What wood can you use to make a cutting board or block?

Question

What wood can you use to make a cutting board or block?

Answer 1

most commonly maple is used due to its density and tight grain. have made several.

Hope that helps.

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chuckscro, think I need to jump back in here, due to some of the following answers. (even tho the original Q was what type of wood to use).

you definitely do not want to use corn, vegetable, nut(tung oil), or any other organic based oil on a cutting board. it will go rancid and contaminate the food. mineral oil is the 'drug of choice' for finishing.

although i would agree with John W that you do not want to use an open pore hardwood, not any hardwood will do, a cutting board is an instance where the stability of qtrsawan wood is not an advantage, and flat sawn is preferred. consider the comparasion like a piece of plywood. if you poured water on the flat side of a piece of plywood, it would have to soak thru that top layer to get to the next. if poured on the edge(similar to qtr sawn) it would soak thru each layer causing the layers to separate.

i get my maple  from rockler.com in 1-3/4"x 1-3/4" and plane to thickness for a block or board. Mineral oil only!

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Mine Is Maple

Answer 3

any kind of wood will do for the finish put on when done is the answer you need to know for that will protect the wood and the block it self-soak it good with mineral oil

Answer 4

any hard wood will do. be sure its dried completely so as not to have it bend out of shape. sand it and use an oil base to seal it such as Mazola or corn oil. any oil vegetable base will suffice and not contaminate the wood.

Answer 5

Without a doubt, hard rock maple is the preferred wood of choice for a cutting board or butcher's block.

If you're making it yourself and you have the ability, cut your pieces so that they are "quarter-sawn" with the grain running perpendicular to the surface. You'll notice the distinctive presence of the "medullary rays", or the little light-brown flakes that actually run radially from the center of the tree outwards.

If you're able to cut your wood that way it will be most stable as most shrinkage and expansion happens with the grain, with flat-sawn boards. Since a cutting board will get washed frequently and then dried, the wood will be subjected to even greater than normal cycles of expansion and shrinking.

Poorly chosen woods for cutting boards usually come apart for that reason.

Don't use any of the open grained woods (oak, walnut, mahogany) as the open pores will hold bacteria and tiny bits of food and could be unsanitary (salmonella from chicken, for example).

Answer 6

beech