Thin butcher block boards?

[timothy snider]

I had a customer ask me about making her thin -- 3/4, 5/8, and 1/2" thick butcher block boards. Offhand I don't think this is a real good idea. I suppose the boards would be prone to breakage due to the wood/glue ratio being quite low. Has anyone ever heard of/made thin butcher block boards? How are they holding up? I'd make mine out of 4/4 maple.
Thx

[Jamie Buxton]

Is she going to get the thin boards wet, like she's chopping vegetables on them? She'd be getting only only one face wet, so thicker boards have more resistance to cupping.

[Michael Burnside]

I made a 3/4” one for my wife using some beautifully figured scraps. It’s all I had and I didn’t want to throw it away. After 4 years it still looks perfect. I don’t think I would go thinner just because I’d worry about warping, but no way I’d worry about the glue if done properly.

[timothy snider]

Yep, warping of thinner boards is what I was worried about, along with the glueup ability of the woodworker!:D

[Patrick Kane]

Are these end grain, edge grain, or face grain? End grain butcher blocks would do wild things when exposed to moisture if they are that thin. Face grain or edge grain in the 3/4" range should be relatively fine. Everything is relative to proportion, i think. How large are these boards? A 12" by 12" by 5/8" edge grain board most likely wont cup too severely. A 24" by 24" by 5/8" will move considerably more. If you are making trivet-size boards, then i wouldnt be too worried about 3/4" unless you are making 15"+ boards. I have a bunch of walnut trivets/hot plates that are 1/2" to 5/8" and they are still fairly flat. They arent used as cutting boards--i have plenty of end grain surface for cutting--but they are washed and dried. Additionally, they are subjected to 400+ degree pans/pots to one face and not the other.

[Tim Greif]

I made one years ago out of 3/4" oak and walnut, at the same time I made a matching knife block for LOML. She loved the look of the contrasting wood. The cutting board was a pull-out in our kitchen cabinet. It held up for years with no signs of warping. However, the cutting scars were always present. I usually washed it about once a week. Every so often, I'd sand off the rough cutting scars and re-apply mineral oil to renew it. We have since remodeled the kitchen and the pull-out was not part of the new design. I simply trimmed it down and it now serves nicely as a charcuterie board.
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[Richard Coers]

Personally, I think those huge thick cutting boards are ridiculous. We never butcher a hog on our kitchen counter and I see no need for them. 95% of time we use a little board that is 5x12x3/4" board. If you pass on the information to dry the board by wiping it off and standing it vertically to allow air all around it, I see no issues with thinner boards. Send her those instructions in an email so you have a record of telling her if something goes bad.

[Michael Burnside]

Personally, I think those huge thick cutting boards are ridiculous. We never butcher a hog on our kitchen counter and I see no need for them. 95% of time we use a little board that is 5x12x3/4" board. If you pass on the information to dry the board by wiping it off and standing it vertically to allow air all around it, I see no issues with thinner boards. Send her those instructions in an email so you have a record of telling her if something goes bad.

Well said Richard. The reason I made one for my wife, a master chef, is because she hated the thick 1-1/4" one she bought. According to her, "it was too damn heavy".

[Zachary Hoyt]

If they're end grain (which is what butcher block means, as far as I know) then I would not want to go nearly that thin. If they're glued up from blocks of wood with the grain running the length of the board I am sure 3/4" would be fine, as long as the board isn't too big, and the thin ones could be fine for mini boards. I personally wouldn't want to go wider than maybe 9 or 10 inches at 3/4", or 5 or 6 inches for 1/2", but that may be overly cautious.

[Michael Burnside]

Butcher block a wooden top, specifically intended for cutting/chopping food. The grain direction/orientation is irrelevant.

[Patrick Kane]

Historically, 'butcher block' meant end grain orientation that was incredibly thick, 12"+. If you have seen these 100 year old boards, they are severely dished in the middle from heavy cleaver strikes. Contemporary 'butcher block' references any wooden surface in the kitchen, i feel. It is typically sold as end grain, edge grain(aka flat sawn rips glued up into a blank to produce a rift/quarter grain), and face grain/flat sawn. And yes, Richard, you are correct that not many people are butchering whole hogs. However, I routinely cut apart 10-12 whole chickens every other month. My local chicken farmer is a smaller outfit and doesnt take his birds to the slaughterhouse every month. It also means I can only buy whole birds, which i have to break down into specific cuts. In this case, i will admit that my 20"x32"x3" end grain board is barely sufficient for most of my cutting needs. To each his own, but if you have moderate to high end knives(think very hard brittle japanese steel), and you routinely cook, then i think you might be surprised how much you enjoy a ridiculous end grain board. You should trade in that postage stamp you currently work on and give it a shot : )

[Pat Germain]

Personally, I think those huge thick cutting boards are ridiculous. We never butcher a hog on our kitchen counter and I see no need for them. 95% of time we use a little board that is 5x12x3/4" board. If you pass on the information to dry the board by wiping it off and standing it vertically to allow air all around it, I see no issues with thinner boards. Send her those instructions in an email so you have a record of telling her if something goes bad.

