung oil here in Brazil! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

I love tung oil, glad to see I picked correctly! I was actually surprised at that result too! I'd love to see a long term follow up for something like this! or even natural finishes on outdoor projects!