Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

> On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 01:29:57 -0500, "Bob (this one)" >
> wrote:
>
>>A long time ago, it was animal fats. Butchers scraped their blocks and
>>rubbed them with lard or beef fat. Country people rubbed pig tails on
>>their skillets to grease them and their boards to "slick" them. Then
>>when liquid oils became available, they were used. Then the carpenters
>>and cabinetmakers got into the act and promoted mineral oil because it
>>works on armoires and dining room tables, and they just figured...
>>Normal people kept to food oils anyway, because they work just fine.
>
> Ahem-- Cabinetmakers use hardening oils, like "boiled" linseed and
> tung.

My bad, then. My partner in the cutting board business often used
lemon oil alone and other oils with wax melted into them. I guess I
assumed things I shouldn't have.

> Mineral oil doesn't polymerize.

But food oils do, under certain conditions. Seasoning on cast iron
assumes polymerization. The edges of my ancient cutting boards made at
the beginning of the last century have edges that are smooth and
slightly slippery. I'm guessing it's polymerized oil, but I could be
wrong.

> But woodworkers get nervous when
> they make cutting boards and salad bowls, because their normal
> finishing materials aren't rated for contact with food.

Nor are their glues. We discovered when we made our first few boards.
They became the display models and my partner proceeded to assemble
the woods with food-safe glues and I made the oil/beeswax finishing
material. People used it on their boards and came back to buy some for
their furniture.

> Mineral oil (USP) at least won't poison anyone, even if it does the
> cutting board no good.

<LOL> A fine reason to use it. It probably does do the board good, but
my assertion is that it isn't necessary to use any other oils than are
routinely used in food applications, saving the ones that are strongly
scented. I've used oils from walnut, grapeseed, soy, corn, peanut (but
only once - it smelled faintly of peanuts for a while) and "vegetable"
which could have been any of several.

Pastorio