cutting board maintenance

Brauma · Dec 2, 2006

How do you maintain your cutting board besides washing? I found this article: http://www.woodfinishsupply.com/butcherblock.html

Use of mineral oil is all Ive ever heard. This article goes a little further. Interesting.

Smoker · Dec 2, 2006

"It is important to note that Rockhard Maple and a few other closed grained hardwoods are the only suitable woods for cutting board use. Never use oak, ash, hickory or other open grained woods for a cutting surface as the pores can harbor germs and decaying food particles."

Interesting as I thought Oak would be ok.

Bigmista · Dec 2, 2006

Alittle bleach on the plastic works for me.

Q_Egg · Dec 2, 2006

... we spray Citricidal often on all our food surfaces and allow to stand for several minutes before wiping fairly dry. It is always in a spray bottle by the sink for fresh fruit and veggies. This may not be acceptable for any commercial or heavy outsider traffic, but it has worked very well for us over many years.

bbqjoe · Dec 2, 2006

For plastic I like to use a thin paste of comet and water.
For wood, bleach and using salt as an abrasive works real well.

Puppyboy · Dec 2, 2006

Other than personal prefrence, is wood better than plastic or vice versa?

Pyle's BBQ · Dec 2, 2006

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=wood+vs+plastic+cutting+boards&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8

I had been under the impression that maple cutting boards had an enzyme that killed bacteria, but according to these articles that is not the case. What the articles are really saying is to clean and santize your board really well and often.

In one of the articles they say to use a solution of 1 part vinegar to 5 parts water. I like this option over bleach (one teaspoon in a quart of water).

bbqjoe · Dec 2, 2006

I read years ago of a study At the U of M and it proved a wood cutting board retained way less bacteria than plastic.

soulman · Dec 2, 2006

I primarily use plastic. They are just the right size to slip into the dishwasher. I have about three so I can always grab a clean one. The trick there is on larger boards to always put them in the dishwasher with the dirty side facing in so it gets cleaned well. Smaller boards can fit into the interior racks and that is not an issue.

For my maple boards, I will from time to time wipe them down with olive oil on all sides to keep them from drying out and cracking. After use I give them a good wash with hot water and anti-baticerial soap. Then a good hot rinse.

Bigmista · Dec 2, 2006

Seems like we can always find something to have a conversation about, huh?

tjus77 · Dec 2, 2006

Ok, am I just crazy or those of you that have used both, do you notice that knives are easily dulled on plastic cutting boards? I don't use those fancy knives with weird edges that cut in one direction only. True hard steel blades.

Plowboy · Dec 2, 2006

bbqjoe said:
I read years ago of a study At the U of M and it proved a wood cutting board retained way less bacteria than plastic.

I wouldn't have guessed that. I've always heard the opposite, but not from real studies or anything. I'm thinking about building a big wood board.

Plowboy · Dec 2, 2006

Smoker said:
"It is important to note that Rockhard Maple and a few other closed grained hardwoods are the only suitable woods for cutting board use. Never use oak, ash, hickory or other open grained woods for a cutting surface as the pores can harbor germs and decaying food particles."

Interesting as I thought Oak would be ok.

Oak and Ash (very similar to Oak) are hardwoods, but Oak, especially Red Oak, is very porous. It can actually be a difficult wood to work with for things like routing if you don't know how to handle it. I can splinter easily.

Wood cutting boards should be made so that the top of the board is all end grain. This way you are cutting into the wood fibers and not across the wood fibers. The wood will be less likely to splinter and warp. You see that on butcher blocks where they are made of many smaller blocks of wood stood on end rather than long boards laminated together.

Plowboy · Dec 2, 2006

Plowboy said:
Oak and Ash (very similar to Oak) are hardwoods, but Oak, especially Red Oak, is very porous. It can actually be a difficult wood to work with for things like routing if you don't know how to handle it. I can splinter easily.

Wood cutting boards should be made so that the top of the board is all end grain. This way you are cutting into the wood fibers and not across the wood fibers. The wood will be less likely to splinter and warp. You see that on butcher blocks where they are made of many smaller blocks of wood stood on end rather than long boards laminated together.

HA!!!! I read the link from Brauma's first post...

"Never use oak, ash, hickory or other open grained woods for a cutting surface as the pores can harbor germs and decaying food particles. Softer closed grained woods deteriorate with knife cuts and usage and become unsanitary and wood splinters or particles wind up in foodstuffs."

Exactly!! When I'm not watching Good Eats or America's Test Kitchen, I've got my nose in woodworking magazines. :biggrin: I love hobby crossover!

jpw23 · Dec 2, 2006

When I replaced our counter tops here at home, I cut two 24"x24" sections out of the old tops for cutting boards, sealed the sides and back with and epoxy paint. Been using them for 4-5 years now, easy to clean, a little hard on the blades though( formica ). I also have a smaller maple board that I like and use a lot. It gets bleached after each use and the mineral oil applied.

Plowboy · Dec 2, 2006

http://www.alladd.com/finewoodcuttingboard.htm

Some cool cutting board designs.

jpw23 · Dec 2, 2006

Plowboy said:
http://www.alladd.com/finewoodcuttingboard.htm

Some cool cutting board designs.

You're gonna have to show us some of your wood working....I do quite a bit of that myself, have even made a few guitars.....working on a new lapsteel, doing a bunch of pearloid inlay, along with red oak, white oak, and blue dyed ash against rosewood and bound with bamboo, all on top of a 30 year old piece of rock maple.:biggrin:

Plowboy · Dec 2, 2006

jpw23 said:
You're gonna have to show us some of your wood working....I do quite a bit of that myself, have even made a few guitars.....working on a new lapsteel, doing a bunch of pearloid inlay, along with red oak, white oak, and blue dyed ash against rosewood and bound with bamboo, all on top of a 30 year old piece of rock maple.:biggrin:

Very cool! That's a little too fine for me. I sure can appreciate the skill required.

I don't have a many pics on this computer. I'll have to dig up some good ones form my PC in my office. These's are some game boards I made a few years ago. I've done about 30 chess boards now. I'm making about a dozen wooden boxes out of red oak that will hold bottles of wine... AKA wooden wine gift boxes. I had the idea to do this for Christmas gifts and then the same thing was featured in Wood magazine this month. I want to do some ornaments on my lathe but I'm still a lathe beginner and I don't think I'll get time. I might get lathe classes from the wife or boys for Christmas.

Plowboy · Dec 2, 2006

Jay, I have a Delta drum sander that makes game boards A LOT easier! My first two boards were done with a hand belt sander. That sucked!

cutting board maintenance

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