Red Oak in cutting board?
 

Ive read that Red Oak is not recommend for cutting boards due to its
open grain and holding food that grows bacteria.

If one was to make a butcher block cutting board, using the end grain
of Red Oak do you think that would be ok?

Seems to me the end grain is very tight and hard and might work ok.

I have a lot of scrap that would be nice to use for making some xmas
gifts.

Any thoughts?

thanks!

"rkruz" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ive read that Red Oak is not recommend for cutting boards due to its
open grain and holding food that grows bacteria.

If one was to make a butcher block cutting board, using the end grain
of Red Oak do you think that would be ok?

Seems to me the end grain is very tight and hard and might work ok.

I have a lot of scrap that would be nice to use for making some xmas
gifts.

Red oak makes nice gifts. Trivets, boxes, but not cutting boards.

Cut a strip of the oak about 6" long and put it in water. Suck on it like a
straw. Now think about chicken juice on the cutting board.

In article .com,
"rkruz" wrote:

Ive read that Red Oak is not recommend for cutting boards due to its
open grain and holding food that grows bacteria.

If one was to make a butcher block cutting board, using the end grain
of Red Oak do you think that would be ok?

Seems to me the end grain is very tight and hard and might work ok.

I have a lot of scrap that would be nice to use for making some xmas
gifts.

Any thoughts?

thanks!

An end grain butcher block from Red Oak would be potentially dangerous
for bacterial growth. The end grain of R. Oak is like open straws which
wick and hold whatever food liquids you put on there. BTW, the reason
(at least in part) that Oak splits so easily is due to the split easily
following the open straws. Red Oak would be OK for a dry (bread) cutting
board but I wouldn't use it at all for wet food prep.

Most butcher blocks are Hard Maple or Beech - the end grain is closed
and the wood is quite durable - much more so than Red Oak.
--
Owen Lowe
The Fly-by-Night Copper Company
__________

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
Corporate States of America and to the
Republicans for which it stands, one nation,
under debt, easily divisible, with liberty
and justice for oil."
- Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 1/24/05

Looks like I am in a minority. I have made several cutting boards by
raiding the scrap pile and laminating Red Oak, White Oak, Ash, Maple and
Walnut. I keep ours pretty well sealed with mineral oil or cooking oil. No
one has died yet.

rkruz wrote:
Ive read that Red Oak is not recommend for cutting boards due to its
open grain and holding food that grows bacteria.

You obviously don't believe what you read
________________

If one was to make a butcher block cutting board, using the end grain
of Red Oak do you think that would be ok?

Sure, it will be fine as long as you don't mind meat juice soaking in
and turning putrid.
_________________

Seems to me the end grain is very tight and hard and might work ok.

Try varnishing it and see how tight it is.
____________________

I have a lot of scrap that would be nice to use for making some xmas
gifts.

Any thoughts?

Use another wood.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

If you really want to use red oak, make sure you saturate it with LBO. That
ought to take care of it.

LBO is toxic? Since when?

toller wrote:

If you really want to use red oak, make sure you saturate it with LBO. That
ought to take care of it.

LBO is toxic? Since when?


LBO?

Dave

"David" wrote in message =
...
| toller wrote:
|=20
| If you really want to use red oak, make sure you saturate it with =
LBO. That=20
| ought to take care of it.
| =20
| LBO is toxic? Since when?=20
| =20
| =20
| LBO?
|=20
| Dave

Liquor Board of Ontario???

Pretty sure his fingers got the letters mixed -- BLO.


--=20
PDQ

In article .com, "rkruz" wrote:
Ive read that Red Oak is not recommend for cutting boards due to its
open grain and holding food that grows bacteria.

You read correctly. Apparently you do not believe that, for some reason?

If one was to make a butcher block cutting board, using the end grain
of Red Oak do you think that would be ok?

NO. End grain is the _worst_possible_ surface of red oak to expose to liquids.
It's like a soda straw - *very* porous. Much more so on the end grain than on
face or edge grain.

Seems to me the end grain is very tight and hard and might work ok.

Not on red oak, it's not. Put some varnish on, and you'll see just how tight
it isn't. OTOH, if the piece you have *is* tight... it's not red oak.

I have a lot of scrap that would be nice to use for making some xmas
gifts.

Any thoughts?

Bread boards, trivets... but nothing that will come in contact with liquid.

Not only do the open pores in red oak provide wonderful breeding grounds for
bacteria... there's another reason for not using red oak on a cutting board.
Spit on it. Then smell it. Break a clean piece off, and chew it up. Do you
*really* want that odor, that flavor, in your food?

Note that if the odor and/or flavor are pleasant, then what you have is *not*
red oak. Moist *white* oak smells like vanilla and fresh toast. Moist *red*
oak smells like cat urine.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"PDQ" wrote in message
.. .

"David" wrote in message
...
| toller wrote:
|
| If you really want to use red oak, make sure you saturate it with LBO.
That
| ought to take care of it.
|
| LBO is toxic? Since when?
|
|
| LBO?
|
| Dave

Liquor Board of Ontario???

Pretty sure his fingers got the letters mixed -- BLO.

-Uh yeh, BLO; thanks for not being too sarcastic.

-Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic?
-He is not sure if dogs exist.


--
PDQ

In article .com,
rkruz wrote:

Ive read that Red Oak is not recommend for cutting boards due to its
open grain and holding food that grows bacteria.

If one was to make a butcher block cutting board, using the end grain
of Red Oak do you think that would be ok?

Seems to me the end grain is very tight and hard and might work ok.

I have a lot of scrap that would be nice to use for making some xmas
gifts.

Any thoughts?

thanks!


We have used a maple board in our kitchen for 10+ years.
Still good. Nobody got sick (used common sense with meat).

When/if we replace it, I think that I would use
maple again.

Don't try to improve the cutting board - ain't worth it.

Lou

"rkruz" wrote

Ive read that Red Oak is not recommend for cutting boards due to its
open grain and holding food that grows bacteria.

If one was to make a butcher block cutting board, using the end grain
of Red Oak do you think that would be ok?

While open-grained red oak is not really a suitable material for a cutting
board, some references to qualified information about wood and bacteria can
be found on my web site - Hints & Tips - Cutting Board Hygiene.

Jeff G

--
Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK
email : Username is amgron
ISP is clara.co.uk
www.amgron.clara.net

In article .com,
rkruz wrote:
Ive read that Red Oak is not recommend for cutting boards due to its
open grain and holding food that grows bacteria.

If one was to make a butcher block cutting board, using the end grain
of Red Oak do you think that would be ok?

Seems to me the end grain is very tight and hard and might work ok.

I have a lot of scrap that would be nice to use for making some xmas
gifts.

Any thoughts?

thanks!


The end grain of red oak is like a bunch of little tubes or soda
straws bundled together. In fact, yu can take s stick of
straight-grained red oak, put one end in a glass of water, blow
throught the other end, and actually have bubbles come out under the
water. Not a good choice for a cutting board.


--

Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland

PDQ wrote:
"David" wrote in message news:SJqdnQFiP6MjbXrfRVn-r=
...
| toller wrote:
|=20
| If you really want to use red oak, make sure you saturate it with L=
BO. That=20
| ought to take care of it.
| =20
| LBO is toxic? Since when?=20
| =20
| =20
| LBO?
|=20
| Dave
=20
Liquor Board of Ontario???
*****************************
=20
Pretty sure his fingers got the letters mixed -- BLO.
=20
=20


I think you mean the Elsie Bow.


--=20
Will R.
Jewel Boxes and Wood Art
http://woodwork.pmccl.com
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those=20
who have not got it.=94 George Bernard Shaw