Cutting Board material

[cobalt60]

Red oak = open = bad]< I am referring to the end grain total openess of red oak.

Truth be known, wood is not a good candidate for cutting boards from a health and allergy standpoint, but have been used with minimal concern for quite some time.
[/color]
Anybody wanna address the grain orientation(all same way/alternating/random)?;)

I thought the wood vs. plastic was disputed, but actually favor fell on the side of wood these days.



UC Davis research:
http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/facul ... gboard.htm


or this article seemed OK:
http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/cutting_board.htm

[jtomwoods]

I have made about a dozen end grain cutting boards using various combinations of red oak, white oak, cherry, hard maple, and black walnut. I've never had any issues with red oak by the way when going end grain. Each was finished with 3-4 coats of salad bowl finish.

[beeg]

Cobalt60, thanks for those links. I found them interesting and think I'll stick with WOOD cutting boards.

[JPG]

Cobalt60, thanks for those links. I found them interesting and think I'll stick with WOOD cutting boards.

Yeah! Interesting how yesterday's 'sound scientific advice' becomes today's 'old wives tale'!;)

That happens when 'research' is actually an attempt to 'prove' individual opinion and statistics are 'used'! Hopefully the truth WILL OUT!:)

[moggymatt]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will be using Black Walnut and Maple. My dad is going to teach me how to rip cut and cross cut to make it 1 inch thick. The pattern will be dark, light, dark, light and so on. This will be fun. We will post pictures of our proggress. And we will be using the 4-H guidlines for presenation.


P.S. I really liked reading your responses thanks!

[derekdarling]

Spalted wood. If you look into it, you will find that spalted wood got that way for a reason. Those lines got there through a fungal process; it is one step toward total decay.

I don't know about you, but I'm not going to put food anywhere near spalted wood. I'm just sayin'

Derek

[kalynzoo]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will be using Black Walnut and Maple. My dad is going to teach me how to rip cut and cross cut to make it 1 inch thick. The pattern will be dark, light, dark, light and so on. This will be fun. We will post pictures of our proggress. And we will be using the 4-H guidlines for presenation.


P.S. I really liked reading your responses thanks!

Enjoy your project with your Dad. We will all be waiting to see photos of your finished project.
Best wishes from one woodworker to another.