Best Type of Wood for Cutting Board

In my 50 years of woodworking, I’ve made a lot of cutting boards. And one thing I’ve learned is that choosing the right wood matters more than a lot of people think.

Cost matters. Durability matters. Food safety matters. Even the way you plan to use the cutting board can affect which wood makes the most sense.

So before you grab the prettiest board off the rack and start cutting strips, let’s talk through what actually makes a good cutting board wood.

Start With How the Cutting Board Will Be Used

Not all cutting boards are created equal, and not all cutting boards are used the same way.

If you go into a professional restaurant kitchen, you’ll often see several different cutting boards. One might be used only for onions, another for seafood, another for red meat, and so on. That matters because the foods being cut can affect the board, and the board can later affect the flavor or cleanliness of whatever gets cut on it next.

So before choosing your wood, ask yourself what the board is for.

Is it for bread? Vegetables? Meat? Charcuterie? Is it something you’re keeping for your own kitchen, giving as a gift, or selling at a fair?

Those questions matter because they affect the design, the material, and the cost. If you’re using expensive exotic hardwoods and you have $100 into a cutting board, you certainly don’t want to turn around and sell it for $80.

Edge Grain vs. End Grain Cutting Boards

The next question is how you’re going to build the cutting board.

In woodworking, there are two common styles: edge grain and end grain.

An edge grain cutting board is made by gluing strips of wood together edge to edge, then smoothing the surface.

 

An end grain board is usually made from a lot of smaller blocks, often arranged in a checkerboard style.

The difference matters because of how the knife interacts with the wood fibers.

With an edge grain board, the knife is cutting across the fibers. Over time, depending on the hardness of the wood, you’re going to cut some of those fibers.

With an end grain cutting board, the knife is cutting into the ends of the fibers. Instead of slicing across them, it tends to separate them. Those fibers can come back together a little, almost like pushing your finger between a bundle of straws.

Because of that, end grain cutting boards tend to hold up better against knife marks. But there’s a trade-off. End grain boards can be more prone to warping and cracking if they’re not built and cared for properly.

So neither style is perfect. It depends on what you want the board to do.

Should You Add a Juice Groove?

A lot of people like adding juice grooves because they look useful and professional. But you don’t always need one.

The main reason to add a juice groove is if the board will be used for cutting meat. That groove helps catch juices before they run off the board.

But if the board is for bread, vegetables, or charcuterie, a juice groove usually isn’t necessary. Last I checked, bread doesn’t bleed when you slice it.

Personally, I don’t like using wood cutting boards for meat. Meat juices can stain the wood, and what looks like blood is often proteins that can soak into the board. For meat, I prefer using a high-density polyethylene cutting board.

For bread, vegetables, and general kitchen use, though, I still like wood cutting boards.

Think About Handles

Handles are another design choice that can affect the wood and thickness you choose.

You can mill handles into the edges of the board, but that usually means the board needs to be thicker. That may push you toward an end grain design or a thicker edge grain board.

You can also attach handles, but that usually makes more sense on a serving board or charcuterie board. Handles sticking up from a cutting board can get in the way when you’re actually trying to cut food.

So before choosing your wood, think through the full design. Handles, grooves, thickness, and board style all affect the material you’ll need.

Choose the Right Hardness

Now we get to the wood itself.

The first thing to consider is hardness. I’m not just talking about hardwood versus softwood. I’m talking about the actual density and durability of the wood, often measured by the Janka hardness scale.

For cutting boards, I generally like woods in the range of about 900 to 1500 on the Janka scale.

That puts you in the neighborhood of woods like cherry, walnut, and maple. Cherry is around 900, walnut is around 1150, and hard maple is around 1400.

If the wood is too soft, your knife will damage it too easily. If the wood is too hard, it can be tough on your knife edge. A knife edge is a fairly delicate thing, and a very hard wood can bend or dull that edge faster than you want.

Avoid Softwoods for Cutting Boards

Not all softwoods are soft, and not all hardwoods are hard. But generally speaking, softwoods like pine and cedar are too soft for cutting boards.

They come from conifers, and they tend to get damaged much more easily by knife cuts.

To show the difference, I tested a piece of pine against a piece of walnut using a regular 8-inch stainless steel chef’s knife.

With the pine, the knife cut into the wood fairly easily. You can imagine what would happen if that were a cutting board being used for vegetables. The surface would get torn up quickly.

With the walnut, I still got some scratching. Any cutting board will show wear eventually. But the damage was nowhere near as bad as it was on the pine.

