BoardSMITH's Profile
Recommended size for cutting board/block
There is a reason for the "staggered" pattern. The running bond pattern is stronger than a checkerboard pattern, just ask any brick mason or structural engineer. Todays glues are a wonder, much better than even the glues of just 10 years ago, but taking the extra time to produce the running bond pattern makes sense, called craftsmanship. As a hobbyist you may not understand the need for applying extra time and effort to produce a quality piece of work.
Recommended size for cutting board/block
The staggered pattern is called a running bond and it is the same pattern used by brick masons when laying brick. Each block is supported by siz of its neighbors making the pattern very strong.
Recommended size for cutting board/block
"I do wonder though. How in the world do they clean those huge butcher blocks. You know those with the legs and about a foot or more deep, weighing several hundered pounds?"
They didn't wash them. At the end of the day they brushed the cutting surface with a stiff wire brush and coated overnight with a layer of salt. The salt sanitized the surface and soaked up any residual moisture. The big blocks show wear from use which is mostly from the wire brushes.
Recommended size for cutting board/block
What size board to purchase? An 18 x 24 certainly has enough room to work on and store cut items before cooking or combining. A 16 x 22 is a little smaller but still offers almost the same working room. A 14 x 20 is a good size and for most empty nesters, this is the size they seem to prefer. They still get adequate room to work and not have a board that is unweildy and hard to move.
Thickness is another choice. Most want the standard 2" but I have made several for seniors with arthritis who wanted lighter boards so I made them thinner, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4" thick. That will save some weight yet maintain the stability.
Perimeter grooves are, IMHO, not worth the effort. They can be hard to clean, take up available working space and make it hard to move cut food from the board to a cooking pan.
Cross contamination can be a problem. Simply cut the items to be eaten raw first, veggies to be cooked second and raw meats last. Washing is essential. A little warm water with a good dishwashing detergent followed by a good rinse and a drying and you should be okay for the next use. Some apply a 1:1 mixture of vinegar and water to the cutting surface or coat the surface with salt overnight. A good coating on mineral oil periodically helps with water repellancy.
Rubber tipped feet not only aid air circulation the keep the underside dry and help to prevent warps, they also keep the board from moving around during use, absorb impacts when chopping and offer a cinvenient hand hold when moving.
Cutting Board - Mahogany vs. Maple
"Maple is harder, mahogany is prettier." Good definition.
Maple is indeed harder and is the traditional choice for cutting boards. Mahogany is also a good choice. The species I use is not quite as hard and a little more porous but still a good choice. However, given the fact there are many different species of mahogany, the right one is not always easy to find. The right one requires an edible nut or fruit fronm the tree for me to use. (I do not use Genuine Mahogany. To expensive and much to soft and to hard to import in quantities large enough.)
Bamboo is used a lot in boards made in Asia. Their major drawback is all the little pieces required and the large amount of glues and resins required to hold all the small pieces together. The Janka scale I use shows bamboo higher than what you quote although the carbonized bamboo, bamboo that has been treated to get the darker color, is indeed softer.
Be careful of the woods that are used from the "local" makers. Some of the exotic woods they like to use,because they look pretty, contain oils that may be harmful to ones health. The same with spalted wood. The bacteria that caused the spalting is toxic to humans and depending on the manner it was dried, the bacteria may be dead or still present. Kiln drying may kill them all but air drying does not.
CUTTING BOARD QUESTION: Larch wood?
Larch is more of a soft wood than a hard wood.
Teak contains silica which is hard on the knife edges and the oils in teak make it hard to properly glue without using two part glues.
As mikie stated, the general rule of thumb is to use wood from trees with either an edible sap (hard maple - maple syrup) or edible nuts. The only exception I would add is oak since it has a very open cell structure and would make cleaning and sanitation difficult. Also, stay away from spalted wood and some of the exotics. Spalted wood is caused by a bacteria which is toxic to humans and some of the exotics have oils and compounds that could be harmful to your health.
