Cutting Boards


 
I have an edge grain bamboo cutting board, rectangular, flat on one side with a concave bowl cut into the other .. Came with a bowed knife to use in it. I've only used it a couple times thinking it was a softer wood. I was surprised to learn from Dave's link that bamboo is 15% harder than maple.

I'd be interested in learning any benefits to using bamboo over other hardwood cutting boards.

Bill
 
Originally posted by Bill Hays:
... thinking it was a softer wood. I was surprised to learn from Dave's link that bamboo is 15% harder than maple. I'd be interested in learning any benefits to using bamboo over other hardwood cutting boards. Bill
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Bamboo makes a Great floor... My feet are on it in three rooms of my home. An excellent choice for damp or wet locations i.e. bathrooms, saunas and shower rooms. A cutting board made of bamboo is an ideal choice. It's on my wish list.
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Thanks for that link, Dave.

Bill-- Strength-to-weight ratio is really good.

Jim-- Installed a bamboo floor in my MB a couple years ago. Couldn't be happier. (Got in online for <$1.40 sq/ft - including shipping!)
 
I am not very conversant about smoking meats but I do know a thing or two about cutting boards.

Bamboo is hard. Hard enough to chip good knives. When you factor in all the glue and resins they use in the manufacturing, the boards get incredibly hard. For flooring it is wonderful because of the hardness but for a cutting board it leaves a lot to be desired.

Certain exotics and some domestic woods, can be toxic to us humans. Black Locust can kill a mule. Some of the exotic woods contain oils that can also be toxic. Spalted wood is another thing to avoid. The bacteruim that is eating the wood causing the spalting is also deadly to humans.

Teak is to hard for a cutting board and contains silica which will dull a knife. Kind of like cutting on sandpaper.

The general rule of thumb for choosing a wood to use for a cutting board; any wood from a tree with a running sap, (hard maple where we get maple syrup), or has edible nuts. The only exception I know of is oak, to porous to clean and sanitize properly.

David
The BoardSMITH
 
Hmm. My own experience suggests otherwise. I've use bamboo since boards first became available. I've come to prefer them. They see heavy knife use (I make virtually everything from scratch) and use keen, thin-edged Japanese knives exclusively. Never chipped a knife. I like wood board (loathe plastic), but not as much.
 
I've heard all great things about bamboo usage in the kitchen, both on the floor and on the counter.
Many friends and relatives use bamboo cutting boards which leads me to believe, as flooring, it's gotta be the way to go. And my wish list can be tossed out after the holidays when BB@B has their big sale with an additional 20% off
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...and Kevin, when I tear out the carpeting in my MB in spring - early summer, bamboo is going in there as well.
 
Bamboo has its uses. Cheaper cutting boards is just one of them.

Consider how it is made. Small pieces of bamboo grass are fused together with glue and hardened with resin hardeners. Bamboo is already 30% harder than maple to start with so the extra glue and resins add to that hardness. With so much glue used, you are cutting against almost as much glue as you are against bamboo. The manufacturing conditions they are made in are nothing as clean as what you will find here in the USA.

A lot of my customers use high-end, scary sharp knives and spend a lot of time maintaining those edges. Many have discarded their bamboo boards when they saw how rough they were on the edges.

About once a month I receive an offer from a Chinese company to buy their Chinese maple end grain boards or bamboo boards. The bamboo board you pay $50.00 for can be bought by the container load for about $5.00.

If you are satisfied with bamboo boards then you will ignore anything I can offer.
 
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