Choice of wood for a Cutting Board?

[Al Launier]

I'm about to start a new small project: a few end grain cutting boards as gifts, in a checkerboard design, using available wood I have on hand. These include black walnut, poplar & red oak. I'm thinking the walnut & poplar would be a better choice as I believe the red oak really soaks up a lot of water & despite using butcher block oil to finish it off with, I suspect that despite renewing the oil the red oak may still allow moisture, i.e. blood, etc. to be absorbed into the wood.

I’d appreciate your thoughts on this and please suggest other woods that “wood” be a better choice or cutting boards. Thanks.

[Bruce Wrenn]

The poplar is to soft,and rots VERY easily. Cherry, walnut, beech and hard maple would be my choices.

[Lee Schierer]

You'll want to stay away from red oak as it is an open pore wood. There are small tubes running through the wood that will soak up fluids and then allow bacteria to grow. You can actually blow through pieces that are an inch or more thick. Poplar is also pretty soft and will likely get chewed up by knives when cutting on it.

[cody michael]

I've used black walnut, maple, and apple wood all turned out pretty well

[Prashun Patel]

I'm partial to cherry, walnut, and maple. Maple is probably the best for me, since it's cheap and hard.

[Mark Patoka]

I would shy away from the poplar also. As others mentioned, it's just way too soft and won't survive much use. I did make an endgrain board entirely from red oak but we use it primarily as a hot pad and not a cutting board so I can't attest to how much gunk would get stuck in the capillaries. Some red oak is not as porous or is very tight-pored on the endgrain so you could possibly use it, especially if you treated it with an oil/wax to fill the pores as much as possible. If you're making it more for design than utility, than go ahead.

[David B Thornton]

I'm with what others have said and my go to choices are walnut, maple and purpleheart. I'll be expanding into cherry and a few others too.

[Jim German]

I'm with what others have said and my go to choices are walnut, maple and purpleheart. I'll be expanding into cherry and a few others too.

I've used those and some pear wood too.
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[Jeffrey Martel]

Any small pored hardwood would work well. Poplar would probably be ok, but it's a bit soft. I typically use Maple, Walnut, or various exotics.

[Rob Duke]

I've only used cherry and maple. Both work very well.

Red Oak is a no-no
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[Rob Duke]

Maple, cherry and red oak all at 10X

Maple
http://www.wood-database.com/wp-content/uploads/hard-maple-endgrain-zoom.jpg
Cherry
http://www.wood-database.com/wp-content/uploads/black-cherry-endgrain-zoom.jpg
Red Oak
http://www.wood-database.com/wp-content/uploads/red-oak-endgrain-zoom.jpg

[Phil Mueller]

I too have used walnut, maple and purpleheart. I read somewhere to be cautious of walnut if the user has nut allergies. Regarding maple, I use rock or hard maple...not soft maple. Not sure if it really makes a difference (?)

[Ellery Becnel]

Some woods that I have used for end grain cutting boards are: Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple, Jarrah, European Beech, Tineo, Osage Orange(Argentina), Purple Heart, Mahogany, Yellow Heart, White Oak, Pecan, Red Cumaru, Red Heart, Goncalco Alves. I agree, stay away from poplar, and Red Oak. Too soft, and too porous.

Ellery Becnel

[William A Johnston]

If you look at the Janka scale.

Black Walnut 1010
Soft Maple 950
Polar 540
Hard Maple 1450
Cherry 950

From what I've read you want to stay within 850-1800 on the Janka scale for a cutting board.

I like to use walnut and soft maple as they are similar in hardness. I haven't tried Cherry yet but I bet its beautiful. I would not use Poplar as it is very soft.

You don't want the board to soft as it will scratch up and to hard will dull your knives.

Why not do a solid walnut board?

[Clay Fails]

My vote is for maple, walnut and maybe cherry. I've made end grain boards out of many species, but always come back to these basics. They work.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

I'm in the process of building one myself and got the design from a guy on youtube called the wood whisperer. I used Purple heart and Hard maple. Here's a picture of where I'm at so far. http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff468/hnnguyen85/20150409_123703.jpg (http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/hnnguyen85/media/20150409_123703.jpg.html)

[Phil Mueller]

I've made that exact cutting board as well. My complements...your glue up looks flawless. I had a few boards slip during glue up and you come to appreciate the hardness of those woods when you have to sand end grain smooth :)

[Al Launier]

Thanks for all your helpful responses. I decided to make good use some of walnut, hard maple & cherry that were "leftovers" from other projects. Rather than make the boards as end grain, the boards are being made with long slats using their edge grain as the cutting surface. Should be done in ~ a week, perhaps less depending on how much time I can spend on them. It's yard work season. :(

[Al Launier]

I'm in the process of building one myself and got the design from a guy on youtube called the wood whisperer. I used Purple heart and Hard maple. Here's a picture of where I'm at so far. http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff468/hnnguyen85/20150409_123703.jpg (http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/hnnguyen85/media/20150409_123703.jpg.html)

Nice work Hoang! I like the pattern. Nice joints.