Pecan and hickory are acceptable, harder than maple with a very tight cell structure but maybe a little to hard for the edges of better high end Japanese knives.
Fine splinters on new cutting board?
What you feel with the fuzzy surface is the grain raising slightly. There is nothing wrong with the board. The water raised the grain slightly, a completely normal experience. Go ahead and use the board, there is nothing wrong with it.
If you want to get rid of the fuzzy surface, scrape the board with a cabinet scraper, food scraper or the edge of a knife. However, the surface will still raise after washing, just maybe not as much.
The recommendation not to sand is wrong. How do you think the manufacturers get the boards smooth in the factory? Even if there was some sanding grit left, there would not be enough to damage an edge. For that to happen you would have to be cutting on a sandpaper surface.
Brushing is equally as wrong unless it is a soft brush. I have seen what a stiff wire brush can do to a good board and it isn't pretty.
In the end, go ahead and use the board. The fuzzy surface will lessen with each use and washing and after a while will disappear altogether.
Knife Rolls
The OP asked for recommendations for a knife roll and I replied reporting on a review made by a true knife expert on KitchenKnifeForums.com. I know wood and cutting boards and know little about knives or knife rolls preferring to rely on those experts who I have come to trust over the years. So, I will stand by the recommendation to the OP to check out leather-worker.com and make their own decision.
Baggage handlers? How did flying get into this?
Knife Rolls
Contact Steve Goodson at www.Leather-Worker.com. His custom made leather rolls have received rave reviews over at KitchenKnifeForums. Made to order, it looks as though he has thought of some features others haven't, yet. Give him a try.
Where to get this conditment squeeze bottle? In Manhattan maybe?
That bottle is called a Boston Round I believe. I once used them for a liquid conditioner for the boards I sold. You can Google Boston Round and I am sure you will find more than you might need.
Butcherblock Island, how to finish it?
Sanding could be a problem and unless you are experienced with a belt sander, you may damage the surface. Same with a cabinet scraper. Maybe the best answer but use it incorrectly and you could produce gouges.
Finishing is in the KISS category. Fancy finishes like varnishes are okay but mainly sit on top of the surface and will flake away under use. Tung oil never completely dries unless it has a chemical drier mixed in. The same is true with linseed oil and other oil finishes. Stains have other chemicals mixed in and are very poor choices for use around food. Any organic oil that might contain fats is also a poor choice. If the house is closed for a period of time, you may come back to a stinking rancid mess on the counters.
Here is the simplest answer you will get. Go to the drug store and purchase a bottle of mineral oil. Apply to the surface, allow to penetrate and then buff off. When the areas most used look a little lighter than the surrounding surface, apply a little more oil. Bees wax is a good choice to mix into the oil. Shave some bees wax or carnuba wax into oil that has been heated in a double boiler configuration and apply. Smells great and will add a little extra water repellancy.
No need for fancy and expensive oils. Just keep it simple and the surface will last for a good long time.
Pastry / Cutting Board
For the record...Wood does not contain enzymes! If it did, the enzymes would eat the wood. The end grain boards do wick the bacteria and water towards the interior of the of the board and the bacteria die due to a lack of moisture.
Washing is essential! Don't leave the board under hot running water for a long time but for long enough to wet the surface and rinse. If you don't like soap and water, simply coat the surface with salt as the old time butchers did years ago on their large blocks. The salt will leech out the residual moisture and kill the bacteria.
All wood contains moisture. When the tree is cut the moisture level is somewhere around 80 to 90%. Wood used for furniture comes out of the kiln at 7 to 10%. Anything much less than 7% will lead to cracks. Anything more and the wood will swell and could cause broken glue joints.
Pastry boards are usually not oiled and are usually scraped after use to remove left over flour or dough. Personally, I would not recommend using a cutting board for a pastry board or a pastry board for a cutting board. Watch out for how a pastry board is built. To many interior corners will make the board hard to clean. The direction of the grain is critical, make sure all the grain direction is the same. Wood swells across its width and thickness and when a piece is placed at right angles to this direction, the likelihood of cracks and splits is increased dramatically.
