Engrave Hardwood with regular mineral oil

Has anyone ever engrave on hardwood with regular mineral oil?
Picture below

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Yup.

BTW, never engrave the top of a cutting board. It’s all but impossible to keep them sanitary and safe for use. The image above is the back of a breadboard I made last year.

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What are you planning putting on your board? I love engraved cutting boards, but the person I’d want to give it to is a clean freak in the kitchen. She might not use it even if it’s sealed. :neutral_face:

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Sealing it would negate the anti microbial properties of the wood!

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Food-grade mineral oil is the best option, but you should not use the engraved side for food preparation. You can use it for serving things like meats and cheese, for example - but not for cutting/prep.

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Thank you so much for all the replies, they have really helped. What is the going rate for engraving in a cutting board? Also what is your settings on when you engrave ?

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A correct but useless answer is, “it depends.” A useful answer is tenuous though–it will depend on you and the market (see the 1st sentence?). I would check out Etsy and ebay for similar items. Read the description to glean pricing/time/quality info. Check out how much it would cost you to buy the boards to engrave. Test and see how long it takes you…what’s your time worth? Compare your effort to your needs and what’s already on the market, then price. Maybe you will make a line of engraved boards, maybe you will only do custom work.

Settings: I would start with proofgrade settings and adjust from there. You won’t be cutting, so it depends on how deep, how dark, and how long it will take. Use the search function (upper RH on my browser) to find similar entries here on the forum. Depending on the thickness of your board, you may have to remove the crumb tray and use supports beneath it (all this info is here on the forum).

Read, read, read the forum and see what others have done. There’s lots of completed research and discussion in existance. Then if you are stumped, we won’t be parroting back things that you may have already experienced.

Good luck in your endeavor. You’ve got the tools, you just need more personal experience. Yes, one might end with “oh phuque!”; set it aside and do something else, but don’t toss it. That particular failure will turn out to be a great learning experience and maybe even a new project. Everyone on this list has retread projects.

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