# A good alternative to General Finishes Salad Bowl Finish?



## ComradeNorgren (Feb 6, 2012)

Hey guys, i've been finishing my boards with the typical wax and mineral oil finish, but it's a lot of upkeep and the boards get pretty rough without any oil. I was wondering if you guys knew a good alternative? I hear GF's salad bowl finish is great for cutting boards, but unfortunately California will not allow it to be sold here. So if you guys have any ideas, please let me know!


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## jaykaypur (Oct 22, 2011)

I have not, as yet, made a cutting board but on all my spoons I just use either olive or sunflower oil. That seems to work for me.


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## ClintSearl (Dec 8, 2011)

Raw tung oil baked in the oven for a several hours at <200 degrees is the best.


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

Pardon my ignorance here, but when you make a wooden cutting board for someone, what are the expectations of the client? If you are making really pretty cutting boards, do people actually USE them as cutting boards?

I have and use wood cutting boards. They're more hygenic than the plastic ones. I use mineral oil on them (no wax) and if they start looking dull I have a microfiber cloth (with mineral oil) in a zip loc bag in the cabinet that I take out and rub them for a quick refresh. When they're new, I oil them every day for a week or 2. Seems the more you use them, the less maintenance they require. That could just be because they get oiled well from the start, I don't know. 
Once a day for a week or 2. Then once a week for 3 months or so, then once a month for a year and I have some that are several years old and look great. And I actually use them! I have one right now that hasn't been oiled for at least 3 months and it's fine.

If they get a little grungy, I sprinkle them well with salt and scrub them with dishrag, the salt and some plain water. Wipe them off, let 'em dry and oil 'em after a salt bath.

Be very careful using vegetable oils. If you're actually using the piece for food and not display, vegetable oils go rancid and sometimes rather quickly. Rancid oil is not poisonous and it usually won't make anyone sick. Oil goes rancid through oxydation. In some parts of the world, the only oil people know is rancid due to poor storage conditions.

You use mineral oil on a cutting board because even though it's petroleum based, it's inert, colorless, tasteless and odorless. It doesn't get rancid. Adding the wax gives the mixture some small improvement in moisture resistance, but I've founf that if you simply oil the boards properly from the start and then taper it off as I stated above, the wax just adds complexity and I haven't noticed any adverse affects from NOT using wax.

All of the above is from the viewpoint of someone who cooks and actually uses wood cutting boards. I have plastic ones and corian ones and even had a fancy rubber-ish one for a while, but the wood is much kinder to my knives.


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## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

I've got a friend that makes a pretty good profit making cutting boards. He uses Howard Butcher Block & Cutting Board Oil.


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