Seeking advice on *making* a knife block
When you make your layers, be sure to finish each slot with a waterproof finish first. Why, if you are using high carbon steel knives, there might be enough residual moisture in the wood to rust the knife blade. Either white or orange shellac will do well.
As for design, you might want to consider a wall mounted block.
Dishwasher Help
I purchased a Bosch dishwasher 7 to 8 years ago when I worked for Bosch power tools. I thought it was a good machine and we have used it a lot. However, last week the machine quit and will not turn on. I am waiting for the repairman now and shudder thinking of how much it might cost to repair.
Is there a brand, moderatly priced, that will work well, clean well and have some longevity? The last one we had, a cheaper Whirlpool, lasted over 15 years but I hesitate to buy another Whirlpool for a lot of reasons.
Submerging cutting board in mineral oil
All my boards are soaked in an oil bath for a short duration and allowed to dry on a rack for the next 12 to 24 hours depending on the temperature. For home use, when the cutting area looks a little lighter than the surrounding area, apply mineral oil. Yes you can apply to much and I do have customers who have applied so much that after a period of time the oil will drip out the bottom. In this case, less is more. Apply to all surfaces, top, bottom and sides.
If you use oil use mineral oil. There is a lot of alarmist writings which signal the dangers of using mineral oil in or on everything citing study after study showing mineral oil is the cause for everything from cancer to the common cold. For those I will tell them mineral oil is used in places they have no idea about. Remember when coffee, eggs and other products were deemed as dangerous?
On the flip side, using organic oils is equally as bad. The oils turn rancid.
ISO cutting board advice
Japanese Honoki (I hope I spelled that correctly) is the traditional wood used in Japan. It is a species of cypress or cedar and is considered food safe. Long grain boards do allow a knife to slice through the wood fibers but with the super sharp Japanese style knives, the sharpness allows for less force used for cutting and less damage should occur to the board because the edge doesn't contact the cutting surface as hard. End grain board fibers do line up differently and will let the edge to slide between them rather than across. Less potential for damage.
A quick check of the USPS web site for Priority Mail International rates shown a 22 pound box to Japan at about $105.00 USD. (Delivery quoted as in 6 to 10 days. More likely 6 to 14 days.) Not cheap by any means. You could use Parcel Post which will be much less but Parcel Post goes by surface means and can take weeks for delivery and has a higher potential for damage to happen.
Cutting board recommendation
It isn't the hardness of the wood so much as the construction. End grain boards are far more durable and longer lasting than face or edge grain boards. However, there are some manufacturers who treat their board with a resin hardener which is tough on the edges and some glues are also as tough.
Cutting board recommendation
The general rule of thumb for choosing a specific wood for a cutting board is any wood with a running sap, maple - maple syrup, or an edible nut. (The only exception I can come up with is oak, far to porous.) The list includes hard maple, cherry, some species of mahogany, walnut, ash, pecan, hickory and others. Woods to avoid are some of the exotics which may contain toxins, some cedars like red cedar which the insects stay away from, spalted wood or softer woods like pine which may impart tastes into the food.
Black walnut is okay, just slightly more porous than maple and a little softer. The biggest drawback is its cost. I make a lot of walnut boards and they seem to perform well with little to no trouble reported by end users.
The health issue is a good question. Wood boards wick the bacteria into the interior where they die from a lack of moisture. With plastic boards or non-porous boards, the bacteria stay on the surface and require more cleaning. Not to open a can of worms, but wood does appear to be more sanitary and is easier on good edges.
Cleaning is easy, scrub with warm water and a good quality dishwashing detergent then rinse thoroughly and dry as completely as possible. Stand up on an edge or side to air dry. (Boiling water can damage the cutting surface causing it to bow up and may dissolve the glues used making the glue joints separate.)
