# Size of Cutting boards That are Most Popular



## Dal300

I was just wondering what all you that sell cutting boards find to be the best sellers in size, shape and thickness.

I've sold quite a few 1 1/2 - 2" boards of end grain. mostly the ones that sell for me are 14X16" some 16X18" and a few over that size.

Thinner boards seem to sell best as squares, 12X12, 14X14, etc.
They also seem to sell best as edge grain boards instead of end grain.

Favorite woods are domestics, Maple, Walnut, Cherry, Hickory, etc. With semi-exotic accents like bread board ends of White Oak or BoDark.

I seldom have people want to buy the odd exotics like blood wood or Purple Heart or Sapele or others. I have a feeling it adds too much to the cost, sometimes $30-$50 in a $200 board.

What sells best for you? Edge grain? End grain? other?

Another interesting occurrence, if you are a baby boomer or older, you may remember the cutting boards that pulled out of the base cabinets in old houses. It was placed just above the top drawer. 
I have been asked about making a number of those with a breadboard end and a wooden drawer slide on the bottom.
Has anyone run into these before?


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## joeyinsouthaustin

We offer a cutting board drawer in a number of configurations as an option in our cabinet line. A popular option. There is a couple of companies that sell glides for updating or refurbishing the space those boards slide into.


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## TopamaxSurvivor

My folks had a couple of them. One on each side of the sink as I recall.


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## Handtooler

Do any of your customers desire a blood groove routed into the border? If so, what distance in from the edge do you route and how deep? Round bottomed I suppose?


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## Dal300

Handtooler,

I get requests for a blood groove quite often on the thinner boards, almost never on the thicker boards.

On boards under 14" square I put the groove in about 3/4" from the edge and about 3/8" deep. I'm not a fan of blood grooves, (I also do a lot of cooking), because it introduces a chance of a blowout with the router and once those grooves get full the juice has nowhere else to go other than over the side or back onto the board.

I try to explain to the customer that if there is enough blood in the meat to fill the groove it wasn't bled enough before selling. If they are doing veggies, let it run off anyway.

I should mention that it seems to me that people that want the thinner boards want it to look cool, but don't care if it's all that functional. I even had one lady that wanted to give me some old CDX plywood to make a board for her. It had been used as a cement form board and she wanted a cutting board made 2"X20"X24". I ended up refusing the sale because she couldn't understand why it wouldn't work.


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## Handtooler

Dallas, Many Thanks for your reply!


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## NormG

My mother had 2 also, one was right at the sink and used for meats and veggies and the other was at the end of the cabinets and used for bread (my dad cooked almost all of our bread and other such items


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## TopamaxSurvivor

*old CDX plywood to make a board for her. It had been used as a cement form board and she wanted a cutting board made*

Embedded concrete grit too hard on your tools, eh?


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## rtriplett

I do all sizes of boards. Some like the inexpensive 6" x 9," some like 9" x 12", OR 11" X 18". I also make 14" x 20" or bigger. Most of these are flat or edge grain. Some people love Purpleheart and Maple strips. Others like wide strips of Cherry or maple with strips of Walnut, etc. sometimes a solid piece of wood with small side strips. I just make what I like and usually it sells. Most are in the 'too pretty to cut on' category. 
As a side note, I was recently talking to a lady about refurbishing her older cutting board. After talking a while I discovered it was Bamboo!! I wasn't too encouraging about it then. Is that even possible?


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## Dal300

Bamboo cutting boards aren't solid wood but bamboo that's been cut into strips and pressed together with glue.

I tried running one through the planer once and it came out all fuzzy on that side. It took another hour of sanding to get all those little fibers off.


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## joeyinsouthaustin

bamboo is tough, but don't doubt it for cutting surfaces.. Just remember this. It is a grass, and it does silicate. like all grass it sucks up silica into it's structure and that is on whole difficult. As far as I have seen NO cutting board is a solid wood  .. Bamboo works great because of it's durability and it's natural resistance to bacteria. You have to work with it like Ipe. It is extremely hard…. but oppositely porous. End grain applications will suck every thing up, but give 1/4 sawn applications of all woods a run for the money. In the slab (yes this must be steam, flattened, glued, and re sawn,(at it's best it can gain a trunk of 4-6") It is VERY stable.

Shortly I love the stuff, But don't think of it as wood, it is HAY (grass, for all out of the farm)


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## mbs

My wife has a bamboo cutting board and we like it. I've never worked with the wood though.


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## Dusty56

I make most of my boards to use up scrap , with no final dimensions in mind. 
On the other hand , I do make "custom" (think pricey) boards for customers to whatever spec's they want.
Juice grooves are up charged , as are feet and / or handles , hanging holes , specific (exotic) woods , breadboard ends , profiles , whatever takes more of my time. 
People pay for custom , one of a kind items , and are thrilled to have them : ) Just my experience.


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## Dusty56

Oh yeah , my parents' kitchen had a pull out cutting board with breadboard ends , and it was reversible , or "flipoverable" , depending on how you see it : ) 
I believe it just slid on plywood runners (on edge) , both above and below the CB to prevent tipping.


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