What did you use for glue? I'm using Titebond II Extend & am glad I did as it took a long time to apply glue, align & clamp the slats (28-32 on te tree boards I'm still working on). Took about 20-25 minutes from start to final clamping.

I really get nervous when I have a lot of work to get everything done before the glue sets up, even after a trial run(s) where everything is laid out in advance ready to go & the timing is checked. I am also finding out that it is sometimes better to glue up sections first (depending on time), then glue the sections together, plus keeping the pieces (slats in my case) all down tight & flush with one another. The Titebond II glue leaves no visible glue line which is nice.

[Alan Lightstone]

My choices have usually been Padauk, Peruvian Walnut, Cherry, Goncalo Alves, and of course Maple. Sanding the Padauk has some issues with bleedover, but makes for gorgeous boards.

I always use Titebond III, for it's waterproof properties (Type I PVA). I'd hate to think someone aggressively washed one of my boards and it fell apart at the seams.

[Barry McFadden]

I use Cherry, Purpleheart and Maple most times and some veneers for accents. I use Gorilla Glue which is 100% waterproof and have never had a joint split. I coat them in a clear salad bowl finish that I get at the IKEA store.
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[Alan Lightstone]

I finish mine with a mineral oil, beeswax finish. Easy to apply, food safe, and if maintained periodically, remarkably durable.

[Bill Ryall]

I did a short production run of cutting boards for an acquaintance who owns a couple upper end restaurants. His executive chef was insistent on hard maple due to the hardness.
My wife who is a gourmet chef also prefers hard maple.

[Mike Cutler]

I did a short production run of cutting boards for an acquaintance who owns a couple upper end restaurants. His executive chef was insistent on hard maple due to the hardness.
My wife who is a gourmet chef also prefers hard maple.

Bill

IIRC. Most, if not all, of the testing done on wooden cutting boards for approval and use, by the FDA ,was on cutting boards made from maple.
It's actually an informative, but boring, read.


I've only made cutting boards out of cherry and bubinga. Bubinga makes a beautiful cutting board.

[Phil Mueller]

I've always used Titebond II...says it for exterior use (water resistant) and FDA approved for indirect food contact.

[Barry McFadden]

I've always used Titebond II...says it for exterior use (water resistant) and FDA approved for indirect food contact.

"water resistant" makes me nervous on a piece that is going to get wet often. That's why I use Gorilla Glue as it is 100% waterproof.

[Al Launier]

I used Titebond II Extend for a couple of reasons:


Recommended, as well as Titebond III for cutting boards.
Leaves a less visible glue line


These will be gifts, so I'll be sure to inform the receiver re: minimume water exposure: not to immerse the boards in water - a damp cloth wash/rinse only.

[Prashun Patel]

Personally, I use TB III, not II. I just re-read the TB website and it appears that TB III is 'more' waterproof than TB II. There are two different tests for water proof, and TBIII passes the more stringent of those. TB II passes the less stringent.

Further, TBIII dries to brown, so I find it is less visible against dark woods (read Purpleheart) than is TBII, which is yellow; TBII is visible against both light and dark woods if your seam is not perfect.

While Polyurethane glue may also be appropriate, I find it a pain to work with both in terms of wood prep (wetting) and clean up.

[Bryan Vaughan]

Rob Duke, thank you for the photos, that's interesting .

[Al Launier]

Finished Product(s). Applied (4) coats of "Cutting Board Oil" (food quality mineral oil) that I picked up at HD to season them. Used a mix of Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry. Handles all of Cherry. Decided to "monogram" my work with the branding iron. Took a while to complete this project, but now I'm off to another one(?).

[Alan Lightstone]

Nice boards, Al. BTW, where did you get that branding iron? Much nicer than the one I use.

[Al Launier]

Nice boards, Al. BTW, where did you get that branding iron? Much nicer than the one I use.

Thanks!

Here ya go! https://www.brandnew.net/estore/shopexd.asp?id=48
I practiced with it on the same material that I branded, in this case cherry. I used a small flame propane torch for 1 1/2 minute, boxed in a reference corner for the branding location with wood, placed the iron against the "wooden" corner, set the iron down flat with slight pressure, & held it there for ~ 3 seconds. Time will vary by wood type.

[Alan Lightstone]

Thanks!

Here ya go! https://www.brandnew.net/estore/shopexd.asp?id=48
I practiced with it on the same material that I branded, in this case cherry. I used a small flame propane torch for 1 1/2 minute, boxed in a reference corner for the branding location with wood, placed the iron against the "wooden" corner, set the iron down flat with slight pressure, & held it there for ~ 3 seconds. Time will vary by wood type.
Thanks. Just ordered one. Now back to your previously schedule thread.