Cutting Boards

[Douglas]

My brother's GF gave me one of those last Christmas. I do not know the maker, but I know she paid a fair amount of splash for it and she was very excited to give it to me. She and my brother are frequent dinner guests, and I keep having to come up with cover story as to why I am not using it, but the thing has a good 3/8" of warp it it. It is unuseable.

I am considering putting some adjustable rubber feed on it that would let me at least get it flat, but then of course it would be even taller and probably throw my back out of joint. I have also considered sanding it down but I have no idea if sanding would be bad for it or if there are special treatments that would then be required, or if it would only be in vain as it continued to warp. In any event, no matter what I do, I'll probably only be able to use it as a cheese board.

 

[RPMcMurphy]

Take it somewhere to get it planed , they can probably fix it right quick.

Clean, and oil use repeat.
-R

 

[foodguy]

i think i got that exact same one ... not sure where i ordered it. it's not hard to handle at all. could be because --unlike a restaurant situation -- i rarely spend extended periods hunched over a cutting board doing repetitive tasks. More likely to do 5 minutes, move for a while, come back and do 5 minutes more. never noticed any difficulty, though.

 

[N. McKay]

Originally Posted by Douglas

Epicurean cutting boards - these look pretty much like pressboard or something, but appear to be fairly functional. I'd seen them at Williams-Sonoma a few times and then the other day I noted that the sushi place where I pop in for lunch occasionally seemed to have a very similar surface on their sushi bar. Anyone have experience with these?

I have a few and I like them. The oldest must be a couple of years old at least and shows no sign of warping or other deterioration. I put them in the dishwasher with no ill effects.

 

[Infrasonic]

Well I have had the same white plastic board for the last 18 years.
If I do any meat, fish etc. it goes straight in a sink with boiling water and bleach. Never had any problems.

 

[BP348]

Originally Posted by Infrasonic

Well I have had the same white plastic board for the last 18 years.
If I do any meat, fish etc. it goes straight in a sink with boiling water and bleach. Never had any problems.

+1 except the 18 years part but I have had the same white board for at least 5 - 10 years.

The thing I like about it is that it's the perfect size to fit in a cookie sheet. I hate it when I'm cutting something and the liquid is falling off the side onto the counter. With the cookie sheet all I have to do is pick up the whole thing and put it in the sink. Makes clean up a lot easier.

 

[TheButler]

Originally Posted by iammatt

^That might be fine, if you are about 6'3". If not, it is an ergonomic nightmare.
Yeah, I would have to agree there. I'm also 6 feet and would not want something 4 inches above the countertop. We have an L-shaped counter on one side of the kitchen, the bottom part of the L sticking out about 30 inches. We were having the old countertop replaced with granite so I asked them to just run the granite the length of the counter, no jog at the bottom of the L. On that segment I removed the upper drawers and cut the cabinets off flush below them.

Then had a 5 or 6 inch thick maple end-grain cutting board made to size by a local company, I think it was about 500 bucks. It went right on top of the shortened cabinet like a regular countertop but because the cabinets are cut down it gives me a built-in cutting board at a good height, a few inches lower than the counter. I'd have made it an 8-inch thick board to raise it a wee bit higher but my wife is not tall so its a good compromise.

 

[tropics]

time to upgrade my block from current bamboo POS. it's around 16" * 12" which i find very convenient. any recommendations?

 

[gomestar]

my letter-sized plastic board is still my workhorse, especially for "weekday dinners". Got that damn thing as a gift in college. Cut whatever I need to, and into the dishwasher it goes. If it broke, I'd just buy another one.


I also have a rubber board, much bigger in size and about 3/4" thick. I use this for prepping bigger and fancier dinners, although it's not exactly a looker. Sharp knives tend to stick into it a little, which could annoy some. If it gets dirty or stained, some sandpaper will fix it up.




take your knives to a good sharpener, the bamboo board probably killed them.