Simple Trick for Dispensing Mineral Oil on Wood
George VondriskaDescription
Why put mineral oil on wood? The biggest reason is that it’s an excellent food-safe finish. For many woodworkers, mineral oil is the go-to sealer for cutting boards and wooden kitchen utensils; anything that may come in contact with food. It’s so easy to apply, easy to get (any pharmacy will have it, or you can order it here), and it works great.
A rag or foam brush will easily take care of spreading the finish around when you use mineral oil on wood but, admittedly, the bottle it comes in doesn’t naturally lend itself to applying a little mineral oil here, and a little there. Without the great tip we show you in this video, it’s easy (too easy) to accidentally dump a boatload of oil in one spot. Way more than you need. No sense wasting the stuff, ,so check out the easy approach for making mineral oil bottles more user friendly.
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Mineral oil is a great product when you're looking for a food-safe finish. And this cutting board that I made is ready for just one more coat of mineral oil. So let's look at the best way I know of to get mineral oil on this surface. Fresh bottle. And most of us are going to grab that piece of foil and tear it off so that we can really get to that mineral oil. Well, here's what makes this work a whole lot better. Take a scratch awl or a nail or something small and just dimple a tiny little hole right in the center, just like that. Now, when we go to put mineral oil on here, we have great control. Brrt! Could write my name. I'm actually stealing this tip from my buddy Dave. And the first time he showed it to me, I was one of these duh moments. Why didn't I ever think of that? It makes it so much easier to not end up with 14 gallons of mineral oil on here that you don't really need. So, next time you're looking for food-safe finish, think of mineral oil. Next time you're using mineral oil, put that tiny little dimple in the protective foil, and it's so much easier to get just the right amount of finish on your project.
I have had good luck over-saturating the board with mineral oil while sitting on a cookie sheet. I typically buy the larger bottles (1 gal), but I will just pour the mineral oil over the board, and then capture the spillage / drips from the bottom side of the board in a cookie sheet / pan, using a funnel to get it back in the bottle. You can re-use it several times this way, and the only "lost" mineral oil is the oil that is stuck inside the board.
I like the other idea, take l the dampener's for ketchup and mustard, found in grocery stores and fill it with any oil and you control a small amount or large.