New cutting board

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

maxim

Founding Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
2,090
Reaction score
479
I ordered a Big Walnut Board from Mark a month ago. I have always been fascinating by whole wood boards and i think they look super cool.
In Japan they used it all the time and in Denmark many places started to offer them.
I know i know many will say ohh no they will twist crack bend .... :yammer:
But so fare i had 3 whole wood board and many at my work too. And they all hold up just fine. And also many in Japan use them too so for me it was not somthing new.

In fact i abuse my boards quite a lot (or my GF dose :wink: and if it come some crack in it i dont care maybe i feel it or just make a butterfly joint.
For twisting i have never experience that only on plastic board and super thin ones. It is natural material and i never expect it to be perfect i even think its more beautiful when they have some imperfections :D

So here it is Curly walnut after 1 month of abuse, many drops, soaking in water by my GF and hacking with my chopper ! Thanks Mark !

IMG_0906.jpg

IMG_0911.jpg

IMG_0914.jpg
 
Very nice Max.
I use a single piece board at home.
I wash it with soap and water before I use it and in between cutting different stuff.
So it get's wet quite a bit.
The way I care for mine is whenever I wash it I wash both sides so I don't have one dry side and one wet side.
I squeegee off excess water with the edge of my hand.
When I am done using it I stand it on edge.
 
There is no concern of bacteria growing in the cracks if one develops?

Whole boards sure do look cool.
 
If you do not wash your board with soap then yes :)
But there is many very small cracks in any boards even in plastic. So i think most important to just wash it with soap.

Board is 60cm 29cm 35cm

I dont know i treat them as any of my boards, wash with soap dry it, ones or twice a week i give it some olive oil
 
If you do not wash your board with soap then yes :)
But there is many very small cracks in any boards even in plastic. So i think most important to just wash it with soap.

FOR cracks:

I learned this from my furniture repair woman.... She wld fill up the cracks with saw dust fo the same type of wood and then squeeze in a type of low viscosity glue into it so that it will harden inside. A clamp is used.This she did a few times . The final one, she made it it a paste and cover the small crack totally adn once hardened.. sand it off.

Butterfly: (George Nakishima style), unless you can cover the whole crack. Its purpose to prevent the crack from getting bigger?

I wld be concerned abt trapped food and liquid ( esp chicken bits and blood)in the cracks as you cant totally wash the insides of a crack thoroughly,.

good luck

d
 
Where did you get this board from? I've been looking for someone who would supply a board like this.
 
Oh Maxim you shouldn't use olive oil on your board. It has a problem with going rancid, unless you are doing something I have never heard of.
 
As i said i wash it every day. So i dont thing that will do anything. And almost all in Italy or Spain use olive oil on they cutting boards :D Rancid oil has fewer antioxidants but is not poisonous.
 
I see. Man do I feel dumb. A little deductive reasoning could have gone a long way. That really is a nice board. I wonder how the tree gets cut to get it to look that way.
 
Look again. The wood is rift sawn. Similar to quarter sawn but not quite there.
 
Look again. The wood is rift sawn. Similar to quarter sawn but not quite there.

you are absolutely right!

wld prefer to use quarter sawn or at least the ring lines viewed from the side to be greater than 60 degrees for better stability.

Thast what I picked up from the youtube channel.. "wood whisperer"

d
 
since getting my board 4 months ago ive used 3 pints of mineral oil. its 20x20x3 and it sucks that stuff up. damn thing keeps getting heavier lol
 
since getting my board 4 months ago ive used 3 pints of mineral oil. its 20x20x3 and it sucks that stuff up. damn thing keeps getting heavier lol

That is to much oil. Oil as needed when the area used most turns a little lighter than the surrounding area. In this case, a little will go a long way and less is better.
 
Max did all the work on this board. All I did was send him a piece that I had drum sanded to make flat and even thickness.
It was a piece that was next to a large crotch. That is why the grain is going all over the place.
The feather portion of this went to a luthier. Max's piece was the portion next to the feather.
wal_zps1e3a951d.jpg
 
Getting in late, but that's a beautiful piece of wood. As far as cracking and contamination. Wood has a natural antibacterial property that, along with a good cleaning regimen, kills bacteria and mold on it's own. That is why wood is so much better than plastic. Once the food particles and bacteria get in the cracks and cuts (on plastic) it is very difficult to get them out. It is recommended that you let the board "rest" for 24 hrs. after washing to allow the wood to kill the bacteria, which is a great reason to have an assortment of boards. I myself have some sort of a fetish for cutting boards anyway.

In the past I have drilled holes through the board (across the grain) and inserted threaded rods though them to hold everything in place. Just countersink the ends, fill with epoxy, snug the nuts and cap the ends. Either with the same wood or with a lighter or darker one to add cosmetic affect.
 
Back
Top