persimmon wood for butcher block

[brian dudley]

Has anyone ever used persimmon for a cutting board or butcher block?I could also use any tips for working with this wood.

[Martin Shupe]

Persimmon is so hard is was once the preferred wood for golf clubs.

I am sure it would make a great chopping block.

I believe it is the only North American species in the ebony family, IIRC.

Ebenaceae...

Sharp tools would be in order to work it, but I have never had some to try.

[Andrew Duncan]

A local farmer has supplied me with persimmon from time to time and I've used it in some projects, but not a cutting board. As Martin notes, it's quite hard and will beat up both you and the tool edges. That said, it looks very attractive and is certainly not something seen every day in projects. The grain in the stuff I've gotten has been fairly wild which adds to the twin properties of hard to work and good looking.

[brian dudley]

Thanks for the info.I'll try to remember to put up some pics of my block.