Cutting Board

[Bernie Weishapl]

I am in the process of wanting to make cutting boards for a couple of people. I have been doing some research because I know there are some woods not to use and you need to make it food safe. I found a cutting block oil at Rockler that is FDA safe plus they said you can use mineral oil and salad bowl oil. Now I have a problem. In my research one says use nut or fruit bearing wood such as oak, maple, cherry, or walnut. Another says use beech, birch or maple and above all don't use oak. Another says no walnut or cherry. What I was wanting to do is to use two different woods to make these. I have the designs but not sure if I can use them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Bernie

[Russ Filtz]

The oak's pores are too open and will trap food. I've seen people do maple/Walnut boards. I think walnut is pretty irritating, but should be OK for the minimal contact. Cherry I think would be too soft, even combined with a harder wood.

[Steve Cox]

There are really no woods (I'm aware of :o ) that are really unsuitable for a cutting board. The best ones are made of close grain woods, maple being the traditional choice. I've have made several with maple, jatoba, walnut, cherry and other woods. It seems like many people confuse woods that are a lung irritant with being unsuitable for a cutting board and this is not the case. Walnut can be fatal to horses but I've not heard of any problems with people. As far as soft woods go, remember the purpose of the board is to protect your knives so soft works fine, it just won't last as long. BTW, buy mineral oil from the drugstore. It's the same stuff that people sell as "butcher block oil" and it's waaaaayyyy cheaper. You'll find it in the laxative section.

[Norman Hitt]

Bernie, use any Closed Grain wood, and Mineral oil, or a combination of mineral oil & parafin if it will be subjected to a lot of water. For a lot more information on cutting boards, see:

http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/CuttingBoards/AllAbout.htm

Also check out one of the links there about A Dr's. kitchen sterilization tests......surprising test results........Vinegar was the winner.

[Jim Becker]

You do not need to buy an expensive finishing product for your cutting boards. "FDA food safe" is a marketing concept. Just go to your local drug store or supermarket and get a nice big, cheap bottle of mineral oil. (In the laxative section) Same stuff as the expensive "branded" products from Rockler, and the like, at a fraction of the cost. Mine is from CVS. Considering it's made for ingestion, one would suspect it's "food safe"... ;)

As Norm mentioned, some folks do a hot application of mineral oil/paraffin in a ratio of about 8-1. Heat this in a water bath (never on direct heat) until the wax is fully incorporated in the oil. (Mineral oil and paraffin are products from the same process) Apply it to the wood and then scrape off the excess when the material cools.

Stick with woods that are close grained for a board made to be used. Maple and beech are traditional and cherry also is fine. I do use walnut for accents, but it's a bit "open", IMHO, to do the whole thing for a "user". Now, if it's for decorative/display use...use what you want to use!

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Just to add. The reason not to use "open" woods is that they provide more areas that allow bacteria to develop. They can also be hard to clean.

[Russ Filtz]

Here's a quick list of wood toxicity you may have already seen. Naturally for cutting boards I would avoid any with "W" in the source with any nasty reactions associated with it, like Oleander!

http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/roche/rec.wood.misc/wood.toxic

[Steve Cox]

Russ, that is a great list, thank you. When looking at the list it is important to look at the first column also when deciding on what woods to use. Those with an "S" there are sensitizers which mean that you might devlop an allergy to the wood as you exposed to more and more of it. Western Red Cedar is a good example (not that I would use it in a cutting board :) ). When I was in boatbuilding school we used lots of it. One of my instructors would sand the stuff without a dust mask, had for years and was not allergic to it. Another instructor had to get out of boatbuilding and in to cabinet work because if so much as smelled the stuff it would put him in the hospital. He, however, used to work for Pocock racing shells long ago and the only time they opened the doors was when the dust was so thick they couldn't see. My point is that it usually takes a heavy exposure to become sensitized to a particular wood and that won't come with the amount of exposure off a cutting board.

[Russ Filtz]

Personally I think walnut dust is nasty. I was sanding some the other day without a dust mask and it really seemed to irritate my nose and eyes. Gave me a nosebleed I think. Never happens with maple or cherry.

[James Carmichael]

I agree that a dense, closed pore wood might be better and would last longer, but, according to the information in the link posted by Russ, the wood's absorption of water is exactly what makes it more bacteria-resistant than plastic.

I don't think it's fair to characterize all oak as a poor choice, white oak is fairly durable and water resistant. Big live oak stumps are easy to come by in the burbs when homeowners get tired of the grackle-poop and might make a nice end grain top butcher block, if you can get the wood dry.

So long as there's no toxicity issues, my preference for a cutting board would be any durable hardwood suitable for exterior use since a cutting board will be subject to heat and moisture. Ipe, Jatoba, white oak. Currently thinking of a lamination of purpleheart and maple.

My $.02 worth (please don't offer change :eek: )

[Jim Becker]

James, the problem with oak and similar "large pore" woods isn't the water absorbtion, but the increase in difficulty of cleaning out the "big pieces" that get stuck in the pores... A smooth surface like you get from maple and beech is just plain easier to keep clean without heavy scrubbing.

[Pete Lamberty]

If you want a great looking cutting board, check out the instructions by Mike Schwing in the woodworking reviews and articles section.

[Alan See]

Another issue with oak is its ability to taint the flavors of food. There are lot of tannins and wood sugars in oak, which is why they use it for aging wine and whisky. Maple and Beech are used as much for their neutral "flavor" as for their tight grain.