I'm getting rid of a stack of old wooden cutting boards. Im also going to add one large cutting board to my collection. Any advice on where to get a good one? Bonus points if it's affordable.
Also feel free to post your favorite cutting board. Here's mine that came from my bar but has temporarily moved into the outdoor kitchen.
Attjack What CaptainMike just said. My planer is a 13" and I've never said "Man I wish I had a wider planer!" other than it would cool to have a hunk of iron like that in the shop. If and when I do upgrade it'll probably be to a Hammer A3 31, still 12" but I gain a jointer, or I chuck a bunch of stuff and go for a Hammer/Felder full combo machine.
Most restaurant supply houses will carry a myriad of cutting boards, in many styles and sizes. The few times I use wooden cutting boards are when I'm serving fresh bread, etc., as wooden cutting boards are not very sanitary because of their porosity. Adding a groove to any cutting board as a 20 minute project with a power router. Making your own from maple(for example) is easy. You don't need a thickness planer to flatten it. A simple #4 hand plane(sharp!) will smooth it in just a few minutes. Use the body of the plane to check for flatness. A fun project.
Don't get me wrong, I dearly love wood cutting boards, but my chef training and experience over the last 40 years; seeing places close because of contamination issues brought on by wood cutting boards, tells me to be prudent. Yes, if you soak enough sanitizing solution into the board, it will be OK. However, this greatly reduces the lifespan of the board due to warping, splitting, etc. It is for this and other reasons that health departments seriously frown on wooden cutting boards.
Studies have shown that wooden cutting boards have some anti-microbial properties. This makes them more sanitary than some other materials such as plastic where bacteria gets down in the cuts and is hard to remove.
According to Consumer Reports Wood is NOT more of a risk than plastic.
"Years ago, the government advised against using wooden cutting boards, saying they were more difficult to keep hygienically clean than plastic cutting boards. Recent research, however, shows that a wood cutting board is no more likely than a plastic one to harbor harmful bacteria. So it's fine to use either as long as you follow a few basic rules."
Wood or plastic cutting boards—which one is better? The experts at Consumer Reports weigh in. Plus: The best cutting boards from our at-home evaluation.
That said I use plastic for raw meat (so I can run through the dishwasher) and wood for slicing carving cooked foods.
I have a Boos board that is large and has a deep groove that I use when slicing brisket or large roasts or when I want to use a board sauce. But as we know Boos comes with a price but they are worth it.. My every day boards are Epecurian boards. They are manufactured near where I live and had a friend who worked there a number of years. I was getting free boards from him all the time. Factory seconds or prototypes that never went into production.
They are well designed, made of a paper composite and are very durable. Some of mine have been in use for over 10 years and are still going strong and looking good. And won't break the bank and made in the USA!
Lonestar Grillz 24x36 offset smoker, grill, w/ main chamber charcoal grate and 3 tel-tru thermometers - left, right and center
Yoke Up custom charcoal basket and a Grill Wraps cover.
22.5 copper kettle w/ SnS, DnG, BBQ vortex, gasket and stainless steel hinge kit.
Napoleon gas grill (soon to go bye bye) rotting out.
1 maverick et-733 digital thermometer - black
1 maverick et-733 - gray
1 new standard grilling remote digital thermometer
1 thermoworks thermopen mk4 - red
1 thermoworks thermopop - red
Pre Miala flavor injector
taylor digital scale
TSM meat grinder
chefs choice food slicer
cuisinhart food processor
food saver vacuum sealer
TSM harvest food dehydrator
Easy to get into information overload again. Which wood is best? Which wood is too hard? Soft? Edge grain? End grain? Do wood boards pose a sanitation risk. How much maintenance is required? On and on and on . . .
What is his shop name on Etsy? Could not find North Idaho Concepts so he must be using another shop name. Really liked the photo you posted previously in another thread.
Back around Christmas someone talked about this guy. I contacted him about making a board for me, but I ended up postponing the purchase. He seemed like a good guy and returned my emails pretty promptly.
Ed's Shape Shack, LLC, Greenville, North Carolina. 1,683 likes · 1 talking about this · 314 were here. Makers of One of A Kind BBQ Butcher Blocks and More!
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
Blackstone 36" Outdoor Griddle 4-Burner
Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
Pit Barrel PBX
R&V Works FF2-R-ST 4-Gallon Fryer *******************************************. Thermometers
FireBoard (Base Package)
Thermoworks ThermaPen (Red)
Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
Cuda 7' Fillet Knife Dexter 12" Brisket Sword Global Shun Wusthof ********** Next Major Purchase Lone Star Grillz 24 X 48 Offset
I use bamboo boards. They are cheap and they seem to last. I do have a small Boos Board, but that is about it. For now, the bamboo boards are good enough for this Amateur.
My girlfriend gave me a set of bamboo boards to go with my green smokey joe. Two little ones and one bigger one. The big one is pretty nice but the idea was that board was for veggies only like the green grill (she also gave me a set a BBQ tools for veggies only). Plus I'm kind of wanting a beast of a board. I really like the thickness of that round board in my first post although that might be overkill for a 24" x 18" cutting board.
I use a large bamboo board with a groove that I prefer to any Boos Block I've ever owned. It's lighter, and IDGAF about marking it up, as it was like $20. And yet, it's going strong after about 7 years, showing no need to replace.
I don't trust myself with a nice hardwood cutting board for the maintenance.
Smokin-It 3D
Weber Kettle with an SNS
Masterbuilt kettle that I call the $30 wonder grill
Bullet by Bull Grills gasser
Anova WiFi sous vide machine
Thermoworks Thermapen and Chef Alarm
CaptainMikealaddin4d Here's the dimensional sander I've rented before. This was when I was helping my buddy there refinish his deck. I later took my countertops there to get them sanded down.
Hmmm for some reason I just don't think I would fit that in my shop.........
Thinking about equipment choices though you might want to check out a Woodmaster. They're made in Kansas City and I think an 18" planer/drum sander/molder/ripsaw setup is under 4 grand if that's in budget. If I'm remembering right they have a 25" machine too.
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