Thanks, good idea! I have never eaten collards, but maybe I will now. I am so sensitive to smells. I would take it back but then I won't have a large cutting mat for upstairs. The ones I have in the basement are the large ones Joann sells, the white ones; don't remember them ever smelling. I will have to set it up out in the yard and cut out there till the smell goes. Last night when I came home from dinner I was checking all the shoes in the kitchen for you know what. Then I finally figured out that it was the mat.

I was going to get an Olfa but they were $5 more. Remember, I am supposed to be on a spending diet. And now that I had to replace the garbage disposal, I am even thinner in the wallet. Now I have another name to add to my do not purchase list; Donna Dewberry in addition to Fons & Porter.

Get some old-fashioned clay cat litter - not the clumping kind - the cheapest bag in the aisle. Put the mat in a garbage bag with a liberal amount of the litter. That clay absorbs almost anything. Everything I have used this method on has come out without a smell.

Darren

I bought a june taylor cut n press and it reeked. But the smell did go away. Just kinda let it air out and do its thing.

Any brand of mat can have this awful smell... apparently they all get better with time, but EWWWWW!

I had the same thing happen to me with a mat I, too, bought at JoAnn's. I never smelled it till I got home and opened the trunk! Wheeeew......it stunk up my sewing room for weeks till it finally aired out. The plastic wasn't cured properly. So everyone....smell your cutting mat before you buy it.

I have the same problem with "smell sensitivities" and I had a very difficult time finding a mat I could live with. Finally, I found one at Wal Mart called Quilting Mate by June Tailor. It is not self-healing, but it is working very well for me.

TAKE IT BACK TO THE STORE (LET THEM SMELL IT) AND GET AN EXCHANGE.

Try cinnamon in a bag along with the offending mat. Hope it works.

What am I going to exchange it for? Another stinky one? I think it is caused by whatever makes it self-healing because my plastic Joann ones never did that and they are the big 34"x 60" ones. The other brands were more expensive and probably smelled too. Next time I will use my nose when considering a purchase, not just my eyes and fingers. Today it may not be quite so bad; or that I am getting used to the stinky kitchen. I need to use it today. Don't have time for all the great ideas you all have given me.