I like bigger, heavier cutting boards because they give me room to carve a large chicken, a large ham or many different vegetables. And because it's big and heavy it doesn't move while I'm using it. But I can certainly understand why some people would prefer a smaller, lighter cutting board.

[John TenEyck]

After my wife complained the 1 to 1-1/2" edge grain cutting boards I made were too heavy, I made one out of maple and cherry that's 5/8" thick by about 12 x 18". It's about 10 years old now. It cups from moisture, then flattens out again when it dries out, but the joints haven't split. If they do, I'll make here another. 90% of the time she's the one using it. Whatever makes her happy works for me.

John

[George Yetka]

When you say butcher I think end grain. I would keep them 1-1/2" minimum But I have made a bunch of 3/4 edge/face frame boards and short of people not following care instructions nothing has ever went wrong after 80 or so. I had 3 go on me all 3 the people were soaking them or in 1 instance she ran it in the dishwasher

[Andrew Hughes]

Butcher block and thin doesn't make sense.
I think they meant thin cutting board.
I always connect Butcher blocks with a meat cleaver. That's what my grandpa used to chop up rabbits. His block was at least a foot thick.
Good luck

[Cameron Wood]

Then there is the less known fact that block planes are for planing blocks i.e. end grain butcher blocks.

[Patty Hann]

Butcher block and thin doesn't make sense.
I think they meant thin cutting board.
I always connect Butcher blocks with a meat cleaver. That's what my grandpa used to chop up rabbits. His block was at least a foot thick.
Good luck

Your Grandpa chopped up Thumper??!!!:eek: Oh nooooooo!!!

[Wes Grass]

Then there is the less known fact that block planes are for planing blocks i.e. end grain butcher blocks.

I was gonna say... thought I should probably look it up tomorrow to be sure. But generally massively thick ... so they last a generation or more in a commercial butcher shop.

End grain whicks moisture away so the block dries and bacteria doesn't flourish ... like they will in plastic trays that stay wet in the knife cuts.

[Mike Cutler]

Timothy

I think you just need to ask the client what the intended use of the board(s) is?
The thinnest cutting board I have is probably 5/8" thick. It was made out of a choke cherry log, from a tree I cut down in the yard. It's been on my kitchen counter for over 20 years and is still flat, but it sees limited use. It is mostly used to protect my granite counter tops.
I also have Bubinga cutting board in various sizes. Thickness is probably a little over an inch. These are also primarily to protect the counters, though the one next to the kitchen sink sees a lot of use.
I have made a large probably 5/8" thick, q-sawn maple cutting board for a friend.It was 24"x 36", and is used to roll bread dough out on, and make pastry on it. I don't think it's ever seen a knife. That was made 20+ years ago and is in daily use, and cleaned multiple times per day. It has no finish on it. It is a bare board. She covers it with flour and goes to work.
The term "butcher block" to me, means an end grain orientation to the cutting surface. But I don't really care if someone calls it a butcher block, cutting board, pastry board, or Quiji board, it just wood at the end of the day, and as long as everyone understands how the term is being applied, we're all speaking the same language. So, there is a little confusion here.
One of my largest cutting boards measures 22"x34" and is 5/4 thick bubinga. It cover the burners on our cooktop when the cook top is not in use. This board is awkward for my wife to move around, and it retrospect I could have made it much thinner, to make it easier for her to deal with. It could be that your client doesn't want a heavy board to move about.
Speak with your client to understand her needs. She may not need, or want, a big thick, heavy, board.

[John TenEyck]

I was gonna say... thought I should probably look it up tomorrow to be sure. But generally massively thick ... so they last a generation or more in a commercial butcher shop.

End grain whicks moisture away so the block dries and bacteria doesn't flourish ... like they will in plastic trays that stay wet in the knife cuts.

End grain wicks moisture deeper into the wood, so wouldn't it pull bacteria in as well? I know that wood is better at resisting bacteria growth than plastic, but if it was only a function of being end grain oriented then flat and edge grain cutting boards likely wouldn't be any better than plastic, yet they are.

John