Cutting boards

[Jerry Bruette]

I see a lot of cutting boards being made. Some end grain and some are edge grain, most are about 2" thick. What would be the minimum thickness for a edge grain cutting board? Does the size matter for the thickness?

[Jim Becker]

For primarily decorative use, thickness really doesn't matter. For a "user", thicker is likely to stay flatter longer as well as provide more mass to keep it from moving around on the counter as much. That's regardless of construction. My "user" is about an inch and a half thick...I like a heavy board.

[MARTA TORRES-QUINONES]

Its a matter of taste. I prefer thinner and smaller boards for cooking. Thick boards are heavy and hard to carry one handed to scrape ingredients into a hot sautee pan. For me in particular, they are an accident/burn waiting to happen. Because of their size and heft I find thick boards hard to clean. For that reason, my thick boards are for decorative purposes. The boards I make and use for cooking are usually 11 x 14 in dimension and 7/8 to 1 1/4 inches thick. Most have been edge grain because I have yet to embark into the end grain realm.

In conclusion, the best board is going to operator dependent. Some prefer thick, some prefer thin. Different strokes for different folks, as well it should be.

Cheers!

[John K Jordan]

I also prefer thinner cutting boards. I have some thick ones and they don't get used much.

Those I've made both recently and 40 years ago were edge (or side grain, depending on the how the boards are sawn) about an inch or a bit more and they work fine, no warping. I think the type of wood is more important than the grain orientation - I like a hard, dense, fine-grained diffuse porous wood. For a cutting board table that doesn't get picked up and moved a lot I go with about 2" or so thick.

[Jim Becker]

You do make a good point, Marta, about a big/heavy board being more unwieldy for scraping into a pot. But consistent with your last statement, cooking style comes into play here, too. I do most of my prep beforehand and utilize small containers as an intermediate step. A little more cleaning, but I have everything ready to go. If I do need to go from board to pot, I use the side of my Nakiri knife (which I use 95% of the time) to transport. There's no wrong way, so relative to the OP's question, "who's doing the cooking and what do they prefer" comes into play for sure!

[Lee Schierer]

We have several in our kitchen that are 3/4" thick. They work quite well.

[Bob Falk]

I have made many many end grain and strip cutting boards. In my experience, you can get away with a thin cutting board (1/2") if made from strips. I made a couple end grain boards that were about 1" thick and they warped badly and eventually cracked. I don't make an end grain board thinner than 1-1/2" anymore and prefer even thicker. We use end grain boards for serving cheese and other hors d'oeuvres and the thinner strip boards for moving chopped veggies into the saute pan.

[Andrew Hughes]

My long grain boards are thinner then my end grain. For instance my end grain are about 2 inches and not very big 11x10. My long grain are 3/4 thick but 13x20.
End grain have to be thicker or they will warp badly.
I also have a end grain with one side ramped and one side flat. But it doesn’t get used much.

[David Walser]

Jerry -- For edge grain cutting boards, 3/4" is a good target minimum thickness. I have a few that are thinner than that, but they don't have the same solid feel that my slightly thicker cutting boards have. When slicing and dicing with a chefs knife, a stable cutting surface is a big plus. I get that with 3/4". Not so much with 1/2". YMMV.

I believe end grain cutting boards need to be thicker. The reason is the short glue joint. An end grain cutting board contains a lot more glue joints than an edge grain board and all those glue joints are going to be no longer than the thickness of the board. For those reasons, my minimum thickness for an end grain cutting board is 1.5". Thinner than that and I'd be afraid that the board would too easily come apart in time.

[Jerry Bruette]

Thanks for the input, Gents. I was thinking a nice new long grain board to go in the new reno kitchen.

[Jon Grider]

I sell boards at a local specialty food retailer. Edge grain boards are 5/8" thick, end grain are 1 1/4" max. Thicker boards in large sizes can get pretty heavy as Marta said and use more material which can be a consideration if you are selling them. Non of my boards have ever come back and I'm in my 4th year at that store.

[Jerry Bruette]

I sell boards at a local specialty food retailer. Edge grain boards are 5/8" thick, end grain are 1 1/4" max. Thicker boards in large sizes can get pretty heavy as Marta said and use more material which can be a consideration if you are selling them. Non of my boards have ever come back and I'm in my 4th year at that store.

What do you use for glue? I assume the strips run the length of the board?

[Jon Grider]

What do you use for glue? I assume the strips run the length of the board?

I use Titebond 111. It tends to creep so my solution is to spread generously and then let it set for 2 minutes or so before clamping. I also let the glued up near completed boards "rest" while the glue cures for two or more weeks before final sanding, finishing, and placement in the store. On edge boards I try to add interest by the perimeter shape (ovals, paddles, boat shaped, gold fish, etc) instead of the basic rectangle and then glue up using diagonal, and north and south grain and traditional east to west. Nick Engler (author and ww'er) has a YT channel called Workshop Companion that I borrowed his "herringbone" design to make a few batches of boards that sold well. I was skeptical at first as the design incorporates near end grain to end grain glue joints, but there have not been any failures so far. Time will tell. There has been a big discussion on end grain to end grain glue joints on the various WWing sites, so I tried it myself and feel fairly confident that the joinery will last a long time. I attach a care guide with each board, encouraging the owner to not put them in a dishwasher, but to wash them with a soapy sponge under warm running water and to dry and store them standing on edge to allow air movement on both flat sides I also sell jars of cutting board treatment with instructions. Most customers who will pay $50 to $120 for a board are willing to purchase the treatment as well. Sorry for the run on post, hope it helps.

[Eric Anderson]

I have made a couple of boards for my neighbor, who is a retired executive chef. He has requested a board no thicker than 3/4" because he isn't' that tall and anything taller than that makes it more difficult for him to cut effectively, like a pro uses a knife, which is pretty awesome to watch. To the more casual cook, that isn't slicing at the speed of sound, this might not be as important.

[Dave Cav]

I sell boards at a local specialty food retailer. Edge grain boards are 5/8" thick, end grain are 1 1/4" max. Thicker boards in large sizes can get pretty heavy as Marta said and use more material which can be a consideration if you are selling them. Non of my boards have ever come back and I'm in my 4th year at that store.

I do the same thing. I use off rips from a local millwork shop that I get free from the dumpster, and most of it started out as 4/4 or 5/4 stock, so my boards end up between 3/4 and 7/8" thick. Because of the source, every batch is different depending on what kind of millwork they are running that week. Unfortunately they run a lot of paint grade poplar and I generally stay away from that for cutting boards.