Chopping board

[Paul Smith]

What's cherry like?

[wisewood]

The list of safe & unsafe woods seems to only be pertinent to the safety of birds (website was a bit of a giveaway). Since we were discussing the safety of wood in manufacture of chopping boards (for human food prepartion) not a bird table (bird food presentation) it probably is'nt relevant.

 

Fair point, but if I was going to butcher a chicken I'd only want the best and safest wood to dispatch it on:sneaky2:

[Rob D]

I've done a fair bit of research on chopping boards recently.

 

Searched many forums on treatments of chopping boards. One thing is do not use vegetable oils i.e. olive, sunflower etc. They look great but over the course of months the oil can go rancid in the wood...

 

The best oils seem to be walnut and coconut. For technical reasons they don't go rancid as easily.

 

Have also made up a mix of walnut oil and beeswax Finishing wood with walnut oil and beeswax » The Canary Report

 

And this works well although you need to be careful how much beeswax.

 

Nut allergys - from what I can gather someone with a peanut allergy can have refined peanut oil and it is unlikely to cause a reaction.

 

So even if there are traces of peanut oil in the walnut oil this should not be an issue.

 

Also when the board is polished up well it causes the oil/wax to form a polymer something or other that then stops rancidity.....

[Kraftinwood]

Hi just to add to the above I have tried various oils and as Wisewood says nut oils are not a good idea.

Danish oil once dried (after 24hours) is food safe, I use Ruskins.

Despite the common belief that wood is self cleansing that is not strictly true, it is though believed to be better than glass or plastic cutting boards as even after scrubbing they still can have some nasty bacteria in the knife cuts. So does wood but if properly cleaned after each use it sounds the safest bet.

The following link from the internet is worth reading if you have the time and confirms the above

UC-Davis Food Safety Laboratory: Cutting Board Research

[fergusonforestry]

butcher block oil is what you want veg oils will go rancid in the end

[clima]

What wood would not be food safe just curious as don't know.

 

 

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Best to begin with is Sycamore,beech or young/medium aged ash....older ash becomes darkened and has other issues which make a board less saleable for the "professional" maker.Ensure wood is seasoned or it is likely to split etc.Be aware that oak looks good but the dust from sanding is quite damaging to you.Kiln or natural dried doesnt matter.If for food use avoid usual non poisonous oils like danish oil due to nut allergies,use veg oil but it can create a"bloom"where grain becomes discoloured if not used regularly.

[firewood]

Beech oak or sycamore are all excellent.

oil as mentioned above, or these guys offer some superb products, including food safe finishes.

This is an oak one i made for the raffle:

[ATTACH]73422[/ATTACH]

 

I won this board in the raffle.

 

we use it all the time and i can, after 8 months use, confirm that we are still alive:thumbup1:

 

excellent tommer. thanks.

[ben lightfoot]

is it best to dry the wood once its been milled or mill dry timber?

[Daniël Bos]

I'm mildly surprised no-one has made any mention of the hardness of the different woods?

Butchers' blocks have to deal with chopping, but should not blunt the cleaver. Therefore they use upright blocks of beech as it's strong enough to withstand the blows and not wear too much but not so hard it'll blunt the tools. The edge of the tool will actually part the fibres a bit, creating a bit of "bounce" to preserve the edge.

 

For home use this is equally relevant but most peoples kitchen knifes are horibly blunt anyway so it often goes unnoticed.

Edited August 31, 2011 by Daniël Bos

[breffni]

Do you use dried wood when making the chopping boards, or can it be fairly green? What do you use flatten them? Chisels, planes....?