Cutting Board Question

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Gareth

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Hi all,

For years I have been using one of those traditional - slice of a tree - chinese round cutting blocks. The kind you need to keep wet to prevent great fissures. Hate having to keep it wet and worry it is not really hygienic. But that soft open wood with its grip and give is very nice to cut on.

It feels like it is time to replace that with something long term but I worry that I am going to find a traditional hardwood butcher block unpleasant to cut on and too hard. I work exclusively with a thin chinese vegetable cleaver and really like the feel that I get with my softer and grippy chinese cutting board. I believe that the hardness rating of Black Cherry is a little more than half of what it is for hard rock maple. Will a board made of Black Cherry feel softer and more forgiving than Hard Rock Maple? I guess it would wear faster but the having something that absorbs the shock of the knife and is easy on the blade is more of a priority for me. Looking at a boardsmith board although the shipping to Canada is about half the total cost of the board!

Has anyone gone from a traditional chinese chopping block to an end grain butcher block of maple or something else?

Sorry for the long winder question!

Thanks so much!
Gareth
 
I've not used one but would one of those hisoft rubber boards be a good option?
 
I think you will find most boards way too hard and jarring if you are used to the pine rounds. Although I haven’t used the Asian boards, i am not a big fan of the harder woods that are so prevalent myself. I would absolutely recommend hi soft if you are ok with synthetics. If not think black walnut or lower for hardness. I have an acacia board that I think has a pretty good feel at 900 on the Janka hardness scale. cherry is def an option, also Japanese hinoki boards are pretty soft and fairly affordable, the internets say it is 510.
 
As mentioned above, I think you might like a Hinoki (cypress) board, like these:

https://www.cuttingboard.com/hinoki/

I use them in several different sizes; it's my favorite board for vegetables. I use a Hi-Soft rubber board for protein, but I don't think you'd like that if you do a lot of chopping. The main drawbacks of Hinoki compared to conventional hardwood (or your Chinese stump) are:

1) Since it's a soft edge-grain board, you have to limit the knife angle and not get too close to cutting along the wood grain, or your knife will be very prone to stick in the wood. A traditional Chinese tree stump board doesn't have that problem because the grain is radial.

2) Because the boards are relatively thin, they might warp, depending on how they're treated. One of mine is a tiny bit warped, but not enough to affect cutting as long as I work the convex side. The other two boards have remained dead flat. This can be minimized by making sure you rinse both sides before putting them away. As a side note, one of the things I really like about these boards is how lightweight they are, to carry over to a sink. They also dry very fast.

3) The wood is so soft that it will accumulate cut marks over time. They also stain fairly easily. You can refresh the board with sanding, but these boards aren't that expensive to replace every few years. I'm still using Hinoki boards that are a year and a half old. I think my personal replacement cycle will probably be something like every 2 years.
 
My advice would be a Hi Soft board. Over the years I've used innumerable plastic boards, edge grain maple, end grain maple, end grain cherry, Hi Soft and Hinoki. The plastic boards are cheap and light but a bit hard on knife edges. IMO edge grain maple isn't all that different except not as cheap. Hinoki stains and absorbs odors readily. Dampening the board prior to use reduces the staining and odor absorption but IME does not eliminate it, however, the soft wood does seem kind to edges provided you don't sink an edge or point in the board and then torsion the knife. End grain boards are handsome and moderately easy on edges plus they can have a nice bounce for chopping. The downsides are that they are expensive, really heavy and difficult to store. I prefer cherry to hard maple end grain and, although I haven't used one, I suspect walnut boards are good too. Hi Soft stains slightly more easily than plastic but seems to show knife cuts less. The synthetic rubber boards are heavier than plastic and not quite as rigid but vastly kinder to knife edges. You can't put them in a dishwasher. I have not compared to two brands of Hi Soft, used the wood core variant, Sani-Tuff or the generic variants but I love my Enryo Hi Soft board.
 
If you are using a sharp cleaver, I would suggest an end grain board. I use a lot of different boards including hinoki. I think a cleaver would chew up a soft wood board like hinoki pretty quick. If you use hinoki, get a thicker one.
 
