Best Cutting board wood

[Gaogier]

Hello

So just a quick question, what wood (dark and light) that I can use for a checker type pattern for a cutting board for kitchen use.

My idea is to also allow it to be used upside down as a tray, so I can bring out cat food for my cats easily.

I hate the look of black wood, so I would say no darker than and including walnut.

The colours I am thinking a light bamboo or light pine for the lighter colour and teak or cherry for the darker colour. Which is best for food preparation, hygiene control and strong but light?

Thank you

 

[Mr Chibs]

What about Beech & Oak, are you talking end grain effect?

 

[foxhole]

Pine is no good it has to be hardwood for a chopping board

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Useable, as opposed to decorative chopping boards need to be durable and wear well - which means softwoods aren't suitable and neither are softer hardwoods such as balsa and lime; they must not stain the food being handled - which lets out many dark coloured tropical timbers; they must not taint the food - another good reason to avoid tropical timbers, but which also excludes tanin rich timbers including oak, walnut and mahogany; they must be made using a timber which does not splinter easily - which lets out timbers which cleave well such as ash, hornbeam and hickory; and they should be made of timber which is closed pore (i.e smooth without an open pore structure as this can harbour dirt and pathogens and is difficult to keep clean). This leaves you with a small list including beech (traditional), sycamore (traditional), maple, olive, runnerwood and a few others. Which is why those timbers turn up repeatedly in manufactured treen

 

[big-all]

i make cutouts for sinks and cookers from beech oak and bamboo into coasters 'pot stands and chopping boards and offer to the householder for free as a nice gesture or pass on to others who are usually very pleased at the matching nature

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Technically bamboo isn't a wood - it's a form of grass

 

[big-all]

Technically bamboo isn't a wood - it's a form of grass

maaan stay off the weed

 

[Gaogier]

Yes, the end grain to be showing up or down. I knew there were woods that are a complete no no, but unsure on what’s best/long lasting that won’t damage over time or blunt knifes or sock up juices.

 

[Mr Chibs]

Nothing worse than socking up juices

 

[Gaogier]

Massively dehydrated again today… soaking up meat juices… lol


Also where is the best place to get the wood from? Just thinking that if this goes well. I can make a chopping board for my dad and my sisters partner who is also into cooking as Christmas gifts.

 

[Mr Chibs]

I would have a scour on FaceBuck Marketplace, there are often scrap bits for sale, chunks of wood... after that proper timber merchant.

Can't remember now, but when I enquired about a length of Acoya, to make a shaker door front, I had to sit down... it was very expensive.

Good luck, I look forward to seeing your boards when you've done one. I keep threatening to make one, but never find the time!

 

[Justin Passing]

Suggestion - buy one, and rout out the back to make the tray. Probably cheaper, certainly easier.
Nothing's perfect, beech doesn't like water. Some teaky-type hardwoods do get used but I don't know what they are. JAK??

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Nothing's perfect, beech doesn't like water. Some teaky-type hardwoods do get used but I don't know what they are. JAK??

Teak and iroko are both oily tropical hardwoods and relatively unaffected by water - those are probably the two species you are thinking of. Both are a reddy brown colour; teak is pretty consistent in colour, iroko can vary between dark brown and mid brown in colour. They are good for ornamental work, but like many tropical timbers they can taint foods, so are best not used as working cutting boards especially for meats. Because of their high oil content they can be problematic for glueing - so a standard technique when glueing them is go wipe the glue surfaces clean with isopropyl alchohol just before glueing up. Finally, they both create fine dust when machined which is a strong nasal irritant (iroko smells particularly peppery and will exacerbate conditions such as hay fever) and can cause extreme reddening of the eyes, so adequate dust extraction, P3 dust masks and goggles are a must when machining these timbers. Finally, teak also contains hard calcite inclusions which blunts tools prematurely

 

[Mr Chibs]

J&K, What's Oak like for a board?

 

[Why Not Indeed]

Scroll up, he suggested the tannins in oak will taint the food.

If you're going to use one side as a tray and one side as chopping board, you could oil/varnish the tray side and leave the chopping side unfinished?