Cutting board

[Nomojo]

My daughter wants to make her own cutting board for the kitchen and I am unsure as to what timber to recommend. Any suggestions? Also what type of coating, if any.
Cheers,
Nomojo

[Kev Y.]

Welcome to the group first, now...

Any species of hard wood would be suitable, and why not try some of Ubeaut's food safe finish .

[John Samuel]

As Kev suggested, any hardwood will be OK. I generally use camphor laurel, because I have had a stock of shortish but wide boards and because it looks pretty if you can get some nice colour and figure. I always use paraffin oil on cutting boards.

[GraemeCook]

Good Morning Nomojo

I would aslo add the harder pines to the list - Huon, celery top and cypress. All are harder than Vic ash, a nominal hardwood - just check their janka numbers.

Down her on the southern island, most cutting boards are made from Huon pine, and a few from celery or sassaffrass - very few from anything else.

As for the finish, I just rub ours with vegetable oil - whatever we are using in the kitchen. Then we know it is foodsafe!



Fair Winds

Graeme

[mn pete]

We use mineral oil. It won't go rancid like the food/nut based oils.

[GraemeCook]

We use mineral oil. It won't go rancid like the food/nut based oils.

Our cutting boards have not gone rancid after 40 years.

Remember, linseed oil is a vegetable oil and we used to use that. Now I just use olive oil or canola or whatever is handiest. Virtually no difference in use.




Fair Winds

Graeme


PS: For anyone who is confused by Pete's comments, mineral oil is the american term for parafin oil, readily available from pharmacies as parafin oil or "baby oil". He is not refering to the SAE30 stuff you put in the car.

[Chesand]

Paraffin Oil is now officially called "Liquid Paraffin". Baby Oil is Light Liquid Paraffin and may be slightly perfumed.

To further confuse the issue, in England, Kerosene is called Paraffin.

[safari]

Hi Graeme,

Do you know if the Cypress pine you refer to is the same as The Cypress the farmers use in Gippsland for windbreaks?

Thanks,

David

[GraemeCook]

Hi Graeme,

Do you know if the Cypress pine you refer to is the same as The Cypress the farmers use in Gippsland for windbreaks?

Thanks,

David

Sorry, David, but I do not know what is used in Gippsland. There are so many local names for both trees and timber.

Its Latin name is Callitris Rhomboidea; in Tasmania its common name is Oyster Bay Pine, and on the mainland its common names include Port Jackson pine, cypress pine, Australian cypress and probably others.

There is another imported tree called Cupressuss Macrocarpa which here was planted around football grounds, homesteads and memorial avenues - some timber is milled and sold here as macrocarpa. It is very soft and pourous timber, possibly softer than radiata, and I do not think it would be suitable for cutting boards.




Fair Winds

Graeme

[China]

When I make cutting boards I use Tasmanian Blackwood and always endgrain, in the past I finnished them with cotton seed oil, however in the future I will
be using Ubeaut food safe oil.

[doug3030]

When I make cutting boards I use Tasmanian Blackwood and always endgrain, in the past I finnished them with cotton seed oil, however in the future I will
be using Ubeaut food safe oil.

Tassie blackwood would be very suitable. I like using at least two different species with contrasting colours, sometimes many more, but always endgrain and always a mineral-based oil like u-beaut foodsafe, never use a vegetable oil.

I personally wont use camphor laurel because I don't want my food to taste like moth balls but others don't seem to mind.

Cheers

Doug

[safari]

thanks Graeme, I think it's possible the trees are Capressuss Macrocarpa because the wood is rather soft. I will try and find out what the botanical name is.