What Oil Should I Use on Wood Boards?

 Food-grade mineral oil is the safe, everyday choice for conditioning an olive wood cutting board.

The Best Oils for a Wood Cutting Board

Food-grade mineral oil is the gold standard, and for good reason. It is a food-safe oil that stays liquid, does not oxidise, and will not spoil, so it can sit inside the wood for months without ever turning. You can find it at most pharmacies and kitchen shops, often labelled as "food-grade" or "cutting board oil." A single bottle lasts years because a board only needs a small amount each time.

If you prefer a plant-based option, fractionated coconut oil is a good second choice. The word "fractionated" matters: it means the parts of the oil that go rancid have been removed, so unlike regular coconut oil it stays shelf-stable and food-safe on wood. It behaves much like mineral oil and soaks in cleanly.

Whichever you choose, the same oil works beautifully on the rest of your olive wood pieces too, from a daily prep board like our Natural Cutting Board to a set of olive wood bowls that could use a refresh. One bottle covers your whole kitchen.

Why You Should Never Use Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil

This is the counterintuitive part, especially for an olive wood board. Regular cooking oils, olive oil, canola, sunflower, and vegetable oil, are all what woodworkers call "drying" or "semi-drying" oils. They contain fats that react with air and slowly go rancid. Rub cooking oil into a board and within a few weeks it can turn sticky, smell sour, and leave your board with a faintly off odour that transfers to food. It is the single most common board-care mistake we see.

So why do we finish our boards with olive oil at the workshop? Because it is a specific, food-safe curing process, not a splash of extra virgin from the kitchen. The oil is applied and cured with beeswax so it sets into a stable, sealed finish rather than sitting wet on the surface. For home top-ups, you do not want to recreate that; you want an oil that simply will not spoil, which is exactly why mineral oil is the everyday recommendation.

The takeaway is simple: cook with olive oil, but maintain your board with mineral oil. If you want the full wash-and-care routine alongside the oiling, we walk through it step by step in our guide on how to clean and oil an olive wood board.

How to Oil Your Board, Step by Step

Oiling a board takes about two minutes of hands-on time. Start with a clean, completely dry board, because oil cannot soak into damp wood. Pour a small pool of food-grade mineral oil straight onto the surface, then spread it over the whole board with a soft, lint-free cloth or paper towel, working with the grain and getting the sides and ends too. The end grain, the short edges, is thirstiest, so give it a little extra.

Now walk away and let the wood drink. Leave the oil to soak in for a few hours, or overnight if you can. When you come back, buff off any oil that has not absorbed with a clean cloth so the surface feels silky rather than greasy. That is it. If the wood soaks up everything and still looks thirsty, give it a second coat.

A generous board like our Rectangular Cutting Board will drink deeply the first few times and then need less as the wood stays conditioned. You will quickly learn to read your own board: deep colour and a soft sheen means it is happy, while a pale, dull, or rough surface means it is asking for oil.

How Often Should You Oil It, and Does the Season Matter

A good rule of thumb is once a month for a board in regular use, and right away for a brand new board or one that has started to look pale. Many people remember it as "oil it on the first of the month." Boards that get heavy daily chopping may want it a little more often; a board that mostly serves cheese can go longer. For the full month-by-month answer, including the first-year schedule for a new board, read our guide on how often to oil your olive wood board.

The season matters more than most people expect, and Canadian summers are the tricky one. Patio dinners, cottage weekends, and barbecue season mean boards spend hours in dry outdoor air and direct sun, which pulls moisture out fast. With the August long weekend coming up, a board on outdoor serving duty will thank you for an extra oiling every two to three weeks through the summer. Winter's dry indoor heat has a similar effect, so do not let a board go a full season untouched. We explain what happens when a board dries out too far in our post on whether an olive wood board will crack.

Finishing With Beeswax for a Longer-Lasting Seal

A beeswax and mineral oil balm seals the wood for a longer-lasting, water-repellent finish.

Oil feeds the wood, but beeswax seals it. A board balm, which is simply food-grade mineral oil blended with beeswax, adds a thin protective layer on top of the oil that repels water for longer and gives the surface a beautiful soft lustre. It is the same partnership of oil and beeswax we use to finish every board in Crete, just in a form you can reapply at home.

To use it, oil the board first and let it soak in, then rub a small amount of balm over the dry, oiled surface with a cloth, let it sit for a few minutes, and buff to a gentle shine. You do not need to do this every time you oil; every few months is plenty. It is especially worth it for pieces that see water often or that you like to present at the table, such as a serving tray or dish.

Keep It Simple and Your Board Will Last for Decades

So, what oil should you use on a wood cutting board? Food-grade mineral oil for regular care, fractionated coconut oil if you want a plant-based option, and a beeswax balm to seal it a few times a year. Skip the olive oil and vegetable oil from the pantry, however tempting it is to reach for them. That one swap is the difference between a board that turns sticky and sour and one that stays smooth, safe, and beautiful.

Dense Cretan olive wood, a single-slab cut, and a proper oil and beeswax finish give your board a real head start; a few minutes of the right oil a few times a year is all it needs to keep it. If you are still choosing your board, our cutting board collection has a shape for every kitchen, and you can round it out with a piece from our olive wood bowls for the table or serving trays and dishes. And if it is a gift, we engrave.