On Saturday, October 4, 1997 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, Phil Rose wrote:
In article ,
(Davis Bennett) wrote:

Hello folks,

I'm a novice when it comes to woodworking. I'd like to make a fairly
inexpensive cutting board & was wondering whether pine would be too
soft for this. I have an old board that was made out of plywood so I
thought that perhaps pine would do.

Any comments would be really helpful!

That's a dangerous invitation! ;-)

It's hard to make a cutting board that's _not_ "fairly inexpensive", unless
you get carried away with using exotic wood(s) such as teak, padauk, etc.
If you've been using a plywood (gasp! really?) cutting board 'till now, I
suppose you mightn't find pine to be an unworthy option. Wouldn't last very
long in my house, though. Way too soft for actual cuttin' 'n choppin'.

The best choice IMO for a board that will actually be used for cutting and
gettin' wet is a close-grain hardwood. Lots of choices fill this bill: the
most common are maple (hard or soft) and cherry. Maple is probably about as
cheap as pine, and it'll be a lot more interesting to work with and will
stand up well to kitchen abuse. Both maple and cherry are frequently
available in fairly wide boards, if it is your intention to make your
cutting board from a single piece of stock. Beware of warpage, though, if
this is how you intend to make it. Laminated (edge-glued) strips are
commonly used in order to minimize warp. You also can get an interesting
design if you alternate different wood species.

Phil

--
Phil Rose

I agree with what Phil is saying but I have never in my life seen maple for the same price as pine, not even close by a mile. Phil please let me know where you buy your maple lol (are you sure your buying maple?)