What are the Best Woods for Cutting Boards?
The best woods for cutting boards strike a balance between hardness and porosity, ensuring the board is both functional and long-lasting. When selecting wood for a cutting board, there are 4 main properties to consider, durability, ease of maintenance, effect on knives and food safety.
Below are some of the woods we use for our cutting and serving boards – and one we don’t!
Note: Wood with a finish such as hardwax, urethane, varnish, shellac or epoxy are sealed and not meant to be cut upon. When choosing a no-cut charcuterie board or serving tray, it’s best to select a food-safe epoxy finish that is completely waterproof and can resist the acidic nature of some foods. Never cut upon a finished surface or use them to place hot cookware upon – this may cause permanent damage to your board.
Best Domestic Hardwoods
Hardwoods, such as maple, walnut, and cherry, are highly recommended for cutting boards. They have the perfect balance of hardness and porosity and are the 3 main woods we use for dedicated cutting surfaces.
Hard Maple (Janka Hardness 1450) is a great wood for cutting boards due to its dense grain, which resists knife marks and bacteria infiltration. It’s durable enough to withstand frequent use with minimal dulling of knives. Maple is very light in color and if improperly maintained can stain when cutting certain foods, such as beets or red meat. This can be avoided through regular care with an oil-wax and remedied by refinishing.
Black Walnut (Janka Hardness 1010) is known for its rich color and soft texture, it is gentle on knives while providing an attractive aesthetic. Walnuts’ color ranges from chocolate-brown to tan with nearly white sapwood. Its wavy grain and dark color make it somewhat stain resistant. It strikes the perfect balance for use as a general-purpose cutting board, especially as end-grain. Walnut should be kept clean and oiled to insure its “self-healing” properties and reduce maintenance.
American Cherry (Janka Hardness 950) is valued for its moderate hardness and natural beauty. It is similar in appearance to maple but a bit darker with a better-defined reddish-brown grain pattern. Cherry may show wear more quickly than maple or walnut and is more prone to stains than maple when not maintained with an oil-wax. We use cherry mostly for patterns paired with maple, not as a primary cutting surface.
Red Oak (Janka Hardness 1290) & White Oak (Janka Hardness 1360) are beautiful but not ideal for cutting boards due to its highly porous grain. Oak is best used for serving or charcuterie, not for true cutting boards. Oak should be oiled before and after use to keep the pores from collecting any material to ensure food safety. Avoid serving smelly items like raw onions or stinky cheese on oak. (see our blog-post on wood grain)
Exotic Woods for Cutting Boards
Exotic hardwoods like teak, acacia, padauk and purpleheart are popular for cutting boards.
Teak (Janka Hardness 1150) is resistant to moisture and bacteria due to its high oil content and tight grain, making it a durable choice for humid environments or boards that handle a lot of “juicy” foods. Teak is a light golden-brown in color and has stain properties similar to maple. Quality old-growth teak can be polished to reveal a level of chatoyancy, and resin-coating will maximize this effect. We only use old-growth teak.
Acacia is a genus of tree with over 1000 species. Due to this great diversity, it is nearly impossible to typify a standard wood representative of the genus. Its properties can vary greatly. Because of this and the fact that wood commercially labeled as acacia is known for warping and splitting, we do not use it. Oddly enough, Hawaiian Koa wood is a sub-species of Acacia we use on occasion for artistic pieces.
Padauk (Janka Hardness 1725) is a very hard wood with a bold red color. It can blunt knives with regular use, so it is best used for accents. Its red color can potentially bleed into any light-colored woods it is glued to, so extra care must be taken when fabricating. Padauk can be polished and will often show a level of chatoyancy.
Purpleheart (Janka Hardness 2520) is even harder than Padauk but has a striking purple color. It will blunt knives with regular use, so it is best used for accents. Its color does not bleed like Padauk. Purpleheart is very dense and very heavy. Its color may fade to a dark-brown over time, but can be brought back with simple refinishing.
Wenge (Janka Hardness 1930) is another wood used primarily for accents. It is a very hard black and brown wood with dramatic wavy grain. Its grain is coarse and its end-grain very porous, so it is not suitable as a primary cutting surface. We only occasionally use Wenge for accents or artistic pieces.
