Poplar wood is a great option for indoor furniture and is less expensive, considering it is a hardwood. It has always been used for framing, upholstering furniture, and support. But if you are looking for kitchen fittings, you may be wondering if Poplar is good for cutting boards.
Here, our expert woodworkers will reveal the limitations you need to know about Poplar wood and more.
What to Know About Poplar Wood
Poplar trees are considered one of Europe’s fastest-growing and most efficient trees in terms of sustainability. It can be planted regardless of water source and type of soil, optimizing the unproductive land to increase timber and source of raw material in the market.
Poplar wood grain pattern is multi-colored, but mostly you can see green hues. Its soft and porous wood fiber makes moisture and water absorption easy if not conditioned, painted, or sealed. Staining this wood is challenging and often undesirable because of its light shade.
Also, this wood has minimal resistance to decay or rot, making less preferred hardwood. Nevertheless, Poplar wood can be used in a wide range of applications, such as furniture frames, pallets, crates, and decorative moldings. It offers high-quality finishes and is easy to cut.
Wood manufacturers use Poplar to make paper, plywood, and cardboard, while its core inside is used for snowboards, chopsticks, toothpicks, and the inside structures of guitars and drums.
However, Poplar wood ranks among the lowest of the hardwoods, making it unsuitable for cabinet-grade wood projects.
Is Poplar Ideal to Use as a Cutting Board?
Although a hardwood, Poplar is not ideal for a cutting board because of its softness. It can take the occasional slicing and chopping, but frequent contact with kitchen knives can tear and wear it down. You can also find some deep knife-cutting marks, making cleaning hard.
Poplar is porous wood. Therefore, if used for kitchen fittings, including cutting boards, it will hoard bacteria from the food debris and juices.
Is it Food-Safe?
Using poplar wood as a cutting board is not a food-safe kitchen fitting unless you apply a food-safe finish. To make poplar kitchen furniture a food-safe material, we use mineral oil, shellac, beeswax [1], tung, linseed, or walnut oils.
A cutting board is essential in food preparation to ensure food is clean, thus preventing food from spoiling. But given that poplar wood has flexible wood fiber, it cannot hold frequent cutting from kitchen knives, resulting in dents and scratches.
Is Poplar Too Soft to Make Cutting Boards?
Poplar wood is too soft to make cutting boards with its 540 Janka hardness, which is at par with the ideal harness of a cutting board which is around 1,500 lbf.
A lower rating won’t keep up with the continuous stress from cutting, and a higher than 1,500 lbf Janka hardness can damage your kitchen knife. So despite Poplar wood being categorized as a hardwood, its low wood density affects its strength.
- Bending Strength: 10,100 psi
- Comprehensive Strength: 5,540 psi
- Density:0.42
- Hardness: 540 lb
- Stiffness: 1.58 Mpsi
For your reference on which hardwood is best to use as cutting boards, here are the Janka hardness ratings of well-known hardwoods and our top picks. This table shows that the higher the numbers, the harder the woods are.
| Wood Type | Janka Hardness Value (N) |
| Ebony (Brazilian) | 16420 |
| Cumaru | 15470 |
| Ebony | 14300 |
| Golden Teak | 10400 |
| Hickory, shagbark | 8,360 |
| Rosewood | 7900 |
| Apple | 7,700 |
| White Oak | 6,000 |
| Ash (White) | 5900 |
| Oak (Northern red) | 5,700 |
| Birch | 5600 |
| Walnut (Black) | 4500 |
| Cherry (Black) | 4200 |
| Mahogany | 3600 |
| Douglas Fir | 2900 |
| Cedar, yellow | 2,580 |
| Chestnut | 2400 |
| Poplar | 2400 (540 lbf) |
| Spruce, Sitka | 2,270 |
| Hemlock (Western) | 2,200 |
| White Pine | 1900 |
| Basswood | 1800 |
| Pine (Eastern White) | 1,700 |
| Red cedar (Western) | 1,600 |
| Balsa | 310 |
Pros and Cons of Using Poplar Wood for Cutting Boards
To give you a clearer view of how Poplar wood cutting boards will work in your kitchen, here are the disadvantages and advantages you should consider:
Pros
- Affordable
- Uniform wood grain pattern
- Lightweight
- Exceptional appearance
- Easy to work with
Cons
- Less resistance on rot or decay
- Cannot hold frequent cutting of kitchen knives
- Wood fiber as soft and porous
- Absorbs water and moisture easily
- Not food-safe material unless oil-finished
How About Poplar as a Butcher Block?
Poplar can be used as a butcher block. You can stick it together to form a solid block you can use as a cutting surface for food and a serving plate. If poplar is glued together, it can create various styles and sizes depending on your needs.
However, butcher blocks made of poplar are less durable than other hardwoods. The thickness and strength of poplar butcher blocks cannot hold the pressure from cuttings.
Factors to Consider When Looking for a Good Cutting Board
Knife-Friendly
If your knife is your main concern in choosing a cutting board, look for a cutting board with a Janka hardness of 1,500 lbf, an ideal hardness scale that won’t make your knives dull.
When it comes to cutting board, the harder the surface can damage your knives, and if it’s softer, it won’t stand frequent use.
Food-Safe
A cutting board should be a food-safe material. So look for the Food and Drug Administration’s approved mark or label as “food contact surfaces.”
Easy Cleaning & Maintenance
To ensure food safety, look for a cutting board that is easy to clean and maintain to extend its lifespan. You can check the cutting board instructions for cleaning and maintenance.
Good Size and Shape
Cutting boards can range from different sizes and shapes depending on your style and what is suitable for your kitchen. You can choose a cutting board that can easily store away. Otherwise, you can have the traditional rectangle or circle for aesthetic kitchen fittings.
Price and Value for Money
Before buying a cutting board, compare the prices of similar styles and shapes. There are affordable cutting boards that offer the same as the expensive ones. Nevertheless, ensure you get what you pay for a cutting board.
Woods that Are Great for Cutting Boards
Here are several hardwoods that are more suitable for cutting boards than poplar:
Maple
Maple wood can withstand the consistent cutting and slicing of food without absorbing food particles or juices. It is a high-density wood with 1,450 lbf Janka hardness. Its wood fibers are small, making it less porous wood than Poplar.
Teak
With a high density and 1,070 lbf Janka hardness, Teak is considered a hardwood. It is rich in natural oil, which makes it resistant to rot, unlike Poplar wood. It only shows signs of tear and wears after a couple of years used as a cutting board.
Walnut
Walnut is considered medium-hardwood, unlike teak and maple. This wood perfectly balances hardness and softness as a cutting board, so it won’t dull your knife, which is the opposite of Poplar wood. It offers a deep, rich color cutting board with a 1,010 lbf Janka hardness.
Beech
Regarding food-safety concerns, beechwood offers much more than Poplar wood. Beechwood has a tight wood fiber which makes it water resistant. However, beech shrinks over time because of harmful environmental elements.
Conclusion
Poplar is not good for cutting boards due to its limitations than other hardwoods. You may instead opt for other hardwoods such as maple, teak, and walnut, which can withstand the wear and tear of knife use.
In choosing the ideal cutting board, also consider its durability, quality, and food safety.
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