Choosing a Cutting Board?

S

Shawn7656

Joined
Feb 15, 2012
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Not sure if this is really the right place to ask such a question but today I was cooking up some stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes and started wondering what the best cutting board material is. I assume wood would be the best for your edge, but would probably harbor bacteria the easiest. Glass and stone seem like they'd probably be worst for your blade. Plastic seems to be the best way to go, but those tend to get cuts in them, and thus can harbor bacteria as well...

So.. What's your material of choice and why? What do you think is the best to use? I have glass, stone, and plastic ones available to use at the moment.
 
Epicurean hands down. They're made of paperstone, which is a polymerized wood fiber material bonded using non-toxic water based resins. It combines the best qualities of plastic and wood. Very attractive, as well.
 
Glass and stone are like the devil of cutting boards....avoid like the plague. Same for ceramic, granite, etc.

Get a good quality end-grain, cutting board made with a closed grain wood like maple. Buy from someone who knows what they're doing and uses a good food safe glue.

http://www.theboardsmith.com/

Is the best I know of, but I'm sure there are others out there.

This will be the best for your knife's edge, easily cleaned, and attractive to boot.

There are some good plastic one's too....but I don't like them at all for my edges.

People seem to think bamboo is hard on their edges too, but I've never tried one to comfirm that.

The Epicurean boards I don't like, unfortunately. They're very hard and rough on very thin edges as well in my experience but that was a LONG time ago and they might have changed their formula.

In the end, an end-grain cutting board is just the best of the bunch IMHO.

To each their own though.
 
watercrawl said:
Glass and stone are like the devil of cutting boards....avoid like the plague. Same for ceramic, granite, etc.

Get a good quality end-grain, cutting board made with a closed grain wood like maple. Buy from someone who knows what they're doing and uses a good food safe glue.

http://www.theboardsmith.com/

Is the best I know of, but I'm sure there are others out there.

This will be the best for your knife's edge, easily cleaned, and attractive to boot.

There are some good plastic one's too....but I don't like them at all for my edges.

People seem to think bamboo is hard on their edges too, but I've never tried one to comfirm that.

The Epicurean boards I don't like, unfortunately. They're very hard and rough on very thin edges as well in my experience but that was a LONG time ago and they might have changed their formula.

In the end, an end-grain cutting board is just the best of the bunch IMHO.

To each their own though.
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With regard to bamboo boards, CROSS GRAIN ones (by far the most common) are very hard on a knife edge. End grain not so much, but they're harder to find and are more expensive. Very nice boards, though.

As far as thin edges and Epicurean boards go, I've never had a problem and I keep many of my kitchen knives at 10-15 per side. Most aren't high-end super steels, either (most are Vic/Forschner) but like you said, use what you like! Just avoid those damn glass or stone boards. Never understood why folks call them cutting boards when they're really food prep. surfaces. Good for keeping cut pieces of meat on when you need to free up the REAL cutting board, or for rolling dough out on, but certainly not for cutting.
 
Before I started making knives i was a wood worker (humidors, jewelry boxs, tables so on) I also have always spent a lot of time in the kitchen and would make cutting boards from time to time. I found maple to be grate, it is easy on blades but tough enought to take abuse. Under care and mantenance clean it by hand with mild soap and no abrasives,use butchers block oil of some form to keep it sealed and condtioned. A nice pluss to wood is if it drys out or gets beaten up it can be sanded down, depending on how bad it is start as low as 80 grit and work up to 220 then saturate with white mineral oil wipe off exses then let it cure over night. Yes white mineral oil is a mild laxative that is why one wipes off the exses the rest stays in the wood.
 
Thanks for the replies guys! Has anyone else worked with the Overboard? It looks pretty nice and is MUCH less expensive than the ones Watercrawl linked to haha.
 
I don't have any experience with them. I would ask them what kind of wood they're using and what kind of glue. "Hardwood" is quite vague. $40 for the entire board makes me nervous as I don't believe I could buy enough maple/cherry/etc. to make a board that size for $40.
 
dogwood dan said:
Yes white mineral oil is a mild laxative that is why one wipes off the exses the rest stays in the wood.
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The reason why it's a laxative is because it's indigestible, and passes through the body. It would take quite a bit of it to actually have a true laxative effect--i.e. taking an actual dose of it. The real reason to avoid excess is it's just messy. :p
 
I've wanted an end grain maple cutting board. The grain will allow the edge of your knife to spread them apart, without actually cutting into the wood. After years of correct cutting technique, you should have no visable cut lines in the wood. It's as if it "heals" itself. Also, I never use a serrated blade, at all, but don't use those on your nice cutting boards at all.
Serrated blades on a glass, or other hard cutting boards, makes some sense. The tips of some serrated kitchen knives aren't even that sharp, each scallop or scoup is where the edges are. You won't dull those knifes on glass, etc.. Some bread knives are serrated, I guess that works for some people.
 
foxx said:
Serrated blades on a glass, or other hard cutting boards, makes some sense. The tips of some serrated kitchen knives aren't even that sharp, each scallop or scoup is where the edges are. You won't dull those knifes on glass, etc.. Some bread knives are serrated, I guess that works for some people.
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IMHO, that simply is not true. Sharpening a dulled serrated knife with a dowel (if it's the kind of serrations you can do that with) and sandpaper brings back the points and tremendously helps the knife cut through bread.
 
watercrawl said:
IMHO, that simply is not true. Sharpening a dulled serrated knife with a dowel (if it's the kind of serrations you can do that with) and sandpaper brings back the points and tremendously helps the knife cut through bread.
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I'm just saying there are some serrated blades that don't even come with sharpened points, those are made for glass cutting boards, at least in my mind. I realize that plenty of serrated knives have sharpened points. It's those sharpened points that scar up a cutting board, it looks bad, and wears out the board.
 
I was curious about this same thing a while back. Here's as good a starting point as any: http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/cutting_board.htm

Personally, I prefer wood. I've used both, but mostly wood and I haven't gotten sick so far. In fact, I even cut raw meat, cooked meat, veggies, etc... on the same board and haven't had any problems. I don't even sanitize it... Just run it under the sink with hot tap water and a soapy sponge.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The reason why it's a laxative is because it's indigestible, and passes through the body. It would take quite a bit of it to actually have a true laxative effect--i.e. taking an actual dose of it. The real reason to avoid excess is it's just messy. :p
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yes but if i had not put that in some one would have said insert whiny voice "but that is a laxative":)
 
My wife and I have used a maple, cross laminated (layers glued), about 2" thick, 12x10" for nearly 40 years. It is easy on blades, but sooner or later they will need sparpening. We wash it off with soap and water and occasionally salt it then wash off the salt. Use it for everything except raw chicken (another cheap wood board for that which gets bleached for killing any possible salmonella). Never used a plastic or glass board, never will and don't use serrated blades. I use mainly carbon steel that I sharpen to a near shaving edge and it stays that way for months before needing a little retouching with the stone. Good wood cutting boards rule!

Rich S
 
i use plastic ones, am making some of wood, cross grain and end grain. i will only cut meat, fish, or poultry on a plastic board. as soon as i am done, hot soap and water, then bleach spray for both cutting board and knife.
scott.
 
i have a bamboo end grain chopping board but i wouldn't buy another, I don't like how it get's warped when one side get's wet and expands, got a solid wood chopping board that this doesn't happen to
 
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