Woods that aren't okay for cutting boards?

[Phil Thien]

The walnut for a cutting board thread got me to thinking.

Are there any woods that aren't appropriate for cutting boards? Species and reason?

[Jeff Bratt]

I would not use Red Oak, or any other species with large pores. Nor softer woods like most Pine, Balsa, etc. Hard maple is the wood of choice, at least in the US. Other species are chosen for decorative purposes.

[andy Needles]

Don't use black walnut either, as it will stain everything if it gets wet. They actually used the husks to stain cloth.

[Larry Edgerton]

There are quite a few woods that are toxic, you can find a list easy enough on the net. Can't post a link.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Don't use hemlock......;)

[Joe Spear]

I don't believe that walnut wood used for a cutting board is going to stain anything. The husks are another matter altogether.

Hemlock? The hemlock that poisoned Socrates is a herbaceous, weedy plant and is not suitable because you couldn't get any boards out of it. The hemlock trees that border my yard aren't suitable because the wood is too soft and coarse.

[Maurice Ungaro]

...I wouldn't use Oleander either...:p

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I made a black walnut/maple cutting board, haven't noticed any toxic or staining effects. It's ALMOST as hard as maple, so I think it's fine. Twitch twitch.

I agree with not using red oak, it's way too porous, but I did a long grain frame around the board. If I had made it end grain, that would have been bad. I had no idea wood that hard can be porous to the point where finishing is a problem. Won't buy red oak anymore.

[Jeff Mohr]

I don't believe that walnut wood used for a cutting board is going to stain anything. The husks are another matter altogether.

Hemlock? The hemlock that poisoned Socrates is a herbaceous, weedy plant and is not suitable because you couldn't get any boards out of it. The hemlock trees that border my yard aren't suitable because the wood is too soft and coarse.

I agree that walnut is fine. The husk of the nut is very different than the wood.

Hemlock, however, is a wood if you are referring to Eastern or Western or any of the Chinese Hemlock trees. But...if all goes as it seems like it might, we may lose these eastern giants to the woolly adelgid. And for cutting boards, their wood is similar to pine, fir, etc and not best for cutting boards either.

[Howard Acheson]

The preferred woods for working cutting boards are maple, beech and birch. Cherry and walnut are fine for contrasting woods but no where near as hard as the first three.

I would avoid any foreign and/or tropical wood unless its toxicity has been determined and assessed.

Here is a good chart of wood hardness: http://tinytimbers.com/janka.htm

[Eric Meier]

The preferred woods for working cutting boards are maple, beech and birch. Cherry and walnut are fine for contrasting woods but no where near as hard as the first three.

I would avoid any foreign and/or tropical wood unless its toxicity has been determined and assessed.

Here is a good chart of wood hardness: http://tinytimbers.com/janka.htm
Every time I see that data of Janka hardness it drives me crazy. There is such a blatant typo on the hardness of Cocobolo, and it seems almost everybody just copies and pastes the data all over the internet. If you look at that list, Cocobolo is listed to have a hardness that's almost on par with black walnut -- I don't think so.

I'm still working on a website which includes the Janka Hardness (http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/database-terms/#hardness) of all the woods. Density and hardness are very closely related, and it's possible to estimate to a reasonably close degree the hardness of a wood given its weight (http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fpl_rp643.pdf). (By this method, Cocobolo is actually estimated to be about 3 times harder than the common typos circulating the internet: 3,178 vs 1136.) I still haven't added Beech or Birch yet, but I do have some decent data for Cocobolo (http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/cocobolo/), as well as Black Walnut (http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/black-walnut/).

[Phil Thien]

I'm still working on a website which includes the Janka Hardness (http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/database-terms/#hardness) of all the woods. Density and hardness are very closely related, and it's possible to estimate to a reasonably close degree the hardness of a wood given its weight (http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fpl_rp643.pdf). (By this method, Cocobolo is actually estimated to be about 3 times harder than the common typos circulating the internet: 3,178 vs 1136.) I still haven't added Beech or Birch yet, but I do have some decent data for Cocobolo (http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/cocobolo/), as well as Black Walnut (http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/black-walnut/).

