: I know this isnt about kayaking but there seem to be some pretty
: knowledgeable people concerning wood here, so, what is the best finish for
: a cutting board of red oak, walnut and ash? Thanks for playing along.
: Elliott

Elliott

As for the finish, either prepared oil or the vegetable oil are the best. We always used the vegetable oil as it's about 1/100th of the price of the store bought stuff. And it's about the same.

As for the wood, there is a very critical reason why you should stick to the non-porous materials such as Birch or Maple. It has nothing to do with what's in the wood, but that would be a concern as well. The reason you don't use porous woods is that food stuffs, oil, blood, sauses and even in the instance you mentioned, not mentioning, You get foreign material into the pours and it rots, or gets rancid and next time you use the board, you are poisoning yourself. Not always seriously, but could be. There are reasons for everything folks do what they have done for years, and that's a major one for Butcher blocks / cutting boards. I would stay with the rule of thumb on this one. Birch is the cheapest way to go, and probably cheaper than the Oak and ash ( both very pourous ) and walnut ( very acidic ).

Hemlock is Pretty too!

Rehd