TESTED: Gilly’s Chopping Board Oil
Review and photo: Raf Nathan
You can use common cooking oil for cutting boards with good results, but if you are wanting to retail your work you want it to look as best as possible. These oils are from local polish maker Gilly’ who say they are 100% natural and food safe, and prevent cracking, although I cannot vouch for these claims yet.
There are three versions: lemon, orange and citrus with added beeswax. They come in 100ml bottles at $20 each. I trialled two of these oils on some small Huon pine cheeseboards. Whilst the oils are slightly aromatic they only give the slightest hint of that odour so there’s no need to worry about overpowering smells. My preference was the citrus and beeswax which is not an oil but a slightly thick paste. All product was applied easily and quickly by buffing them into the wood with a lint free cloth.
You can re-apply as many times as you want but I thought one coat sufficient to give a silky smooth finish on the wood (which people love) while highlighting the grain sufficiently. After a few days I noticed the look was still fresh and the boards still retained the silky feel.
I would estimate five average sized boards could be polished from one bottle giving one coat only. For endgrain boards you could need up to one bottle per large board. Gilly’s also make a food safe wax from beeswax and carnauba without the above oils.