With Seppula Mineral Oil Wood Conditioner
In order to maintain a high quality finish on your wood cutting board it needs a little maintenance. Don't worry this maintenance is really simple. 5 quick steps is all it takes.
- Cleaning
- Drying
- Inspection
- Applying Oil
- Buffing
Cleaning
To cleaning your cutting board you will need the following soap, a cleaning tool, and a course of water
Choose a mild detergent or dish soap. Special soap is not needed. I prefer unscented as the scents will not carry over to food later on.
Use a washcloth, wash brush, or soft dish scrub. Unless absolutely necessary avoid rough or course scrubbers. These are usually the rough or scratchy green side of dish sponges. These scrubbers can prematurely wear your cutting board. using a soft scrubber will help put off the need for sanding as long as possible.
Most likely you will be doing this in the kitchen so the kitchen sink is the obvious choice for a source of water. The only reason I mention it in this post is for a precaution. Do not soak your wood cutting board. This can cause your cutting board to swell as a whole, or form water blisters. If the board swells it can cause inlays or glued portions to delaminate. Rinsing the board before and after washing with soap will not allow this to happen. Rinse don't soak.
Rinse the cutting board with warm water and use this step to flush off any loose debris. Next you want to apply the soap to the wash cloth or soft scrubber. Avoid avoid applying soap directly to the board. This can cause soap to soak deeper in to the board and may leave residual soap behind after rinsing. No one wants their cheese or next meal to taste like dish soap. There is also a chance of the soap breaking down any stains or natural wood coloring and leaving the cutting board with uneven coloring. It is best to apply the soap to the washcloth or cleaning brush.
Now just clean the cutting board by scrubbing both sides. Make sure to clean inside any holes or drip grooves. Rinse the board thoroughly.
Drying
After ensuring all soap is rinsed off of your cutting board dry as much water off with a dry dish cloth as you can. Leave the cutting board to completely air dry. Make sure to flip the board at some point so the bottom of the board can dry too.
Inspection
Once the board is completely dry its time to take a closer look. You want to inspect your cutting board for any damage. Damage can include chips, splinters, bubbles, or delaminating inlays. The surface of the cutting board should also be inspected for wear from regular use. Knife marks will eventually need to be sanded. As a good rule of thumb if you can catch your finger nail of a scratch it is in need of repair. Repairs of these damages will be covered in another blog post.
Applying Oil
There are two ways to apply oil to your cutting board. Applying oil directly to the board and applying first to a cloth.
- Applying oil directly to the board should only be done if the board is very dried out. This will look like dried out lighter colored spots. If you see this then apply the oil liberally to the cutting board. You want to smear around the oil to create a coating that has some depth to it. Allow the oil to soak in for 30 minutes to 3 hours. Do this to all sides of the cutting board. After you have allowed the oil to soak in and it doesn't seem like any more oil will be absorbed in to the wood move on to the next step.
- If the cutting board has been regularly cared for and has been oiled recently, then it is recommended that you apply the oil to a clean lint free or microfiber cloth. Wipe oil on all sides of the cutting board until an even none pooling coat has been applied. allow the board to sit for 5 minutes.
Buffing
After allowing the oil to soak in to the cutting board for the above recommended time it is time to buff off any extra oil. To buff your cutting board use a clean dry lint free cloth. Wipe the board until any unsoaked oil has been picked up by the cloth. That's it! you're done. You can now put away your cutting board. These steps should be repeated anytime you begin to see dry spots on your cutting board. We recommend Seppula Mineral Oil Wood Conditioner because it is food safe with no other scents, flavors, colors, or other additives.
