# Food safe woods



## rickf16 (Aug 5, 2008)

I know that cherry, walnut, maple and oak are good for making cutting boards. But what about Paduck (spellcheck). I am in the process of making an end grain cutting board with paduck in it. My local wood supply shop said it would be okay, but I would like a second opinion. This is a paying job and I like to NOT kill the client! If the answer is a no then I have some designer firewood for sale! CHEAP. If the answer is yes then I will post photos.

Rick


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## teenagewoodworker (Jan 31, 2008)

what you are looking for is a closed grain, non porous wood. also you don't want oily woods, most other woods will be fine. oak and walnut are alright but they are porous. like if you look at oaks end grain it is very porous so stuff could get in there. just something to think about.


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## marcb (May 5, 2008)

Oak is not good or safe only closed grain woods. No big pores. Ash and hickory are also bad


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## jdashburn (Sep 13, 2008)

While Red Oak heartwood is porus, White Oak heartwood is not. Also, you can seal the pores on any of the above woods to eliminate concerns regarding bacterial transmission. The only concern you might have regarding normally available woods is with alergic reactions (rosewood family comes to mind). Just do a Google search on "wood toxicity" and you will find some university sites and woodworking sites with great info. Some woods are directly toxic like Oleander and Yew so avoid them.


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## marcb (May 5, 2008)

Sealing the pores is a temporary solution. The knives are going to cut through anything you put on the board.

This is why mineral oil is used with wooden cutting boards. It is easy to reapply as the board gets used to ensure there are no open areas for bacteria to fester.


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

You might want to consider cutting the wood so that the surface of the board is end grain. The cutting action of the knives will separate end grain, not cut it.


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## rickf16 (Aug 5, 2008)

Jdashburn, thanks for the idea for the google search. Found out that padauk is food safe and presents no problems of toxicity. It will change color over time and may bleed, but I can live with that. And thanks to everyone else for their help.

Rick


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