To sanitize use a 1:1 mixture of water and vinegar or 1 tablespoon of Clorox in a quart of water. The vinegar mixture is food safe and does not need to be rinsed. The Clorox mixture does need rinsing.
Hope this helps.
Fix a warped Boos worktop?
I hate you are having a problem. The restaurant supply is the culprit in this story. It was their responsibility to ensure you were taken care of.
Forget weights, water, oil etc... None of which are permanent fixes and some could damage the top further. Look in your local yellow pages for cabinet shops and call around until you find one that will have a planer large enough for your board. At 36" wide, that might be tough. But there are shops out there which could help. I would recommend a planer and not a wide belt sander because you have put enough oil on it that it will clog a wide belt quickly rendering it almost useless.
Good luck. I hope you can get the problem solved as easily as possible.
I need to replace my bamboo chopping board - what kind shall I get?
mikie - A 2 x 12 x 18 maple board weighs about 12 pounds, 2 x 16 x 22 is about 20 pounds and a 2 x 18 x 24 is about 28 pounds. I say about because the final weight depends on the density of the wood. Some are a little lighter and some are a little heavier. They can get rather heavy especially in the larger sizes like 2 x 24 x 36 or boards that are 3" or more thick.
iyc_nyc - I do make boards less than 2" thick upon request. Those requests come from some folks with arthritis or other physical limitations which make lifting difficult. And some seniors prefer a lighter board because of their age. I settled on the 2" thickness mainly because I like how it looks and it gives a good yield from my raw stock with less waste.
Hope this helps.
I need to replace my bamboo chopping board - what kind shall I get?
Some things to look for in a board off eBay.
How large are the blocks used in the board? Some of the sellers are using scraps and other left overs from cabinet shops.
Glue? Titebond II is water resistant not waterproof as claimed in the listing. Titebond III is waterproof and costs $10 to $15 more per gallon than Titebond II. You will never know what glue is used unless it melts and the board falls apart or the glue joints split.
Thickness? A 1.5" board is rather thin. Thicker is better, helps to avoid warps and cracks and is more stable during use. Size does matter here, the larger the board the better with more work space and stability.
Rubber feet? Simply screwing them to the bottom of a board takes no effort, certainly not worth an extra charge.
Advice on cutting board / butcher block
A word about washing and sanitation.
The best way to clean a wooden board is washing in the sink. Simply wet with warm water, scrub lightly with a good dishwashing detergent and rinse thoroughly. Don't do as one customer did, leave it under hot running water for 5 minutes. The cutting surface warped badly then mildewed. He gave it to his mother.
If you can't fit your board in your sink, consider using a bathtub as some of my customers have told me they do. Maybe a little less convenient but works well.
To sanitize without washing, spray the surface with a mixture of Clorox and water, the formula is on the back of the Clorox bottle I believe, or spray on a 1:1 mixture of vinegar and water, this is food safe because the vinegar is edible, or coat overnight with a layer of salt. The salt will kill any bacteria on the surface and wick up the residual moisture. This is how the old time butchers sanitized their blocks after cutting raw meat daily.
Whatever method is chosen, just do something.
Advice on cutting board / butcher block
I would like to reply to the original question and I don't want it to sound like an advertisement.
Reversible vs non-reversible. That is a personal preference. A single sided board with feet will give no less useful life than a double sided board without feet given moderate care. However, extra care must be given to ensure that the board doesn't sit in any moisture when not in use and a non-slip mat should be used underneath the board during use. After washing, allowing it to air dry while on its edge is a good idea that another poster mentioned. With some of the edges I have seen, the last thing you want is having to chase your board across a counter top.
Thickness is another personal preference. I make mine 2" thick because I get the best yields from my raw stock with less waste. And I personally like the look of a thicker board. For someone who is not as tall, a thinner board will work fine. For someone with arthritis or a senior citizen, a thinner block will be easier to move. Again, personal preference.
