Earnings Per Share (EPS) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 30, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013
Basic EPS [Abstract]
Income from continuing operations attributable to MTI	$ 15,600,000	$ 19,500,000
Loss from discontinued operations attributable to MTI	8,000	(736,000)
Net income attributable to Minerals Technologies Inc. (MTI)	15,615,000	18,756,000
Weighted average shares outstanding (in shares)	34,420,000	34,996,000
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations attributable to MTI (in dollars per share)	$ 0.45	$ 0.56
Basic loss per share from discontinued operations attributable to MTI (in dollars per share)	$ 0	$ (0.02)
Basic earnings per share attributable to MTI (in dollars per share)	$ 0.45	$ 0.54
Diluted EPS [Abstract]
Income from continuing operations attributable to MTI	15,600,000	19,500,000
Loss from discontinued operations attributable to MTI	8,000	(736,000)
Net income attributable to Minerals Technologies Inc. (MTI)	$ 15,615,000	$ 18,756,000
Weighted average shares outstanding (in shares)	34,420,000	34,996,000
Dilutive effect of stock options and stock units (in shares)	300,000	300,000
Weighted average shares outstanding, adjusted (in shares)	34,680,000	35,253,000
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations attributable to MTI (in dollars per share)	$ 0.45	$ 0.55
Diluted loss per share from discontinued operations attributable to MTI (in dollars per share)	$ 0	$ (0.02)
Diluted earnings per share attributable to MTI (in dollars per share)	$ 0.45	$ 0.53
Stock Options [Member]
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Anti-dilutive securities not included in the weighted average commons shares outstanding calculation (in shares)	160,180	239,770