themachinelady

How can I get rid of the odor from a new cutting mat? I recently purchased a new green Olfa mat and it smells like a skunk, not a pleasant smell to be cutting over. I have aired it out to no avail. Hopefully some one can give me some help. Any ideas?

I started this once and lost my message so if it comes thru twice or garbled, you know why.

Thanks for any helpful ideas.

popover

Wipe down both sides with a little white vinegar and sit it in the sun for a bit.

Tartan

Make sure it is on a perfectly flat surface if you put it in the sun or it will warp.

Jeanne S

I just put mine on the floor and slid it under the couch for a couple of weeks. The smell eventually disapated---don't know of what else to do and didn't want to risk damaging it.

minibarn

Yep, just give it time it will go away. I got a new one for Christmas in '15 and within a week or so it had lost most of the smell.

Mitty

I think I have a more sensitive nose than most people, because I have to let a lot of things air out before I can stand to use them (like anything made of leather, and I don't use vinyl at all if I can avoid it), so this probably doesn't apply to most people, but for those few like me, here's my experience. I tried washing my mat with vinegar, and then I had it sit out in the garage for over six months, and I still couldn't stand the smell. I tried this with two different brands of mat, thinking maybe one was particularly bad, but they were both unusable for me.

I ended up buying a mat made from polypropylene (also familiar as recycling code 5) instead of PVC. Specifically, I bought the Fiskars Eco cutting mat. No smell. It's made of the same stuff a lot of plastic kitchen storage containers are made from.

Murphy224

Here is google search link regarding Olfa mat odor:

https://www.google.com/#q=olfa+mat+odor&

I had purchased one of the little 5 x 8 mats and the smell was so awful I could not use it. I tried everything listed and even left it out on my back porch in the fresh air for over a year.....yes a year! It kinda became a mission lol. I bought all kinds of sprays that said it would remove any odor but not on this little mat It still had that smell. I finally trashed it as I didn't have a lot of money invested and decided I would never buy another olfa mat. I could not return it because it had been so long since I purchased it. My sister says my nose is too sensitive because I can't even get near the things in the stores.
So, if the smell doesn't go away in a very reasonable time, I would return it.
Good luck and hopefully your mat will be usable soon.

Homespun

I bought one the first of November and have had it laying on the floor in a room I rarely use and the odor just recently has left enough for it to be in a room I use all the time.

themachinelady

It has been three months and it still smells as bad as the day I brought it home Have had it out where air could circulate around it etc. and that didn't help.

Phyllis nm

Put it in a closed plastic bag with a bowl of fish tank charcoal or activated charcoal.
I removed the smell of meat left in a turned off freezer this way.