I believe if you ask 10 people which wood they prefer, you will get 10 different answers. Again, personal preference. The general rule of thumb is to choose a wood from a tree with an edible running sap; hard maple where maple syrup comes from; or a tree with an edible nut. If you can eat the product of the tree, the wood should be safe to prepare food from. In my opinion, oak is an exception because of its open grain characteristics. Woods to avoid, some of the exotics, cedars, spalted wood and any wood that is insect resistant.
There are any number of manufacturers out there who will make your board. Some will stick with their stock sizes and some will make custom sizes for their customers. Look for experience and reputation and watch out for the casual maker who just putters around in their spare time.
Refrigerator Purchase Anyone have a Samsung, an LG, a Kenmore, or a Whirlpool Gold French Door Refrigerator?
We purchased a Samsung French Door refrigerator in January from Lowe's. So far it has done well. (Our last one was a Whirlpool that was 21 years old.)
The upper ice maker does take up a lot of interior room but we use it a lot. I do enjoy the chilled water and crushed ice. The drawback is that the ice distribution is somewhat slow.
The lower freezer drawer is rather convenient and spacious. However, some of the item stored there can get lost under things so we use it for those items we will need frequently and store everything else in the upright deep freezer in the storage room.
The lower ice maker works faster than the upper one does and makes filling glasses and coolers so much easier. The drawback is that sometimes when opening the upper basket, some of the ice will fall off behind the lower basket and just sit there on the floor of the freezer. Doesn't hurt anything until the ice finally make its way out to the floor.
I am satisfied with Samsung. The one service call was handled quickly and efficiently. The replacement part was late in arriving and Samsung called to offer a replacement refrigerator rather than wait another week for the part. Head and shoulders better than LG!
Japanese knife care
If you don't wish to go to the trouble of sharpening yourself, I can highly recommend Dave Martell at www.JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com. He does a terrific job and is quite knowledgeable about Japanese knives.
Which to buy: Samsung vs. KitchenAid fridge and where
I purchased a Samsung french door refrigerator in Jan. So far, perfect! It runs very quietly, has plenty of room, is easy to clean and the lighting is terrific. The only drawback I have found is the ice makers. They tend to be a little slow to make ice and noisy when the ice drops but that is minor and something we can live with. There are two ice makers, one in the fridge and another in the freezer drawer, so the slowness is really a non-issue.
We considered KA and others but after looking for weeks at everything on the market, I purchased the Samsung from Lowe's. (There was a minor dent in one side that was noted by the delivery team. I was given a $150.00 discount.)
Butcher block oil safety
Stick with mineral oil. It is a super refined and food safe petroleum oil that serves as a base for many of the food stuffs you consume every day. While not exactly cheap, it is readily available in most grocery and drug stores.
The "Butcher Block" oils you see advertised my manufacturers have additives like tung oil, mineral spirits, or linseed oil which may be okay but those are primarily used in paints which isn't food safe.
As the old saying goes, "KISS - Keep it Simple" More is not always better.
Prepping Bamboo Cutting Boards
Mineral oil with bees wax is a very good mixture. Mineral oil alone is sufficient though. Those "special-exotic" mixtures sold by the makers may have additives like tung oil, walnut oil or even turpentine. Stick with mineral oil, less expensive and readily available at grocery and drug stores.
Northern Virginia knife sharpener, recs?
If you are looking for a quality sharpener, someone who will put a scary sharp edge on a knife, not just grind down the metal with a bench grinder, go to Dave Martell at www.JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com. Dave does a marvelous job and is a quality business man as well with a loyal following, including me 500 miles away.
Your clues for a low quality sharpener are - a bench grinder - a stream of sparks coming off that grinder from your knives and a $5.00 price to sharpen a knife.
Food Saver Deal?
Just found this. http://www.foodsaver.com/Product.aspx?id=c&cid=87&pid=6703&promo=W9FEAAA&utm_campaign=W9FEAAA&utm_so urce=FS+G3Offer&refID=CJ&CJ_ID=1225267
When you enter this item into the shopping cart, it shows up as $91.00 with shipping.
