I read a forum about wood cutting boards. So I thought I would give my opinion on the subject of cutting boards and butcher blocks.
About me: I have been a cabinet/furniture builder for over 10 years I also make wood utensils and many other woodworking crafts.
Let me say just like everybody here my wife and I have owned several plastic cutting boards they are not to pricey and they get the job done, but they will dull your knifes in no time. With that said they do involve a good cleaning when used and newer studies have shown that they actually hold bacteria some say that the plastic surface will even encourage the growth of bacteria. Now I can’t say that I have ever gotten ill from using plastic boards but my wife and I tend to scrub them really good after using them and we don’t permit food to sit there for very long.
Cutting boards have been around since mid 1800′s before that they used chunks of wood or tree rounds for butcher blocks. End grain butcher blocks are still made today. You will not discover them used commercially but will find them in homes. With little research done, they banned them from commercial use. Studies now show us that wood is a superior cutting surface. That bacteria only lives for about 3 minutes on wood cutting boards.
“Scientists from the University of Wisconsin’s Food Research Institute stumbled upon the finding while seeking ways to decontaminate wooden boards and make them as “safe” as plastic. Much to their surprise, they found that when boards were purposely polluted with organisms such as salmonella, listeria and Escherichia coli that are common causes of food poisoning, 99.9 per cent of the bacteria died off within three minutes on the wooden boards, while none died on the plastic ones.
When polluted boards were left unwashed all-night at room temperature, bacterial counts increased on the plastic, but none of the organisms could be recovered from the wooden boards the next morning.”
Having said that, I do prefer wood cutting boards over any other surface. They have a look of there own especially end grain butcher block style cutting boards. Hard Maple is by far the best I have seen for cutting boards it seems to be just the right hardness.
Face grain boards -
They look nice and can be a good bit thinner but they will dull your knifes about like poly or “plastic ” cutting boards. This kind of cutting board is affordable
End grain boards -
These are the easiest on your knifes but need to be at least 2 1/4″ thick. They are also not inexpensive
My wife and I have had a 24″x30″x14″ butcher block for about 7 years now and we love it. I actually found this butcher block at a place we rented it appears to be really old as it has a cup in it that would take some time to create.
Plastic boards – They are inexpensive, but they will dull your knives and they allow bacteria to live on them.Although this is not an issue when they are put in the dishwasher.
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