BLO on a chopping board

[Andy P Devon]

Would it be OK to use Diall (B+Q) BLO on a chopping board?
I've read the COSHH info for the product and it states no restriction on use so .....

Also any food safe suggestions on what to put on top of this? (assuming BLO is OK).

 

[Steve Maskery]

My chopping board has nothing at all on it. It is teens of years old, made of elm and although it is no longer remotely flat, continues to serve me well.
Linseed is made of flax, so I don't see any problem with it from a culinary point of view.

I also have a nice maple chopping board, and if anyone can tell me where it is I would be very grateful.

 

[sammy.se]

I use edible flax seed oil, which is linseed oil, bought from a food shop.



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[sammy.se]

My chopping board has nothing at all on it. It is teens of years old, made of elm and although it is no longer remotely flat, continues to serve me well.
Linseed is made of flax, so I don't see any problem with it from a culinary point of view.

I also have a nice maple chopping board, and if anyone can tell me where it is I would be very grateful.

I thought BLO has additives in it, unlike pure flax seed oil...

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[Steve Maskery]

I didn't know that. Are they harmful additives?
As I say, mine is bare naked.
S

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It'll set with a skin, so little point in putting anything on top of it. Also, it doesn't tend to sink in all that well so that defeats the point. Just use a vegetable oil or paraffin (mineral) oil.
Linseed and boiled linseed are different things, flax oil for human consumption is probably just linseed but a bit cleaner. BLO has additives.

 

[sammy.se]

I didn't know that. Are they harmful additives?
As I say, mine is bare naked.
S

I'm not sure... What I've learned comes from Google, to be honest. Apparently it retains the name 'boiled' from methods used in the past, but now they tend to have additives to speed up drying time, instead of the heat treatment.

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[Fitzroy]

I wouldn’t use BLO as it does contain other things and I doubt you can find out what they are. I ended up using mineral oil on mine as that seemed the most neutral in nature and used by many trade chopping board makers.

Fitz

 

[marcros]

If you use anything, you want a non drying oil. Mineral oil is often suggested, but of the list of suggestions the only one that I could get from a local supermarket was walnut oil. Morrisons didn't have it but Waitrose did- £3 for a small bottle, sufficient to do a dozen boards. Just beware of nut allergies particularly if you are selling/gifting the board.

The others that I saw were pure tung oil (used this previously on boards but I have lost the bottle of it), flax and raw linseed (may actually be what flax oil is).

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Tung oil, coming from a nut is dubious (without creeping into the botanical definition of nuts - peanuts of course aren't nuts).

 

[marcros]

I never thought of that, but it was on things for home with no allergies.

 

[thetyreman]

I wouldn't use BLO personally, more to do with the smell, the stuff stinks, so does pure linseed, I wouldn't want that smell in any of my food, pure tung does have a smell as well but it's less pungent, mineral oil is probably the best bet or chestnut food safe oil.

 

[Rorschach]

Raw linseed oil for me. Mineral oil is fine but it washes out really quickly so I doubt it is actually doing any good. The linseed seems to hang around longer and make the board easier to clean and dry.

 

[sneggysteve]

IKEA - https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/skydd-wood ... -00046786/

 

[--Tom--]

Mineral oil/liquid paraffin followed by a home brew mixture of pure beeswax and mineral oil.

After a couple of months needs retreating but during that time it stops liquids soaking in. This isn’t so much to protect the wood but help stopping everything taste of onions.

A side benefit has been that it does also help with protecting from warping and keeping the board flat.

When I refresh the oil I give it a once over with a cabinet scraper first which takes out the score lines and refreshes the surface.

I’d avoid any other oils for the reasons listed by others, plus liquid paraffin is generally cheaper.

 

[Rorschach]

FYI although I don't use it for chopping boards I do use mineral oil for lots of other things and the cheapest source I have found is horse laxative. It's food grade mineral oil and very cheap.

I tried equestrian suppliers for raw linseed oil but oddly that is more expensive than buying from a wood finishing supplier.

 

[ED65]

Would it be OK to use Diall (B+Q) BLO on a chopping board?
I've read the COSHH info for the product and it states no restriction on use so .....

Yeah but why? What is it you're trying to achieve with the BLO coat(s)?

Also any food safe suggestions on what to put on top of this? (assuming BLO is OK).

All finishes can be considered or are food safe, despite all the hoo-ha to the contrary. But again, why?

Finishes applied after treating the wood with BLO is not uncommon practice but it has specific goals in mind and it's not really a finishing regimen compatible with cutting surfaces.

 

[ED65]

I thought BLO has additives in it, unlike pure flax seed oil...

Correct. Almost all commercial boiled linseed oil is industrial linseed oil (processed) with one or more metallic driers added and not actually boiled. The old 'boiled' oil that this derives its name from wasn't boiled per se, it was heated in closed containers to pre-polymerise it, producing something completely different to modern BLO. The only similarity they share is drying more quickly than raw linseed oil, otherwise they might as well be chalk and cheese.

Only if you buy "pure flax oil" or "flax seed oil" do you get pure, unrefined, i.e. cold-pressed, oil from linseeds. What is sold as raw linseed oil is probably all large-scale-production linseed oil, which is solvent-extracted (to maximise yield) and alkali-processed (to remove the 'foots'); this accounts for the bulk of linseed oil production worldwide.

 

[That would work]

Leave it bare. Or use a food oil, I believe walnut oil dries better than olive. But its pretty much irrelevant.

 

[sammy.se]

This is the oil I used on my chopping board. Two coats, dried in a couple of days. I like it, smell is gone as well.

My wife bought this to season the cast iron cookware, so if you have those that's an added use.

Crikey - didn't know the cost until I googled it just now! :-D

https://uk.iherb.com/pr/Barlean-s-Organ ... 5pEALw_wcB

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