New cutting matt odor
 

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Would baking soda help?

My neighbor had that problem. She put hers in a homemade box (couple shirt boxes) she made. She spread a layer of baking soda on the bottom, then placed the mat on it then spread another layer of baking soda on top of it fully covering it. Carefully slid it into a lawn leaf bag and let it set til the smell went away. Only took her couple days. brushed the baking soda off and wiped down with a micro-fiber cloth. No dampening by wiping down with vinegar. Just wiped and no more smell.

The smell of the colored mats are terrible! I had to throw mine in the trash. Gave me headaches as well. I can't even walk by them in the store.

I now use a white cutting mat that has lasted for years. You can just flip them over when they get too worn, but there are only lines on one side.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I have a VERY sensitive nose and cannot stand the smell of most anything plastic, newspaper and brochure ink, magic markers, crayons, computer printer ink, most perfumes, cosmetics hand lotions and a host of other things. My cutting mats are years old so will be very careful in buying when I have to replace them.