I would retract my comment if I could, but alas I can't remove it.
-AJ
I would retract my comment if I could, but alas I can't remove it.
-AJ
One of the kitchens that I work in has wood fiber cutting boards on the line, and was never a fan of them. They've got a strange gritty feel to them while cutting along with feeling hard, similar to the side grain bamboo cutting boards at friends houses that I've cut on.
Well, in the end a lot of stuff we do here with stones, blade steel, edges, angles etc is all 'feel' and we develop a sort of 'gut' like or dislike. Before I owned a BoardSmith and other end-grain boards I used Epicurean and Bamboo boards exclusively. But slowly I stopped using both Epicurean and bamboo boards with my good knives, and never when serious cutting needed to be done.
My gut tells me that bamboo boards are easier on my knives than Epicurean boards (though I used to feel differently about this). The bamboo scars more easily, feels more tactile, and it seems that the knife edges have a bit 'softer landing'. Yes, there is the silica issue with bamboo, but that is just my feeling about knife feel (I can't feel wood silica content really). But these are both resin/glue impregnated wood/grass products at the end of day and somewhat similar.
The biggest difference for me is that end-grain boards cleave when the knife edge hits it, and these manufactured woods do not. They will scar through force, but there is no natural give. Maybe end-grain bamboo is different, but I have never had one so I don't know.
After using Epicurean and bamboo boards for years, I never use them anymore for intensive chopping sessions. I would use bamboo in a pinch though. And again, for light-duty paring knife stuff or messy cutting, Epicureans are just fine IMO, and I actually prefer them.
It's all a tradeoff. If I really wanted to be super nice to my knife edges, I wouldn't cut butternut squash either and only eat softer veggies -- but what fun is that
k.
Danny 'Zwiefel' Owen - 1971-2016 Moderator and Knife Knut for Eternity. RIP
This might be helpfull.
1.
Hardness of resins http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/facilities/.../Hardness.html
2.
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