Jkts said:
If you are using a sharp cleaver, I would suggest an end grain board. I use a lot of different boards including hinoki. I think a cleaver would chew up a soft wood board like hinoki pretty quick. If you use hinoki, get a thicker one.
Click to expand...

I would not recommend Hi Soft for heavy cleaver work either. I should have mentioned that.
I have heard some positive things about these Canadian larch boards but I have never used one. https://larchwoodcanada.com/?v=7516fd43adaa They might be worth a look with the caution that larch, like teak and bamboo, can potentially have a relatively high silica content.
 
Wow! Thanks for all the information and suggestions!

I notice on the boardsmith site that they quote black cherry as being about 850 in hardness rating. Well below maple and even walnut. Probably I would be happiest long term with something like a Black Cherry BoardSmith board. Oh yeah, I can find a way to be happy with that!

I do prefer the idea of cutting on a natural surface and I also like having things that age well and that acquire a patina of use over time. I somewhat impetuously ordered a maple end grain butcher block from Quebec. I have not used it yet. Just got it. It arrived damaged, and late. Long story.... When I got it I was kind of pissed at how it arrived but it wasn't very expensive and returning it for a refund would be a hassle so I decided to give it a little TLC and sanded out some of the damage and am seasoning it now.

Anyway..... I am pretty sure I am going to find it too hard compared to what I am used to. I replaced the hard wood feet with rubber in hopes that may help absorb some shock. Or I could just take the feet off and put a folded towel under it to help absorb shock. I love that kind of a solid thud I get using my chinese round as opposed to the clack clack clack I get when using friends cheap and thin boards. The board I just got is very solid and 2" thick so maybe with my adjustments I will like it. We'll see...

But...... I would still consider investing in a Black Cherry BoardSmith board if:
-A. I could get it here at a reasonable price. and
-B. It would be noticeably more pleasant and forgiving to chop on than my maple end grain board I just got.

I am pretty sure nothing that is sanitary is going to get me the same feeling as what I have been using. Maybe those Wok Shop ironwood boards would work. Although they may do the splitting thing too, which really does become a bit tiresome after a while. My chinese block seems to split more easily and responds less to re-hydrating with water than it used to. Probably because I travel quite a bit and I don't have someone come in to water my board while I am away! :)
 
I have a couple black cherry boardsmith boards, from the original maker. They have a nice feel, probably the softer feel you like. I did take the feet off.

What kind of cleaver are you using?

Do you ever oil or wax your boards? Watering the boards would seem not to last that long.
 
OP I understand that feeling you are after, I grew up on those rounds as well, that watering problem I find only happens in drier places (im in canada). To try to replicate that feeling, try using a large silicone mat underneath the entire board, I use black walnut for the record, but even on a cheap maple endgrain it feels much much better. Less "tok tok tok" more "thud thud thud"
 
To answer an earlier question, I am using cck 1103 and 1302, nothing fancy, but I keep them very sharp. Tried wax in the past, they are just too thirsty for that. I like the silicone mat idea! Going to give that maple board I just bought a try. It does look very nice and feels very substantial - 2" thick. But I poked around a little and found some beautiful looking boards from eastern canada made from end grain eastern larch, or tamarack: Janka rating of 526. https://larchwoodcanada.com/shop/large_cutting_board/?v=9f1fa27efc69

Thats got to be about the same as my "stump.!" I guess it is harder once you add the glue, etc. If I can't live with the maple I will probably save my pennies for one of those larch wood boards. The BoardSmith look to be a very good deal if you live in the states but by the time you ship to canada, do the exchange rate, plus possible duties, brokerage fees..... Larch is looking pretty good! Plus Larch is rated a good chunk softer than Black Cherry at 950.

Anyone had a larch board?

Cheers,
Gareth
 
I use a slice of tamarind tree that I brought home (to the UK) from Thailand. I slipped it into my wife's hold luggage while she wasn't looking :O)

It's way too high on the Janka scale but nevermind, it works for now.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I keep mine from drying out by treating with mineral oil (and sometimes mineral oil + beeswax). It stays in good shape and there's no issues with adding moisture in the form of water (which is certainly a bad idea from a food safety perspective).
 
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