Corian on knives

[ohsmily]

Obviously, I am new (I frequent drastically different boards) and this is my first cooking forums membership. Anyway, this has probably been asked before, but since I haven't posted yet, my account was barred from the search function...so, here it is...

I have read that corian is: 1) horrible on knife edges, 2) that it is OK on knife edges, 3) that it is better than wood on knife edges and everything in between.

Does anyone have a reputable source or someone that ran an empirical test on these claims to see how knives fare against corian. I have to say that I love the corian cutting board I have (great material) but I am getting a set of very nice knives soon and want to know if I should consider tossing the board in favor of a different material board.

Thank you for the input.

Note: if this is in the wrong forum, let me know...

 

[Michael in FtW]

Welcome fto DC, ohsmily!

Here is how it works (cutting board materials vs knife blades):

The softer the cutting board the less "damage" it does to your knives. For example, end grain wood does less damage than edge grain wood, which does less damage than plastic (and there is a hodge-podge of plastics with different Rockwell hardness factors) which are not as destructive as stone (soap stone isn't as bad as granite or marble), which isn't as bad as tempered glass. Apparently, Corian is somewhere between hard plastics and soft stone.

Basically - the more resistant to knife marks the board is, the harder the material, the more damage it will do to a knife blade.

Wood boards can be kept just as microbe free as plastic boards tossed into the dish washer ... sometimes even cleaner with minimal muss or fuss.

 

[ohsmily]

Thank you for the prompt response.

I am getting a few Henckels Twin Cuisine knives soon. Is the corian damaging enough that I should toss the corian board no questions asked? or, should I balance my fondness for the board with its downside and just accept that I will have the knives sharpened a little more frequently than otherwise?

 

[GB]

Yes you should toss the corian. Corian is great stuff for counters, but horrible for knives. Stick with wood or plastic for cutting boards. Both wood and plastic have advantages and disadvantages over each other so one in not better than the other, but they are both worlds better than corian. Along the same line, do not use glass cutting boards for the same reason you should not use corian.

 

[Gretchen]

Use the corian for a trivet or such.

 

[FryBoy]

Dump the corian board! Wood is much better for you knives. The best I've found is end-cut bamboo. Check this site: www.totallybamboo.com. Bamboo is actually a form of grass, not wood, and it's a fast-growing, easily replaced resource. And the boards look great!

BTW, I recently saw a study of cutting board safety by a university food department. The researchers found that, contrary to popular belief, cutting boards made of plastic and similar materials harbor far more bacteria than wood boards. They can be washed in the dishwasher, but once they develop the inevitable cuts in the surface, they can't be sterilized. Anyway, few people stick them in the dishwasher after each use. As I recall, this study determined that the wood boards tend to absorb the bacteria, causing them to die, whereas with plastic, the germs stay on the surface and thrive in the tiny kicks and cuts on the surface of the board.

 

[BlueCat]

Use the corian for a trivet or such.

That's what I use my Corian board for, so I wouldn't get rid of it, but I wouldn't cut on it either.

BC

 

[Alix]

OK, I cut on my corian board all the time, but I don't find it dulls my knives so much as it cuts the crap out of my board. LOL. I'm just too danged lazy to pull out the other board when the corian one is out there next to the sink.

I think if you are meticulous about whetting your knives anyway the corian is not going to be an undue stress on your knives. It will get cut to crap though.

 

[ohsmily]

OK, I cut on my corian board all the time, but I don't find it dulls my knives so much as it cuts the crap out of my board. LOL. I'm just too danged lazy to pull out the other board when the corian one is out there next to the sink.

I think if you are meticulous about whetting your knives anyway the corian is not going to be an undue stress on your knives. It will get cut to crap though.

Thank you all for the input. I will use my cheaper knives on the corian for awhile and see if there is a significant dulling of the blades.

 

[Claire]

When I had my corian counters put in, they gave me a corian "cutting board", then -- yes, the people who sold me the counters -- recommended I use it as a hot plate trivet, and told me that they did have to give it to me, but they did NOT recommend I use it as a cutting board as it was too hard and would dull my knives. I love my corian counters and especially the sinks, but I use wood or the white plastic for cutting.

 

[GB]

Take a cue from the pros. You never see a professional kitchen with anything other than wood or plastic.