There are 4 questions to answer before you buy a cutting board … but I have some tips that will help inform those decisions for you. No wrong answers here: your cutting board is yours, and you need to like it. What other people do is their business. Thank goodness.
So, here are those all important 4 questions:
What size do you want the board to be?
What color do you want the board to be?
End grain or edge grain?
Juice groove or no?
When you answer those, you will make sure you are getting the board or boards you want and need. But here are those tips that will help smooth your process.
Where are you going to use the board? Is it mobile? Beside the sink? Beside the stove? On the island? Or … ? Wherever that special place is, get out your measure and see what the dimensions of the space are. If you have a galley kitchen with standard cabinets, you have 24” of depth to use. If you have appliances against the wall, then you only have 12” or depth or so to work with.
How many are you cooking for? Cooking for a family of 4 is different from cooking for you and your spouse. If this is a general purpose board that will be used to prepare large meals, I would recommend at least 14” X 18”.
Is this board single purpose? Some cooks like a dedicated board to only do onions and that stinking rose, garlic. Every cook is different. Maybe you want a set of 3 that are dedicated for meat, vegetables or bread. You get to choose. But, each of those purposes can dictate a different size and shape.
Does the board live on the counter, or do you need to store it at times? Storage of a board can be difficult the larger the board is. A handled board, though, can hang on the wall and add to the warmth of your kitchen.
Be Colorful! Most of the large retailers that sell cutting boards use overseas factories to make them, and they generally offer one or perhaps 2 woods or colors of boards. I have 40 woods in the shop, and all do find their way into cutting boards. So, you can match your décor. Contrast with your counter top. Indulge your eyes with your favorite colors.
Bigger is not always better. Cooks that prepare large hunks of meat often want very large, thick boards – but those come at a cost. Heavy is difficult to move, big is difficult to clean, not to mention storage! There is no need for a board to be more than 1-1/2” thick. More than that is making a statement, for sure, but it is not improving the performance of the board.
Smaller is not always better, either. The thinner the board, the less stable and more prone to warping or twisting it becomes. I do make my smallest boards, AKA Cheese Boards, about 8” x 10” x 5/8”, and those laminated assemblies are stable. People that use the ¼” thick bamboo boards sold in grocery stores … well, they will have issues using them, almost immediately.
End grain boards are harder and show less wear, but they require more time and better tools to construct properly. Time is often needed to custom order a “perfect” end grain board. Plan ahead.
Edge grain boards are perfectly fine when made from good hardwood. A quality cutting board will last for decades with minimal care. It all comes down to … do you like stripes? Or fancy patterns that look a little like a chess board?
Mrs M is a hard NO for juice grooves, and she is a serious cook, smoker & BBQ boss. Many people want juice grooves (they get to choose!), but the grooves do shrink the usable space available on the board. Add 2” to the height and width if you are getting a juice groove.
If you get a groove, make sure it is big enough to clean with your finger. And a brush or cloth! My standard is 3/4” wide x 3/8” deep. Smaller and deeper will cause you problems. I do also make grooves 1-1/4” wide on my Carnivore Boards, which is needed if you want to corral the juices from your Thanksgiving turkey.
Before you buy your board, pick one up. Move around with it. Cleaning it is a daily task, frequently multiple times in one meal when you practice good sterile technique. Make sure the board fits you as well as your kitchen.
When the enormity of the “Shelter in Place” mandate sank in, I decided it was time to get to the shop & get to making.
And making.
Lost my head for a bit, I did.
When I begin to make a batch of things in the shop, I cut boards from several different species of wood into the right sizes, and then lay out the wood design for each piece. I call this picking and processing. That’s what I did.
And I got stuck there … so I did it a lot.
I actually had over 400 pieces in the shop in process at one time. And I know from all of the times that I’ve tripped or said a bad word when I had to move that pile of stuff AGAIN … having just 70 pieces in process at one time is a pain. 400 pieces … I’m in a small garage Woodshop. There’s only so much room.
Closed in, it was.
Difficult to move, it was.
Undeterred, I was.
So, now I’m on the other side. I’ve finished over 300 pieces; still have 100 Magic Bottle Openers to finish this week (which is a several day process, with multiple drying times required for each MBO).
Today, though, I can celebrate the rare air of accomplishment that has not been seen before.
I have over 700 pieces in inventory right now. My previous record was 400, which I first touched a little over a year ago.
The cutting board that I’ve just brought to the finish line in the flurry of finishing 300+ pieces in 3 days is a simple end grain cutting board made of Hard Maple. It’s 12″ x 16″ and is extra thick at 1-1/2″.
Juice groove? Check.
Non-skid rubber feet held on with stainless steel screws? Check.
Hand rubbed finish with mineral oil & Mrs M’s Board Butter? Check.
The unprecedented characteristic of this board are the the wedge-shaped ends which make the board easy to pick up. Traditionally, I make routed finger-holds on all of my cutting boards, but I’ve been wanting to do a board like this for some time. Will there be another?
No clue, I have.
Cutting Board 20 – 107. Hard Maple. Juice Groove, End Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″.
I’ve just launched the new & improved MrMsWoodshop.com, and there are 2 special offers that apply to the month of May. You can get free shipping for any order over $50. Plus! There’s a site-wide discount of 20% off when you use the promo code of “MrMsLaunch”. Don’t delay though, as the offers will expire on May 31.
With a sudden burst of production (amazing what you can get done when you stop going to events!), the inventory is suddenly growing. I’ve passed 100 pieces in inventory, again.
I thought I was low with full size cutting boards … so here’s a bunch.
Thank goodness. We have a big event this weekend, the July 4th Ventura Street Fair. The event’s in downtown Ventura. Set up can begin at 3am, the directions say. I think we will be just a bit later than that.
If you’re wandering around Ventura on Saturday, come see us in booths 427/429. With a huge amount of luck, I’ll be back under 100 boards after this weekend….
That would be a good thing, right??!!
Cutting Board # 15 – 051. Black Walnut, Jarrah, Purpleheart and Honey Locust end grain with juice groove. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″.
Detail of Cutting Board # 15 – 051.
Cutting Board # 15 – 052. Cherry, Black Walnut, Jatoba, Purpleheart and Hard Maple end grain with juice groove. Absolutely unique grain in the hard maple. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″.
Detail of irridescent rays in cutting board # 15 – 052.
Cutting Board # 15 – 053. Hard Maple & Purpleheart edge grain with juice groove. 14″ x 18″ x 1-1/2″. This board sold the first time a customer saw it.
Cutting Board # 15 – 054. Hard Maple & Jatoba edge grain with juice groove. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 055. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Jarrah edge grain. 11″ x 18″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 056. Cherry, Jatoba, Purplehear and Hard Maple end grain. 14″ x 12″ x 1-1/2″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 057. Black Walnut, Cherry & Jatoba end grain with juice groove. 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″.
Close up detail of Cutting Board 15 – 057.
Cutting Board # 15 – 061. The meat eater’s board. Hard Maple end grain with juice groove – a deep, wide juice groove. 13″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 058. Black Walnut, Cherry & Hard Maple edge grain. 14″ x 11″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 15 – 060. Cherry and Jatoba, AKA Brazilian Cherry, end grain with juice groove. Commissioned piece. 14″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″.
Cutting Board 15 – 059. Hard Maple, Yellowheart & Padauk end grain with juice groove. Commissioned piece. 14″ x 18″ x 1-1/2″.
With a sudden burst of production (amazing what you can get done when you stop going to events!), the inventory is suddenly growing. I’ve passed 100 pieces in inventory, again.
