Acacia Wood

[TheNoodleIncident]

anyone use acacia wood for their cutting board? i have an end grain one - not very expensive, from BB&B.....i got it because it is endgrain, good size (i have a small apartment), and looks very nice....have treated it well and oiled it regularly

question - how is acacia supposed to be on knives? it "feels" hard to me, but this is my first real cutting board and my knives dont seem to be suffering (but again, i just got my first "good knives - Shuns -, so i dont have a ton of experience)

i have asked this question on a few of the sites dedicated to knives, and not gotten too much info...maybe someone here knows

ok, apparently i am too new to post a link - but if you look up "acaia cutting board" on the BB&B site, its the only one that comes up

and the link is similar to this

bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=1&SKU=14427368

 

[Rob Babcock]

Wow, that's a pretty board. If it's end grain then at first blush I would think it would be just fine. I don't know anything about that wood but end grain boards are easier on the edge of your knife than edge grain.

Apropos of nothing, I once saw an add for bamboo boards that boasted that their boards were much harder than oak, as if that was a good thing. Plus bamboo boards use a lot of glue which is supposedly very hard on the knife.

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

thanks...one of the reasons i was drawn to it was how pretty it is...mine is prob a TINY bit more red than the one in the pic

the fact that it is end grain does give me a good amount of comfort, but i know some words are a bit too hard even if you do have an end grain cut

im also just puzzled as to why there is so little info about this wood (in regards to cutting boards, that is)....getting very little response here, just as i have in the past on other forums

also, since i started this thread ive made enough posts to put a link....so here it is

www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=1&SKU=14427368

 

[The BoardSMITH]

Acacia is a tropical rain forest wood that is used primarily for furniture. It is rated on the Janka hardness scale at 1750 which is 100 points harder than bamboo. Normally the goods produced from acacia are quite less expensive than similar goods made from domestic woods available here and you will see acacia in stores that import most of their goods like Pier 1, BB&B, etc. There is nothing wrong with acacia so don't fret. If it fit your needs then it fit your needs. However, since it is harder, take care with your knives and how you cut. You don't need to chip the edges of the Shun's that you have invested in.

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

thanks! nice to finally get a solid answer, and it's from someone who's opinion i can trust (im familiar with your background from the other knife sites)

well, i knew i wouldnt have this board forever, but it was a good size for my tiny kitchen, it is end grain, and sure is pretty, so it will have to do for a while.....hopefully the hardness won't be a problem over the long(ish) run (no noticeable damage so far)

also just ordered my first stones, so we will see how the hand sharpened edge holds up on the board

 

[The BoardSMITH]

Glad to help!

Thanks for the kind words as well!

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

one other question - do you use acacia in your boards? why or why not?

 

[The BoardSMITH]

one other question - do you use acacia in your boards? why or why not?

I don't use Acacia for two reasons: Not sure about how food safe the wood is and I don't have a source for it locally. I prefer to stick with known species and the supplier I use deals in furniture grade woods and keeps several million board feet on hand.

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

should I be concerned about my board being foodsafe? i’ve seen many food related products other than boards (most often serving utensils and bowls) made of the wood. one would hope that all these products must meet a certain level of standards if being used in conjunction with food, but perhaps that is not the case?

 

[The BoardSMITH]

I can't speak about Acacia with any expertise. I would suggest a Google search for Acacia which will give you tons of information, much more than I can give here.

 

[TheNoodleIncident]

thanks!