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Thread: Cutting board question

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Nazareth, PA
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    55

    Question Cutting board question

    I'm in the need for a small cutting board so I thought I would make good use of a piece of walnut and laminate it with strips of mahogany and maple. Is walnut okay to use as a cutting board? Is there a particular glue I should use to laminate, being that the cutting board is for food and will get wet? What kind of finish should I use? Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    northern new jersey
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    150
    Ken I made a couple of those for the loml,(plus I wanted to get rid of some scrap! )I made a few out of red oak, and one out of walnut & maple.I used Titebond 2 and finished them off with mineral oil. They have been in service for a year now with no problems. Just my 2cents.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,675
    Using walnut as an accent is fine, but it's a relatively open grained hardwood and not the best choice for a cutting board that will be actively used. (Same for mahogany which is quite soft) That's why you usually see them made of maple, cherry, beech or other close-grained hardwoods. I'm not suggesting you can't use it because that's not true...just that you might want to consider functional aspects if this board will be a "user" rather than a decorative piece.

    Regardless, mineral oil or a mineral oil/parafin mixture applied hot are the right choices for a board that will be used and is renewable. The oil should be applied frequently at first and eventually will only need rejuvination about once every month or two. Never wash with soap...water only...and that also means no meat cutting on it. Use a plastic cutting board for meat and many folks keep separate ones (they are cheap) for red met and fowl.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker
    ...Never wash with soap...water only...and that also means no meat cutting on it. Use a plastic cutting board for meat and many folks keep separate ones (they are cheap) for red met and fowl.
    The intuitive feeling is that plastic boards are safer, since there aren't pores to collect the germs from meat, especially chicken. So all the health departments jumped on it and ordered used of plastic cutting boards in everything that they could regulate. Then some university research measured the bacteria level on plastic and wood cutting boards. The plastic was a major germ hazard, and few germs were present on the wood.

    The last article I saw on the subject was describing the research to test the theory that the plastic had lots of tiny cracks from the knife marks, since the plastic doesn't "heal", so all these scratches held both germs and moisture, and helped the germs grow, but were so small that washing wasn't totally effective. On the other hand, the wood wicked the moisture away so the germs didn't survive, and the finest knife marks largely healed by the expansion and contraction of the wood. The research wasn't done when I read the article, but the preliminary results supported this hypothesis.

    We have tile counters in our kitchen on which we use wood cutting boards, but most of our cutting (of any type of food) is done on the maple top island. We wash it like any other utensil with warm soapy sponges. We refresh with vegetable oil (often enough that we don't worry about it getting rancid, and don't bother with mineral oil).

    Guess we break every rule of thumb on cutting board procedures, but we remain quite healthy, and our counter and cutting boards remain attractive.

    To support Jim's recommendations, we have a red oak cutting board (commercially made) that is very hard to keep clean; we have made walnut cutting boards (to use scrap walnut) that are easier to clean than the oak. But maple is, in my opinion, the best wood for cutting boards from a cleaning and maintenance perspective, but is boring.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,675
    What I like about the plastic cutting boards for meat and fowl is that they can go in the dishwasher and experience some nice hot detergent cleaning. Yes, not perfect, but it does nicely. And since we only use the wood board(s) for veggies, etc., they only need to be wiped off with water which helps preserve the mineral oil as well as doesn't dry out the wood like a detergent soap would. That works for us, but everyone's a little different!! There is no one "right" way...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Waterford, MI
    Posts
    4,673
    I went the other way. Beech boards with walnut accent strips. Titebond II worked fine for gluing and I just used an oil finish. 5 years later, it wouldn't hurt to sand and refinish them but they're still holding up fine - even with periodic washing in hot water.
    I have no idea whether mine would hold up to UDSA specs or not.
    Use the fence Luke

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Pickering, Ontario.
    Posts
    339
    Built a few boards using a variety of close-grained hardwoods glued together (laminated) with poly type glue. Have worked out fine so far. My wife found some plastic cutting sheets which work well for "wet" things being cut. These are @ 8" square, 1/16" thick, flexible opague plastic and merely sit on top of board when cutting wet stuff, easy wipe off. Fully washable etc and easily stored in drawer when not required ie bread cutting. Cheap & durable. Probably sell at most kitchen utensile stores.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Gainesville, Florida
    Posts
    743
    I've used walnut in concert with maple, cherry and bloodwood with good results. I've used Titebond II in the past with excellent results. I'll be switching to Titebond III as soon as this batch of II is gone.
    Kent Cori

    Half a bubble off plumb

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