Kitchen Knife Use Question

TripleF100

TripleF100

Joined
Dec 30, 2014
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195
Okay . . . most of us get our knives pretty sharp. But then we have to use them!! So this is my question - what sort of cutting board do you use? I've been using a bamboo board but I swear my knives are getting duller. Thoughts and suggestions!
 
Terrible cutting surfaces to be avoided at all costs:

Glass
Ceramic
Marble or other stone
Hard Plastic

Amazingly many cutting boards are made of all of the above materials... well maybe not ceramic, but all of the others. So don't cut on plates either. :)

Of the more normal types of cutting boards, bamboo gets a bad rap, but I've used it a lot and haven't noticed any particular problem with it. Most traditional cooks will tell you to use a maple cutting board. End grain boards are supposed to be best; I'm not sure if they are easier on knives, or if it's just that end grain boards should retain flatness better because of the geometry of the wood fibers. Probably the later.

At one time I heard good things about those soft rubber type cutting boards, but then I also started hearing that they were super duper expensive for ones that were worth a darn and that the inexpensive ones weren't even as good as wood in terms of longevity.

Brian.
 
I seem to recall seeing an older post here about knives dulling on bamboo cutting boards or other bamboo surfaces. After seeing that thread, I'd tested an edge of mine on a strip of bamboo I had on hand (cutting cross-grain), and it dulled the edge pretty fast. It's very hard, tough stuff.

(...and I use a poly cutting board, with no dulling issues. The board scratches/cuts easily, but better to sacrifice it than the knife's edge. Poly boards are ubiquitous and not very expensive anyway.)


David
 
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I had switched to bamboo cutting boards a few years for Eco-friendly reasons, but lately I've switched back to classic maple boards. Bamboo is up to 20% harder than maple cutting boards and there is not much info on their sanitation. I too noticed that bamboo was tougher on my blades. Stick with maple. You get a great surface to work on, proven sanitation benefits, and they always look great.

Tim
 
I use poly cutting boards and the edges seem to hold up well. I have a bamboo board, but haven't had the nerve to try it!
 
Quoted from: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-workability/

"Also, bamboo is very high in silica—from .5% to 4.0%, found almost entirely in the outermost layers of the stem—so care must be taken when processing lumber. Carbide cutters are strongly recommended, and surface sanding is suggested instead of thickness planing with steel cutters, both for longevity of cutting edges, and quality of the finished surface. Bamboo glues, stains, and finishes well. When turning giant bamboo species, tools dull quickly... "
Click to expand...


David
 
I am using a hinoki wood cutting board (Japanese cypress) which is both soft and lightweight. Bamboo is harder than hard maple. End grain wood boards (maple, walnut) are the best, but are heavy and expensive.
 
I like flexible plastic mats the best. They go in the dishwasher, are cheap to replace when they get scarred up, and I like being able to pick it up and funnel the end to, say, dump all my veggies into a pot of soup at once.
 
Some really good thoughts here. And the America's Test Kitchen video was great. So my bamboo is out the window. Now either a flexible plastic or a regular wood. I like the idea of the flexible plastic as I have a REALLY small kitchen with VERY little counter space!
 
Several snippets about bamboo and silica:

... bamboo is very high in silica—from .5% to 4.0%, found almost entirely in the outermost layers of the stem ...

... Bamboo leaves contain approximately 5% silica, branches 2%, culms 0.4%, and rhizomes 0.5%. Silica is contained in the outer skin layer of culms but not the inner wood...

...In some species the silica content of the wood is so high and the wood so hard that it can be used as a whetstone...

It's unclear to me if the silica in bamboo is only in that very thin outer skin or if it goes slightly deeper than that. The very outside is harder than woodpecker lips.

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I have a teak cutting board. I think I'll retire it after finding this: "...Easy to work in nearly all regards, with the only caveat being that Teak contains a high level of silica (up to 1.4%) which has a pronounced blunting effect on cutting edges." In fact, teak is said to have enough silica to make it less slippery, such as on a wet boat deck. Ouch.
 
TripleF100 said:
Okay . . . most of us get our knives pretty sharp. But then we have to use them!! So this is my question - what sort of cutting board do you use? I've been using a bamboo board but I swear my knives are getting duller. Thoughts and suggestions!
Click to expand...

I use a maple and polypro cutting boards. I noticed a boost in longevity by religiously (as much as practical) making all my cuts at an angle. This keeps the apex from hitting nose on every pass. I imagine the effect would be even more beneficial on harder boards.
 
Yep the silica will dull your edges, but any cutting board dulls edges over time... some just are faster than other...

My preference for balance between sanitation and edge holding is the epicurean cutting boards, (a paper/resin blend, can be run thrugh the dishwasher but behaves like a good wood surface for protecting your edge... and then hard maple end grain. By cutting into the end grain the edge slips between the fibres of the wood rather than dragging over them. Typically bamboo bards have you drag over the fibres... Plain sofr plastic is easy on your fine edges, but require religious cleaning, as bacteria grows very well in the roughened cut surface. Wood tends to kill the bacteria in the fine cuts because of the tannins, and natural drying process present.
 
I find my epicurean boards very hard and hard on edges. My preferred board is an end grain maple board about 2 inches thick. My Japanese chef knife only gets used in that board and only by me. Family can hack up my cheap kitchen knives but no one touches the light sabre. Lol
 
I have read that bamboo cutting boards and the glue they use are hard on knives and I've also read just the opposite (I suspect the latter was written by bamboo cutting board manufacturers). At any rate after some very unscientific testing I've concluded that bamboo cutting boards are terrible for a knifes edge and have stopped using them entirely. I'll stick with maple and poly.
 
I just ran my fingers across two Teak cutting boards and two Maple boards. Woah! Like night and day. Teak is definitely non-skid.

I have a potted plant of "horsetail", also called "scouring rush". Equisetum hymale. Pioneers used it to scour pans. It's used to shape and polish reeds on woodwind instruments. It has a LOT of silicon dioxide and can be used to shape and polish fingernails. Useful weed.

Many hard exotic hardwoods have significant silicon content.
 
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Bamboo is pretty, it a very fiberous and abrasive medium. That fibrous nature wears on the knife edge quickly and dulls knives rather quickly. Find it to be a slow sitting board too, if that makes any sense. It's like the bamboo fibers grab the edge. My favorite is end grain maple. The end grain absorbs the cutting motion it bounces the blade back making it a very fast surface. Plus, being end grain, it doesn't get cut as much. Long grain alignment works, but feels like the blade actually cuts the wood grain and cuts on the board shows. I also use polypropylene boards and those work well too. Plus they're cheap and sanitary for raw meats.
 
only that these thin mats can be cut through, especially when you need to chop bones with force.
 
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