Hi-soft vs other cutting boards?
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There is no perfect cutting board material, you just have to figure out which compromises you can live with.
I own and regularly use a Hi-Soft. It is quite soft, some users complain of the blade edge catching or dragging. I don't particularly find this to be true but much depends on how you use your knives (I'm primarily a push or draw cutter). Sharp knives can cut it and serrated knives or bone chopper cleavers would very quickly chew it up. It shows stains but doesn't seem to retain odors. Occasional use of a dilute bleach solution will remove most stains. You can refresh the surface by sanding it. The surface is not slippery, food doesn't tend to slide. It is not dishwasher safe. I have heard reports of some larger Hi-Softs warping but mine has not. IME Hi-Soft seems quite gentle on edges.
I also own and use plastic boards, end grain cherry, and Hasegawa FSB (brown) cutting boards. I have also previously owned or used edge and end grain maple boards, Hinoki, and Epicurean boards. At some point I'll probably buy a Hasegawa FSR board, maybe when the next MTC Kitchen sale occurs. If you don't mind the height, weight, and cost of end grain cherry that would be my first choice but because of the height and weight mine doesn't see that much use.
I own and regularly use a Hi-Soft. It is quite soft, some users complain of the blade edge catching or dragging. I don't particularly find this to be true but much depends on how you use your knives (I'm primarily a push or draw cutter). Sharp knives can cut it and serrated knives or bone chopper cleavers would very quickly chew it up. It shows stains but doesn't seem to retain odors. Occasional use of a dilute bleach solution will remove most stains. You can refresh the surface by sanding it. The surface is not slippery, food doesn't tend to slide. It is not dishwasher safe. I have heard reports of some larger Hi-Softs warping but mine has not. IME Hi-Soft seems quite gentle on edges.
I also own and use plastic boards, end grain cherry, and Hasegawa FSB (brown) cutting boards. I have also previously owned or used edge and end grain maple boards, Hinoki, and Epicurean boards. At some point I'll probably buy a Hasegawa FSR board, maybe when the next MTC Kitchen sale occurs. If you don't mind the height, weight, and cost of end grain cherry that would be my first choice but because of the height and weight mine doesn't see that much use.
I use a few hi soft boards sold by Korin, I'm very happy with them. They are perfectly flat (no accordion cuts!) And gentle on my knives. Prior to these, I had and still have a beautiful end grain board, but it is such a heavy and huge beast I don't favor it, it is unwieldy to clean and doesn't fit in the dish rack. I use old edge grain boards to slice bread. Good luck.
Jason183
Senior Member
Hi-soft cutting boards is good for Very thin BTE knives for example my Konosuke YS(Yoshikane), I haven’t detected any microchipping issues on the edge at work while cutting different kinds of ingredients until I brought home one day and cutting it on a wooden cutting board(just one potato test cutting), it microchips on few spots.
i like my hi-soft boards, but don't let anyone use serrated knives on them. ever. it will immediately leave marks. lol
if you're not the only user of your kitchen, throw your serrated knives away!
they are dishwasher safe ime, but this depends on your dishwasher cycle temp.
korin states they're safe to 158°F (but does not claim they're dishwasher safe).
i use a 150°F cycle (includes a drying cycle the end). hundreds of cycles without warping.
if you're not the only user of your kitchen, throw your serrated knives away!
they are dishwasher safe ime, but this depends on your dishwasher cycle temp.
korin states they're safe to 158°F (but does not claim they're dishwasher safe).
i use a 150°F cycle (includes a drying cycle the end). hundreds of cycles without warping.
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My wife put mine in the dishwasher recently. Probably on a hot cycle.
Warped, with indentations from the grates.
I had one for a week, but sold it because it felt too hard and made me think it was going to be bad for my edges…. Ah well.
My wife put mine in the dishwasher recently. Probably on a hot cycle.
Warped, with indentations from the grates.
bummer.
not sure if it's worth the effort, but maybe you could un-warp it in the oven? resting in a pan so you don't get more grate marks? slowly work your way up in temp maybe starting around 150°F? guessing actual softening happens closer to 170°F.
for the indentations already there, maybe you could try hand-planing the board?
another thought... maybe since it's warped already, you could use it for experiments in case anyone in your house is tempted to put more hi-softs in there in the future. google for your dishwasher manual and read about the cycles. maybe you have access to suitable lower-temperature cycle. then you could test your already-warped board to see if it warps more.
