Mineral Oil

[Fuzzie]

I need to oil a wooden item for the kitchen. Having heard of using 'Mineral Oil' as being food safe I just trotted off to the local Chemist looking for a bottle of said stuff. The only item they could come up with was 'Baby Oil' with listed ingredients of mineral oil and fragrance, obviously not what I want for food storage.

So what do people mean by mineral oil? Is 'Liquid Paraffin' the thing to use?

[mattocks]

I buy mineral oil from ikea.
the name they use is Skydd.

[BobL]

"Mineral oil" is extracted from the ground and is a veritable cocktail of heavy oils and tars, medium light weight oils, plus a bunch of volatile organic components and loads of other stuff.

Mineral oil as used by woodies is the medium lighter weight fraction of that oil, but with without anything added like perfumes, or smoke scavengers as found in two stroke oil., or detergents as found in some engine oils, or modifiers . . .

Try FoodSafe Plus (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/FS+.htm) from our friendly host

[Fuzzie]

After a web search or two...

What Cutting Board Oil to Use:

The best oil to use on your cutting board is mineral oil (also called liquid paraffin).

[aldav]

After a web search or two...

What Cutting Board Oil to Use:

The best oil to use on your cutting board is mineral oil (also called liquid paraffin).

That's what I use. Nobody's died ..... yet! :D

[Chief Tiff]

Many years ago I read a magazine article from a turner who made a baby’s rattle out of hoop pine filled with beans, for the burnished oil finish he used unscented baby oil which according to his research was classified as food safe and contained sufficient plasticisers to give a glossy finish.

[Fuzzie]

Well having worked out I needed Liquid Paraffin I visited a different pharmacy this morning and couldn't find it on the shelves. It turns out 'Chemist Warehouse' no longer carry any stock of Liquid Paraffin. Their advice was try another pharmacy chain...... :shrug:

Obviously the current population doesn't get as constipated as it used to. :U

[BobL]

Well having worked out I needed Liquid Paraffin I visited a different pharmacy this morning and couldn't find it on the shelves. It turns out 'Chemist Warehouse' no longer carry any stock of Liquid Paraffin. Their advice was try another pharmacy chain...... :shrug:

Obviously the current population doesn't get as constipated as it used to. :U


Search results - Bunnings Australia (https://www.bunnings.com.au/search/products?q=paraffin%20oil&sort=BoostOrder&page=1)

[Fuzzie]

From Crown Oil Ltd - Nationwide Fuels & Lubricants Supplier (http://www.crownoil.co.uk)
Paraffin uses

Paraffin has a variety of uses across multiple industries and may refer to several different substances:


Paraffin wax: a white or colourless soft solid used as a lubricant, candles, crayons, electrical insulation and petroleum jelly
Liquid paraffin (drug): a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and medicines
Alkane: a saturated hydrocarbon used as a chemical solvent and in plastics
Kerosene: a fuel also known as paraffin
Mineral oil: any of various colourless, odourless, light mixtures of alkanes in the C15 – C40 range from non-vegetable (mineral) source, particularly a distillate of petroleum
Petroleum jelly (soft paraffin)
Tractor vaporising oil: a fuel for petrol-paraffin engines
Paraffin fuel: for prama-stoves or paraffin stoves, used in households in rural parts of South Africa


Liquid paraffin is a mineral oil that comes in two forms: either heavy liquid paraffin oil or light liquid paraffin oil. The terms kerosene and paraffin overlap where the latter is used as a liquid fuel. Whereas paraffin wax is a waxy solid, liquid paraffin is more viscous and highly refined and can be used as a laxative.

Other uses of paraffin include:


A coolant for electrical systems
A hydraulic fluid

[cava]

Try a stock feeds supplier. They sell a lot of it for horses. Generally it is the purest and cheapest you can get commercially. Sceneys is one brand that I know of.

[Pat]

Try New Directions Australia (https://www.newdirections.com.au/), cosmetics supply shop.

[qwertyu]

Food Grade Mineral Oil | Stella Food Grade Oils (https://foodgradeoils.com.au/product/food-grade-mineral-oil/)

I bought some from ikea but when I needed more it turns out they were discontinued. I ended up buying from the above and spoke to one of the owners about how they got started in their business. Really nice guy and worth supporting them.

[DJ’s Timber]

After a web search or two...

What Cutting Board Oil to Use:

The best oil to use on your cutting board is mineral oil (also called liquid paraffin).

FoodSafe Plus (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/FS+.htm)

[carlow]

when making cutting boards i just put them in a tub of mineral oil and let them soak for a while after which i let them dry .for mineral oil i just go to coles or woolies and get the generic baby oil ,it has a pleasant smell for baby bottoms that dissipates quickly.The contents say 100%mineral oil, i usually buy
4 250ml bottles [1 litre] about $12.To finish the cutting boards i give them a coating of homemade mineral oil/ beeswax paste and then buff off. Once dry all finishes are food safe .The problem used to be that in days gone past they used lead as a drying agent and what would happen is that people would paint bird cages with paint that contained lead and the poor budgie would drop dead after a few months of pecking lead infused paint off its cage

[rjtwin501]

Pet shop for me also.
Cheapest by far.
I also make a mix of Paraffin and my Bees wax.
Excellent paste and easy to use that I give with my cutting boards.
Cheers John T

[China]

Some times "Neil" must feel like banging his head against the wall

[tonzeyd]

+1 with Stella Food Grade mineral oil.

