# Advice needed on cutting board



## SemperFiDawg (Jan 20, 2014)

Thinking about making a cutting board out of some 150 year old heart pine.  I think it would be beautiful due to to the redish color.  This stuff is hard as granite, but I worry about it chipping.  And and all suggestions would be welcome.


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## GAFLAjd (Feb 4, 2014)

Most cutting boards are made from hardwoods.
 I know heart pine is a special case, but I wonder whether it would be as unlikely to add its own flavor to foods, especially meats?


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## jonkayak (Feb 4, 2014)

Cutting boards for looks can be made from any type of wood. Otherwise your chose of wood type for a true cutting board is based not on how hard the wood is but how tight the grain is. That's why oak, heart pine, hickory, ext... are rarely ever used for cutting boards, instead you see wood like maple, cherry, black walnut, ext... being used. A good way to see this is to look at cross sections of red oak next to a cross section of maple and you'll see the differences in the grains.

A real simple explanation for the reason tight grained woods are used is to fight bacteria. When combined with a quality cutting board oil the tighter the grain the less likely it is for funk (technical term there) to soak into or hold onto the cutting board. Tight wood grained cutting boards are actually proven safer then plastic cutting boards.


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## John I. Shore (Feb 4, 2014)

Depends if you are making it to be pretty or useful, I wouldn't use pine, may be old and beautiful, but it's still pine.  Jmo!  Good luck with it!

John I.


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## godogs57 (Feb 5, 2014)

We made some from the same stuff and they turned out great....but use the very very best wood glue you can find!


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## SemperFiDawg (Feb 7, 2014)

Thanks.  I'm gonna try it.  Not really concerned about critters gittin in the wood.  I would think the resin would be bacteriocidal.  Turpentine is a heck of a good antiseptic.  More concerned with splitting.  I'm gonna attempt to add some features with that in mind to guard against it.


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## Tnwoodman (Mar 15, 2014)

The tanic acid in the wood is a natural anti bacterial. The pine would probably hold up better as a end grain board more so than a side grain. I would use it more as a bread or serving tray than cutting.


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