Cutting Board Wood vs Plastic.

wade7575

wade7575

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Apr 3, 2013
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I was wondering what is better wood or plastic for a cutting to keep your edge sharper longer,I was told that the white plastic ones dull a knife faster.
 
The best regarding your knife edge is end grain cutting board. Plastic is not that bad, but is of course not as good as end grain. Bamboo is worse than plastic, due to the high use of glue. Glass is of course the worst.

I use end grain for vegetables and low juice fruits. For meat and juicy stuff I use plastic. This is great (I have always a couple of these laying around): http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90202268/
Use it for a month and throw it and buy a new one. Bacteria is a problem with cutting boards, however end grain heals it self, plastic you can wash in the dishwasher, but after heavy use just throw it away and replace it :)
 
Wood is better when it comes to sanitation. It was thought that plastic cutting boards would be better but it was found that wooden cutting boards are more sanitary since bacteria are hard to remove from the slicing marks made into the plastic boards.
 
Yepp. Thats why you just replace the plastic ones once a month :)
But for less than $2 for each is cheap to replace :) when I go to Ikea i just by 10 of those :)
 
I think plastic could be very sanitary if people would learn to them soak in really hot water and soap for an hour or so where as wood you can't do that.

Bufford said:
Wood is better when it comes to sanitation. It was thought that plastic cutting boards would be better but it was found that wooden cutting boards are more sanitary since bacteria are hard to remove from the slicing marks made into the plastic boards.
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I have some beautiful wooden cutting boards and several plastic. I can't say which would be better for the knives (good point above about gluing up bamboo). However, the plastic is a lot better for me personally, because I have a number of them and just put them in the dishwasher after use.
 
Woods always better and a little more forgiving. The industrial plastic rubber ones we use in kitchens eventually will chip knives when they get old.
 
I can see plastic having an advantage that you can soak it as long as you want in soap and water to kill everything on it where as with wood you can't.
 
You are wrong Wade.
The bacterias will be in the cuts in the plastic. They will survive even a dishwasher. If you have a thick plastic board you can use sandpaper to remove all cuts.
Buy IKEA plastic boards and throw them away after a month or so :)

I love end grain wood, however its easier to use plastic :S Then again, end grain looks like a beauty and plastic looks like sh*t…
 
I have used the same wooden cutting board for several decades and I wipe it off with a diluted bleach rag after dealing with raw chicken, everything else that the boards is used for just gets a water rinse with perhaps the exception of Jalapenos, Bhut Jolokia, or Nag Champas or Habaneros. For peppers I wipe the board with alky swabs I receive for blood sugar checks. I have a plastic cutting board that I tried and stored and continued to use a wooden one.
 
I've used so many kinds of boards over the years (pretty much all of them) and the best I've found are Epicurean cutting boards. Do a search for em.
They are wood/fiber based, can be re-sanded perfectly smooth and are dishwasher safe (they don't warp) They dry quick so bacteria doesn't hang out. No oiling needed and can be used as a hot-plate. If you do a lot of cooking, I can't think of anything better.

Of course, never use anything that is harder than steel (glass, marble, etc.).
Plastics are kind of nasty (bacteria hangs out, don't work for high heat, thin ones warp, they don't re-surface well).
Natural woods are a pain-in-the-ass (not dishwasher safe, warp out, need to hand clean and oil)

As a side note (regarding the sharper-longer statement): standard practice is to straighten or hone the edge either before or after each use. Proper cutting technique will also avoid premature dulling.

Also worth noting: if you do a fair amount of cooking, standard practice in a commercial kitchen is to have (at least) one board for meats and another for everything else.
 
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Wood is superior. For years it was believed that wood was not sanitary...but recent research suggests it is more sanitary than plastic and, for reasons not completely understood, bacteria and other microbial tend to not multiply and actually die at an unusually fast rate on wood. As plastic boards are used, they can get those scar marks that can actually harbor bacteria.

From a knife's edge performance perspective in terms of what is easiest on a blade, wood is best. Maple is really the best of all woods, with cherry and walnut (don't use if you have nut allergies or cook for people with nut allergies) being considered good candidates as well.

And end-grain board will generally last longer than face or edge grain, plus it is much easier on knives. It does require a little more care, but it's a better board. Also, end grain cutting boards do not show scar marks like face or edge grain.

Bamboo is one of the worst materials for cutting boards because the high glue content and harder glue used is harsh on knife blades...and it dulls the living hell out of them compared to something like an end grain maple board. While often presented as the environmentally-friendly option, it's producing more waste than maple, the service life is much shorter because you cannot refinish a bamboo board, and the cost is generally much higher because you will have to replace them so often. One good wooden block from someone like the Boardsmith or Lone Star and it will last a lifetime (avoid Boos, they are very inferior to the other two). I also have a few Michigan Maple end grain boards I am very happy with, and you can often find them for under 50 bucks for larger sizes.
 
True, end-grain Boos blocks are kinda where it's at, but they're kinda pricey Mountain Woods is a little cheaper but same quality. Both wood and plastic are equally vulnerable to cross contamination, but lightly bleach concentrated water will kill just about anything we don't want in our food.
 
B34NS said:
True, end-grain Boos blocks are kinda where it's at, but they're kinda pricey Mountain Woods is a little cheaper but same quality. Both wood and plastic are equally vulnerable to cross contamination, but lightly bleach concentrated water will kill just about anything we don't want in our food.
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My experience with Boos beyond their cutting block oil has been terrible. I don't think they are worth half of the premium they bring in because their longevity just isn't great (some people have had great experiences, but others the polar opposite and so it's not a very consistent product). The Michigan Maple end grain boards I have are generally about 1/2-3/4 the price and dramatically better products...user reviews on places like Amazon highlight many of the Boos nightmare stories. While Michigan Maple is still nowhere near BoardSmith (I don't think anything other than other custom makers are in that quality), they are economic boards for the money and hold up much better than Boos, IMO.
 
Another vote for Epicurean cutting boards. I love them. Non-porous, long-lasting and they hold up fine in the the dishwasher.
 
Precisely why I use camellia oil for my knives and boards. No problems :thumbup:
 
I use a Corian cutting board. It is made of Methyl Methacrylate (Acrylic) plastic. It does not dull my knives as fast as my wooden boards because it contains no silicates. It is very easy to clean with soap and water. I don't have to dry it after rinsing. I just push the excess water off with a food scraper.
 
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