Outdoor cutting board wood choices

[Alan Lightstone]

I just thought of an interesting issue regarding a BBQ cart I am finishing up. I will have a wood (of course) cutting board I will build on the top. Haven't decided on design, end grain vs face grain, etc...

The cutting board will live outdoors in the Florida sun (mostly shade), 200% humidity, etc..

The cart itself is built out of cypress and painted, so I'm not terribly worried about it living outdoors, but I'm wondering if the normal choices of woods I use for cutting boards will be an issue living outdoors.

What woods would you people choose for this, or is it a non-issue?

BTW, not a terribly big deal for me to refinish a board if I have to. Wide-belt sander at the ready, and finishing room.

[Chuck Saunders]

end grain white oak would be my choice, but it's my choice for indoor boards too
Chuck

[Jamie Buxton]

I'd design the cart so that the cutting board comes off easily, and can live most of the time indoors out of the sun and rain. Wood that lives outdoors 24/7 is going to get beat up, and will look bad pretty quickly, no matter what species you use.

[Alan Lightstone]

It will be removable, Jamie, but still want it to live outdoors, if possible. One less thing to fuss with when using the BBQ. Also, would then leave a big opening for rain and yuk to get into under it.

[Dwayne Watt]

White oak would be my first choice simply based on cost and availability. Bois d'arc (osage orange), teak, or ipe would be very good choices as well.

[Richard Coers]

What does living outdoors mean? No cover at all? In a lanai under a roof? Personally, I would keep lamination lines to a minimum. No end grain as it soaks up water more and all those glue joints have to survive all that movement. I'd take some warping over split laminations any day. Quarter sawn lumber always move less in width than flat cut.

[George Yetka]

I think a board that comes inside would be better.
When you decide to grill and bring it out it will be clean.
When you bring it inside to clean it you dont have to bring it back out.

When grilling I do all my chopping of veggies inside then I go out with meat on a plate, toss it on the grill, head back in to return the plate and grab cutting board and aluminum foil. The meat comes off the grill into the foil on the cutting board and it heads back into the house to be cut up after it rests. I dont currently have a patio or deck so It is eaten inside or in our sunroom.

[Alan Lightstone]

I think a board that comes inside would be better.
When you decide to grill and bring it out it will be clean.
When you bring it inside to clean it you dont have to bring it back out.

When grilling I do all my chopping of veggies inside then I go out with meat on a plate, toss it on the grill, head back in to return the plate and grab cutting board and aluminum foil. The meat comes off the grill into the foil on the cutting board and it heads back into the house to be cut up after it rests. I dont currently have a patio or deck so It is eaten inside or in our sunroom.

Yeah, more and more I'm thinking about keeping it inside. But now I have to come up with an outside piece to cover the hole where the cutting board will sit.

[Bob Riefer]

A piece of Azek (or similar) could be nicely fit into that location while the nicer cutting board is inside. Won't rot, takes paint well, easily accessible at lumber yard etc.

[Brian Tymchak]

White oak would be my first choice simply based on cost and availability. Bois d'arc (osage orange), teak, or ipe would be very good choices as well.

I was also first thinking end grain ipe, but then checked the wood database for toxicity. Turns out ipe can cause skin and respiratory irritation and teak is a sensitizer. I would now not use those for a cutting board.

[Alan Lightstone]

So, I rethought the project, and am going for a solid granite top, and I'll just make a nice cutting board that I can bring outside when using. I'll lose the ability to toss scraps down a hole into a metal bin for disposal, but the project will go far easier, and we were able to pick out prettier granite for the top since it won't have such a big opening.