Very excellent. I purchased some cocobolo and when I searched for Janka on it I was surprised at the quoted hardness. I figured it was a different type of cocobolo.

How do we find the web site you're working on? I think the rules allow you to specify such a link.

[Eric Meier]

How do we find the web site you're working on? I think the rules allow you to specify such a link.
It's the one that I linked to in my previous post - click on the Cocobolo or Black Walnut links and you'll see their respective pages.

The Wood Database. (http://www.wood-database.com/)

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

cork
Oleander
hemlock
basswood
pine (OK for a dough working board but a tad soft and absorbant for cutting)
kiurushi
boxwood

[Tom Walz]

common wood allergens

http://www.carbideprocessors.com/wood-allergens.htm

[Eric Meier]

Well, just about every wood on the planet will give somebody an allergic reaction somehow. Does that make it toxic?

Yew is actually TOXIC. That is, it's poisonous. Sassafras is too, but I don't think it's as potent as yew.

I'd just choose a wood that's fine-grained, hard, stable, and glues/finishes well.

Other than that, I'd guess that the vast majority of woods are probably not that big of a deal for a cutting board. Chances are, the board you make will be an allergen to someone, somewhere on the planet regardless.

[Simon Dupay]

I don't believe that walnut wood used for a cutting board is going to stain anything. The husks are another matter altogether.

Hemlock? The hemlock that poisoned Socrates is a herbaceous, weedy plant and is not suitable because you couldn't get any boards out of it. The hemlock trees that border my yard aren't suitable because the wood is too soft and coarse.
Walnut is not a good choice as it is fairly pores.

[Chaz Alexopoulos]

Yew is actually TOXIC. That is, it's poisonous. Sassafras is too, but I don't think it's as potent as yew.


Really? My wife's grandfather, who was full-blooded American indian, used to make her sassafras tea when she was little and had an upset stomach. I don't know if that's the same sassafras or not, but that would explain a few things about my wife.

[Jeff Bratt]

Well, just about every wood on the planet will give somebody an allergic reaction somehow.


common wood allergens
http://www.carbideprocessors.com/wood-allergens.htm

That link even lists sugar maple as an allergen. Just because wood dust can cause a reaction does not mean that wood itself can't be used for a cutting board. And don't confuse problems concerning nuts, shells, or plants not growing, or leaves or sap being irritants with whether the wood is OK for cutting boards. Use of a cutting board does not involve cutting off pieces of the wood and ingesting them - unless you've made a very poor choice of wood. Still, avoiding toxic woods is a good idea.

[Frank Drew]

..... boxwood

Cliff, I've never seen a boxwood cutting board but I do have a couple of kitchen spoons made out of it. In what way do you feel it would be inappropriate for a cutting board?

[Joe Spear]

Long-term use of sassafras oil and one of its components, safrole, was determined by the '50's to lead to liver damage and certain cancers. In 1960 they were banned for use in food products. A few years later sassafras tea also was banned, but it is allowed again since 1994. I love the smell of sassafras and have chewed on various parts of the tree since I was a kid, but apparently not so much as to damage my liver or give me cancer. I believe the dried, powdered leaves are the file of file gumbo in Louisiana. Safrole is also used in the illegal manufacture of MDMA--ectasy (the drug, not the feeling). I wouldn't use sassafras to make a cutting board though.

[Larry Lukens]

Black walnut is toxic to many other plants. Only bluegrass seems to grow under it reliably. But black walnut lumber is not toxic to humans.

In a recent WW mag, I read a technique for sealing end grain cutting boards that uses diluted varnish that is floated on the top until it starts leaking out the bottom. Two treatments of that, and nothing can get through the board.

Before I had a reasonable sized scrap barrel (we just moved into our new house a year and a half ago), my wife bought an end grain cutting board. Before I could stop her, she soaked a bunch of "salad bowl finish" aka mineral oil into the surface. About 2 days later, it started coming out the bottom of the cutting board. The board is hard maple.

So any end grain cutting boards I make will get the dilute varnish treatment.