For your Knife - what cutting board do you use?

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Hill Dawg

Assistant Cook
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
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5
Location
Mason, Ohio
I've always preferred wood, made my first one in school over 30 years ago and my mother still uses it. That one was an edge grain board, walnut and cherry.

I now make end grain cutting boards, they rarely get marked by my sharpest knives. We've tried glass and lexan and threw the lexan away. The glass board, it's pretty, but it dulls my knives though.

What do YOU use?

Hill Dawg
 
I prefer the thin, flexible cutting boards. I have several kinds but the flexible ones are easy to clean, and store.
 
I built a island with a 4'x2' maple cutting board/work surface. With regular steeling, I only need to sharpen my knives once a year....and they are used daily. I have a large piece of walnut that I would like to turn into an end grain board that I could use for meats. The plasic ones I have are either too small or too slippery.
 
I have an end grain bamboo board as well corazon. I love it. I also have a number of plastic boards that I like because they can go in the dishwasher. I also have some thin flexible ones. I use those on top of my bamboo though, not on top of the counter.
 
I have a 16 x 24 inch end grain bamboo cutting board, an 18 x 24 inch oval maple cutting board with a moat around the outside, and a 20 x 28 inch tempered glass cutting board. The one I use the most is the cheap, flimsy plywood one that pulls out of the front of my cupboard, right above the silverware drawer, because it's the most convenient.

that said, I use bamboo for slicing and dicing, the maple one for carving cooked meats, and the glass one for kneading dough.
 
My island is a 4' x 6' maple cutting board, not end grain as it was a LOT more money than we wanted to pay at the time. When I'm not using the island I really like the flexible boards. They come in so handy!!!!

Knives just don't stand up to glass. While pretty, they are certainly not for everyday use. I've got one we use at parties for cutting lemons and limes only.
 
My main board is a John Boos hard maple edge grain 24 x 18 x 2-1/4 inches and is reversable. I also have a plastic board that is around 18 x 12 x 1/2 inch that I use for wet things, or things that will stain, because it's easier to get it over the sink to clean.
 
i was at a marshall's a couple of years ago, and there was a 2-pack of good size wood boards (maybe 11" square) for less than $10. one is very pale blonde, the other quite dark, neither stained, both hardwood...an email to the manufacturer determined that one is acacia, the other rubberwood (maybe? forget that last one). since the color is so obviously different, it's easy to not mix them up, so one for veggies & cooked foods, the other for raw meats. since i've gotten off the glass & plastic, my knives need sharpening MUCH less frequently. but you guys have me thinking about picking up a bamboo board, as i've heard they need less frequent oiling than my wood ones.

i keep the glass ones around because they're great as cheese boards when i'm having large dinner parties. the plastic ones though, are junk, and if i'm being paranoid about kitchen hygiene, the small grooves a knife marks into a plastic board harbor water after it's run thru the dishwasher...making a nice little microclimate puddle for bacteria to grow in. doesn't work the same way in wood boards because a)water will absorb *into* the board as it dries so no trapped water pockets and b)wet wood releases little amounts of tannins (the stuff that makes tea/coffee brown & bitter), which is inhospitable to bacteria.
 
I recently got a bamboo cutting board - a tip from a buddy - and it's working great. It's really durable, moreso than the plastic flimsy ones and wood boards but not as hard as glass cutting boards. Like you, Fireweaver, I am very paranoid about kitchen hygiene...almost OCD-ish and so I totally love the anti-bacterial and anti-absorbent quality of these boards.

I got the Zambia (Africal Collection) 13.5" x 7.25" x 1". It's just really stylish looking so I'm glad I ordered 2 so I can use one as servingware.

Im not sure if they still have it for sale but I got mine at goingbamboo.com I couldn't find a retail store in my area so I tried them. Quality is beautiful and shipping was fast.
 
Wood countertop salvaged from a science lab demolition, custom cut to fit a corner of my countertop.

Wood is a good material choice for not dulling the blade of your knife, but I prefer other materials when cutting raw meat.
 
I have a bamboo cutting board and a larger plastic cutting board. I prefer wood cutting boards to anything synthetic. When I get my prep table/island, I'm going to use a large wood cutting board on it.
 
I love my wood board and have wondered why anyone would use glass or marble boards. My grandmother uses marble and I always hate to use it with any knife worth anything. I can feel the knife dulling with every chop!. :( I wish we could use wood in the restaurant's kitchen, but apparently that is against health code.
 
Could someone kindly enlighten me as to what "end grain" means, exactly? And why it is generally so much more 'spensive than other kinds of wooden cutting boards?

Thanks! :)
 
Could someone kindly enlighten me as to what "end grain" means, exactly? And why it is generally so much more 'spensive than other kinds of wooden cutting boards?

Thanks! :)

Think of it this way...if you have a 2x4 board, you would use the end of the wood as the cutting surface. These types of boards require many more, smaller pieces of wood to assemble, which drives the price up.
 
Could someone kindly enlighten me as to what "end grain" means, exactly? And why it is generally so much more 'spensive than other kinds of wooden cutting boards?

Thanks! :)


Think of a 2x4. If you look at the end, which is 2"x4" (approx) that's the end grain. Cut off 10 slices two inches thick and stand them on end and glue them together. The 20"x40" (approx) board will be made up of end grain.

It's much kinder to your knives.
 
I have a large wooden board with a moat that lives on my peninsula (island that sticks out from a wall). I sometimes use the flexible plastic mats for veggies and fish because the wooden board is so heavy, but I always use the wood one for meats and poultry, because it's more sanitary than glass or plastic. Even after being put through the dishwasher, plastic boards harbor microbes: On the Chopping Block, Alaska Science Forum

I've heard that marble boards are good for baking - since they are always cool to the touch, they keep the ingredients cooler, which is important in baking.

I also have a small marble board for holiday cheese trays, etc., and a small wooden board and one that came with my knives, for cutting small items quickly. I only keep a small plastic board for when I have guests and someone wants to help out - I give them veggies to chop on it.
 
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The best way I ever heard it described was like this.

Take a handful of dry spaghetti. Hold it in your fist. The spaghetti should be going up and down. Picture a knife going down through the spaghetti. It slips between the strands instead of actually cutting them. The is what end grain wood is like and why it is more gentle on your blade. The knife actually slides between the wood fibers.
 

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