 

That’s why I don’t recommend pine for cutting boards. It may be easy to work with, and it may be cheap, but it won’t hold up well under a knife.

Watch Out for Porous Woods

Another major consideration is porosity.

Years ago, I thought oak was a great cutting board material. I made several red oak cutting boards for my own family and as gifts. At the time, it was one of the main woods I used.

My thinking has changed.

The problem with oak is that it’s very porous. That means juices, especially meat juices, can soak into the wood more easily. Once that happens, you create a place where bacteria can grow, and that can potentially contaminate the board and whatever food touches it later.

I rarely use oak for cutting boards anymore. I have some older cutting boards that include oak, but those were made before I really understood the risk of using such a porous wood.

Consider the Cost of the Wood

Cost is another big factor.

There are some beautiful woods out there, but many of them are expensive. Zebrawood is one of my favorites, but it can run around $25 a board foot. If you tried to make a basic cutting board entirely out of zebrawood, you could easily have $50 or more in wood alone.

That might be fine for a special gift or a personal project. But if you’re making cutting boards to sell, cost matters.

One way around that is to use an exotic wood as an accent instead of building the whole board from it. A single strip of zebrawood mixed with maple, walnut, or cherry can give you the visual impact without making the entire board too expensive.

Think About Toxicity

Toxicity is something else to consider, but don’t get too worried too quickly.

Most of the time, wood toxicity refers to breathing in the dust while working with that wood. That’s a concern for you as the woodworker, so wear a mask and use good dust collection or air filtration.

But if a wood can leach something into food, that’s a different concern. You don’t want to give or sell a cutting board that could create a food safety issue.

Pine, for example, is resinous. That resin could potentially leach into food. Oak contains tannins, which can react with metals and blacken them. That won’t necessarily affect the food, but it could affect high-carbon steel knives.

The Wood Database is a good resource if you want to look up a specific species and check for toxicity concerns before using it.

Be Careful With Woods That Bleed Color

Some woods can stain other woods. Their color can bleed, especially when combined with lighter woods.

Padauk is a good example. It’s a beautiful red wood, and a lot of people like using it in cutting boards because the color is so striking. But if you put padauk next to maple, there’s a strong chance you’ll get red bleeding into the maple.

There are ways to work around that, but personally, I’d rather avoid the problem when I can.

Domestic vs. Exotic Hardwoods

Exotic hardwoods are woods that come from outside the country. That includes woods from overseas and even places like Mexico.

The biggest difference between domestic and exotic hardwoods is usually cost. Exotic hardwoods are almost always more expensive. Even the cheaper exotic hardwoods tend to cost more than many domestic hardwoods.

That doesn’t mean you can’t use them. You absolutely can. And no, it’s not true that all exotic hardwoods are toxic. That’s something you should check species by species.

But I would save exotic woods for personal projects, special gifts, or boards where the customer understands why the price is higher.

If someone is comparing your handmade cutting board to a $15 board from Walmart, they may not understand why a board with exotic hardwood costs so much. If you’re going to sell boards like that, you need to educate the customer a little. The wood itself costs more because it’s rarer, imported, and often more visually unique.

My Favorite Woods for Cutting Boards

After all of that, my favorite woods for cutting boards are maple, walnut, and cherry.

Those three are popular for good reason.

They’re domestic hardwoods, so they’re easier to find and more reasonably priced than most exotics. They’re also in the hardness range I like for cutting boards. They’re hard enough to resist knife damage, but not so hard that they’re rough on your knife edge.

Maple is around 1400 on the Janka scale. Cherry is around 900. Walnut is around 1150. They’re close enough in hardness that you can mix them together without one part of the board getting destroyed while another part still looks brand new.

Cost-wise, walnut usually runs the highest of the three. Maple and cherry are often a little more affordable, though prices move around, so it’s always worth checking current lumber costs before planning a batch of cutting boards.

Final Thoughts

If you’re making a cutting board, don’t just choose wood based on looks.

Think about how the board will be used, how it will be built, how hard the wood is, how porous it is, whether it stains, and whether it makes sense for your budget.

For most hardwood cutting boards, maple, walnut, and cherry are my top recommendations. They’re reliable, attractive, available, and well-suited to the job.

If you want to add an exotic hardwood as an accent, go ahead. It can add a lot of beauty to the board. Just keep the cost and the customer in mind if you plan to sell it.

Now go make some sawdust and see if you can make yourself a few really nice cutting boards. Maybe even a few Christmas gifts while you’re at it.