Purchased a 5l bottle a few years ago, good stuff.

[ubeaut]

Some times "Neil" must feel like banging his head against the wall
Hehehe. :lolabove: I'm pretty thick skinned but I do have a stress reliever which I have posted below. Mine is printed on A3 card Jim Carroll has a similar one in his office I made some 12 years ago. The one below is a newer on and can be printed out if anyone wants one.

As for food safe finishes. Paraffin oil yes it one of the food safe products approved by US FDA (Food and Drug Administration). However not all paraffin oil is as safe for food products eg Baby Oil NUP! Raw paraffin oil NUP! Parrafin that has been brought in from overseas in IBC 1000lt containers and decanted into smaller containers, 200lt, 60lt, 25lt etc. may be contaminated during decanting. Paraffin Oil in PVC bottles.

We bring our paraffin oil in to Australia in 200 Lt Food grade drums and decant direct into PET bottles from those drums. The Paraffin we use is a heavy Medical / Pharmaceutical grade which is a little more expensive but is the best for Food Grade application. It is not diluted but full strength, there are no aromatics or vitamin E or anything else added. It will not impart taste or smell to food. It is non drying and will repel water. Supposedly the best of the best. Our red PET bottles help to protect the oil from UV rays which will make all Parafin go honey coloured over time if exposed to bright light.

Other food-safe oils and waxes may contain high aromatic oil additives, lemon oil, walnut or other oils, vitimine E, turpentine, vegetable oils, beeswax and goodness knows what else.

A few additives that bother me and should bother end users, are high aromatics including lemon oil (smell and taste transfer to food). Nut oils including walnut (common in recipes online) definitely not ideal for anyone with nut allergies and vegetable oils which can go rancid.

Anyway here's a link to info sheet for basic use of our Food Safe Plus (http://www.ubeaut.com.au/pdf/no15.pdf).

Click on the below for full size to either copy or print.
Copy pic and in any publishing program it should be able to be enlarger to a full A3 size.
500899

Cheers - Neil :U

PS Sorry for the blatant advertising and rant.

[BobL]

Reminds me of many moons ago when I went hiking/camping with my 4 (much younger) brothers in the Stirling ranges.
The first morning was cool and cloudy but I convinced them to hike up Bluff Knoll (its only 1000m and one of the few places it snows in WA every decade or so) and have breakfast on top.
As there was 5 of us we shared out the carrying of various foods (eggs, bacon, backed beans etc) and cooking gear.
For cooking we carried a small single burner LPG stove and a small Al pan, and my job back at where we were camping was to decant some of the large bottle of cooking into something smaller.
I couldn't find suitable empty container so I transferred the remnants of small bottle of shampoo into another container and rinsed out the bottle a couple of times and put the oil in that.

It was a cold wet hike and we arrived on top with insufficient clothing so with teeth chattering we set about cooking the breakfast.
On heating the oil there was a faint aroma of shampoo which only got worse when we added the bacon and eggs..
My brothers quickly worked out what was going on and blamed me for not rinsing out the bottle.
By the time the food was cooked the smell was acrid and the taste was awful, but we were so hungry we ate the food anyway.

Obviously the shampoo aroma had permeated the bottle and come straight back out when the oil was put in there.

[Fuzzie]

Well being the OP my takeaway from all this is,

1. The Pharmacist had never heard of "Mineral Oil" and it wasn't listed in his online database.
2. The girl, with the purple hair and ring in her nose, stocking the shelves said "Yeah, nar yeah, it's baby oil"
3. This confused me and I thank the contributors to this thread for further illumination.
4. Not all chemists are likely to still stock pharmaceutical "Liquid Paraffin".
4. I only needed a small amount for a small job.
5. A pharmaceutical grade 200ml bottle for $5.99 from the local Good Price Pharmacy was cost effective for me. No significant travel (it was only 100m from the closest Big Green Shed), no postage.
6. We haven't noticed any unexpected laxative side effects from using it on the kitchen item in question.
7. No fragrance imparted to dough made in said kitchen item.
7. No cranial or wall damage acquired during the process, possibly apart from the those imparted by the red wine drunk to accompany the pizza made using said dough.

:drinks_wine:

Have a good one every one.:chef:

[powderpost]

Hi Fuzzie,

Might be better to have that nice red after you number your points in your posts????? Just a suggestion :)

Jim

[verawood]

Anyone can 4get.
7 is a lucky # 4 sum. :D

[Fuzzie]

Measure twice, cut three times?