Question about wood itself

[Herb G]

Are there woods considered safer than others for food contact?
My wife has a co-worker than wants an exotic wood cheese board.
She wants something with lots of figure & movement in the wood itself.
Think Leopardwood or Snake wood.

I don't think certain oily woods would be safe, such as Cocobolo, Wenge, etc.
I read somewhere that oak makes a poor choice for a cutting board.
Why is that?


I used to have a link for wood toxicity, but I lost it.
Thanks for any info.

[MichaelMouse]

Wood with large pores is not as good a choice as wood with small, diffuse pores.  Gunk can be packed into the larger pores and foster bacterial growth. 

As to toxicity.  Generally speaking, woods with detectable smell or, as you mentioned, oily tropicals loaded with insecticide are more likely to irritate some people.  May be some woods safe for all people, don't know enough about individual physiology to say.  Most of what you see is beech, birch or maple, or their tropical cognates.  Birch comes in fine flame patterns, maple in curl and birdseye, and I have seen some curl on the local beech.  Your call.  With a female (actually two) to please, I'd show the fancy stuff available on the net and hope that what's once chosen will turn out to be acceptable when finished.

No, I do not like mineral oil as a treatment.

[chips ahoy]

I would stay away from cocobola, wenge and oak. As MM said, one of the maples is a much better choice. Why not do a glue up using one of the maples, bloodwood and purple heart. Snake wood is prone to cracking, even over time, had that happen to a pen. Also for a cutting board would be rather pricy.

Mel

[Blaine]

White oak, in moderate quantities is fine for a cutting board.  Red oak is a poor choice.

Take a stick of red oak.  Put one end of it in a glass of water and blow into the other.  You'll make bubbles in the water.  You can't do that with white oak.  White oak can be used outdoors and will hold up to the water quite well, but red oak will rot relatively quickly.

I would be hesitant to use many of the exotics in a cutting board.  Some are fine, such as purpleheart and teak, but some contain oils that will make glue=up hard.  I have had the glue fail twice, with two different types of glue (PVA and urethane) with teak that I've used outdoors.

Blaine

[dlorenz]

+1 on the above.

Google "wood toxicity" - you'll see some handy charts.

Hope this helps.

[Hank Knight]

I agree with Blaine. Some white oak is very dense and relatively free of objectionable pores. It makes a fine cutting board. QS white oak often has dramatic ray flecks which might satisfy your lady's desire for "highly figured." I made white oak cutting boards with laminated stripes of walnut, maple and bloodwood for Christmas gifts for friends and neighbors a couple of years ago. They were a big hit. As someone else mentioned, figured or quilted maple also makes a nice cutting board and it is about as food-safe as you'll find.

P.S. - here is a link to Wood Database's toxicity chart:

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articl...-toxicity/

Many of the woods listed with some levels of toxicity are toxic when the dust is inhaled or with prolonged skin contact. As one of the notes accompanying the chart says, many woods pose minimal threat of toxicity when used for bowls, cutting boards and utensils, but all pose some threat to those people who have individual sensitivities to them. It's a risk any way you look at it, but the risk is small for most species.

[Herb G]

Thanks Hank. That's the link I had & lost. I appreciate the replies.

[AHill]

Maybe they don't fall into the "exotic" category, but figured maple (curly or quilted), or figured cherry are excellent choices for cutting boards.  Walnut makes nice cutting boards also, but it's hard to find figured walnut.  You can get fancy by combining the two.  Wood with a lot of figure won't show as well on a cutting board if the board is finished with a beeswax / mineral oil finish (butcher block finish).  If your wife's co-worker just wants the board to serve things, you can finish the board with any finish that will cure, e.g. Danish Oil, Tung Oil, Waterlox, etc.  Any of those will show off figure better than the satin finish of a butcher block finish.

[Herb G]

I'm sure this is going to be a serving piece rather than a working cheese board.
The person who wants it is the type that looks thru those $25 magazines looking at pricey stuff just to decorate with.

I plan on using Behlen Salad Bowl Finish on it when it's done.

[Phil S.]

Sycamore isn't toxic and quarter sawn boards can have remarkable figure.