Cutting Board Questions....

Sean Wright

Member
Messages
902
Location
WNY, Buffalo Area
I've never done cutting boards before, but was considering making some for Christmas presents.

What are the best or most prefered types of wood to use?

What type of glue does everyone use? I've heard TiteBond2, but is that food safe?

Is there a certain way that the pieces need to be glued up? I've heard that grain orientation on cutting boards can cause problems with splitting.

How is the wood finished? Is it usually mineral oil, or something else?

Any other pieces of wisdom from the cutting board makers out there would be appreciated !
 
There all kinds of opinions but I know from experience.... Regular Titebond or any of the yellow glues will do the trick if the surface is ready and prepped , etc. As an example, For decades we purchased Titebond for our WWing shops in school. (the original, nothing special just yellow glue) Art classes used the white glue. anyway, a fellow teacher spent more time in my shop than his own classroom and as usual he would select the scrap pieces and make cuttingboards for presents for his family. (we all did) in fact that was a standard fill-in project for students to cut and work down scrap to make cutting boards. Glue of choice (as it was the only glue available was yellow Titbond original... we bought many gallons a year) (Back to the tale) Anyway this teacher who hung out in my shop and made cutting boards told me a while back that he had visited a cousin at Christmas time and she got a cuttingboard out of the dish washer, He said "Is that the one I made you?" Are you putting it in the dishwasher? Her response was "Yeah, I always do" For 15 years she has been washing it in an electric dishwasher... He said it looked a little rough and shop worn but it was intact.... So(?) Conclusion(?) :huh: what is the best glue? What have you the most of?

There are those who will say that you have to have this or that and your children will be crippled for life if you don't and evil spirits will haunt your house if you do and so forth but I do know from experience that there isn't that much difference in the glues and mostly the price is the hype and For most use, go with what you got.

As for the finish, I use Mineral Oil, I also like to add Paraffin to the oil to give a luster and hardness to the piece. BUT reciently I have been reading where studies show that raw wood is a natural disinfectant and Bacteria left on raw wood dies at a faster rate than sealed wood. so us od a finish is for cosmetic purposes only as the safe way is to leave it raw.

Like I said I use the oil but it is for a Prettier piece. Although raw wood is better, folks like to see a finished piece, over time the finish wears and it becomes raw wood again so.....?
 
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Bill Simpson said, in part, "As for the finish, I use Mineral Oil, I also like to add Paraffin to the oil to give a luster and hardness to the piece. BUT recently I have been reading where studies show that raw wood is a natural disinfectant and Bacteria left on raw wood dies at a faster rate than sealed wood. so us od a finish is for cosmetic purposes only as the safe way is to leave it raw. "
Absolutely true. But, many folks just can't seem to accept that and are afraid of wood for food use. Those studies (available with 'net searches) show that wood surfaces do kill bacteria while synthetic surfaces allow those disease bearing buggies to live quite a long time.
I use olive oil although some (especially Californians :rolleyes: ) decry that practice.
Oak is the traditional wood but most hardwoods are fine. End grain up is traditional on professional chopping blocks. But as long as gluing is not on end grain, you should be just fine.
 
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