white oak cutting boards

[nick winfield]

Whats the school of thought on using white oak for cutting boards

 

[custard]

Sycamore, Beech or Maple are the more common cutting board timbers. There's a thought that their tight grain makes them more hygienic, but I've used Oak cutting boards for years without any stomach upsets!

Seriously, if you like the look of English Oak (and who doesn't) then go right ahead and use it, you'll be fine.

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Oak seems to be fine to use, just make sure that it's maintained appropriately (i.e. oiled)

Where do people stand on using Yew for cutting boards?

 

[nick winfield]

making cutting boards is new to me that's why iv asked this question ,what colour is yew

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yew would be unwise, being poisonous, but realistically probably wouldn't cause any harm. On your own head be it. As far as oak is concerned I'd be happy with a bread board but I wouldn't use it for chopping food - it's very open grained, ring porous and it would stain with anything acid cut on it, especially with carbon steel knives.

 

[Ttrees]

Oak seems to be fine to use, just make sure that it's maintained appropriately (i.e. oiled)

Where do people stand on using Yew for cutting boards?

I've just been reading up on the wood database ...
Theirs an excerpt from it

Wood Allergies and Toxicity

...ic Meier “Not to omit any one of them, the yew is similar to these other trees in general appearance . . . It is an ascertained fact that travellers’ vessels, made in Gaul of this wood, for the purpose of holding wine, have caused the death of those who used them.” –Pliny the Elder, from Naturalis Historia, ca. 77 AD Looking at the above quotation, (taken from a writing nearly two thousand years old), ought to bring—at the very...

 

[Froggy]

Yew would be unwise, being poisonous, but realistically probably wouldn't cause any harm. On your own head be it. As far as oak is concerned I'd be happy with a bread board but I wouldn't use it for chopping food - it's very open grained, ring porous and it would stain with anything acid cut on it, especially with carbon steel knives.

Phil I thought only the leaves of the Yew were poisonous?

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Have a look at other writings from Pliny, you might find that he is a little unreliable as a source of information!

Mike.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yew would be unwise, being poisonous, but realistically probably wouldn't cause any harm. On your own head be it. As far as oak is concerned I'd be happy with a bread board but I wouldn't use it for chopping food - it's very open grained, ring porous and it would stain with anything acid cut on it, especially with carbon steel knives.

Phil I thought only the leaves of the Yew were poisonous?

The only part of yew that is not poisonous - it's edible - is the aril, the red part around the seed.

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Places that I've looked into the subject all refer to yew's toxicity if eaten, however using a chopping board is hardly eating the wood. From what I understand the harmful chemicals from the taxines are far more soluble in acid solutions, so a container made of yew, for example a wine goblet, is going to be more likely to extract a significant concentration (due to both pH and standing time) than a chopping board... so I've seen nothing concrete to argue against using yew as a chopping board... but maybe avoid chopping acidic foods such as lemons?

I was just curious whether anyone had some concrete facts about it as there are plenty of yew chopping boards offered for sale online and I have some nice yew which would make some attractive chopping boards

 

[CHJ]

...
Phil I thought only the leaves of the Yew were poisonous?

The only part of a Yew that is not poisonous is the Red Berry, the seed within is.

Here's one reference

Turning and sanding Yew can cause severe reactions if precautions are not taken.

 

[ED65]

Whats the school of thought on using white oak for cutting boards

Are you making the boards for yourself or to sell Nick? If for yourself and you're not fussy about the look of the thing then you could do your knife edges a favour by using something softer.

Harder hardwoods and bamboo are hard on edges unless your knives are particularly good quality. Ignore if you use serrated knives! :lol:

 

[ED65]

just make sure that it's maintained appropriately (i.e. oiled)

No need to oil a standard cutting board. Chopping blocks can benefit from it (although the jury is still out on whether it's needed), but boards don't need anything other than regular cleaning.

Turning and sanding Yew can cause severe reactions if precautions are not taken.

But to be fair, cutting on a board doesn't raise much dust IME.

 

[kevinlightfoot]

I heard that yew trees were regularly planted in church yards to deter farmers from letting cattle or any livestock from wandering near the graves when churches did not build walls around their land.The yews were planted because the leaves were poisonous and if eaten would cause the death of valuable cattle therefore the farmers were sure to keep them away.How poisonous the timber is especially if kiln dried I am not too sure but I think I would sooner not take the risk of using it for kitchen utensils.Now I think back I once knew a turner who made baby rattles for sale at craft fairs out of yew branches and I never heard of any babies coming to any harm.

 

[Ttrees]

I must add to the mix that I've been using a red meranti spoon daily, since last June with no negative results...
I use for same greasy mince and veg every day and barely clean it ...

On the other hand, I took a piccy yesterday of a can of oil, and lifted my dusty leather tool roll and got the burning on my face again ...washed my hands after doing so BTW
I'm not sure exactly whats getting me ....It's more than likely it could be the gust from me opening the door ...no activity in there, other that this in a while .
You lot must be getting sick of me by now :lol:

Wondering if my iroko will be possible to work with after having the full suit and respirator on ...
It's a choice of either Iroko, red Meranti or what t'internets says is Afrormosia in there ..
Hoping the latter doesn't give me reactions like the other two ...
from reading looks like it will
Will not hijack this thread and report back on my own when my China post comes .

 

[woodbrains]

I heard that yew trees were regularly planted in church yards to deter farmers from letting cattle or any livestock from wandering near the graves when churches did not build walls around their land.The yews were planted because the leaves were poisonous and if eaten would cause the death of valuable cattle therefore the farmers were sure to keep them away.How poisonous the timber is especially if kiln dried I am not too sure but I think I would sooner not take the risk of using it for kitchen utensils.Now I think back I once knew a turner who made baby rattles for sale at craft fairs out of yew branches and I never heard of any babies coming to any harm.

Hello,

This is just as spurios a myth as Pliny. Churches ( the buildings at any rate) were built around existing yew trees. The yews were places of worship before the churches were built, and if followed that when technology permitted the buildings were erected on the already consecrated ground. Yew trees were erroneously aged from the date of the church, thinking they were planted contemporaneously with the construction, but this was debunked when carbon dating aged the trees as much much more ancient. It is likely that yews could be the longest lived organisms in the world, examples perhaps more than 10 000 years old.

I still wouldn't use yew as cutting boards, though.

Mike.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The yew thing in churchyards is more likely to go back to pagan times, as in many cases the trees are (much) older than the church. The churches are actually believed to have been built where the yews already grew. Often, apparently, they are not only close to the church but close to a particular doorway (I forget which).

 

[Ttrees]

I thought it was the Irish yew... taxus bacatta fastigiata that was in these churchyards ...
and that it was a evolutionary species first scientifically found in Florencecourt ...
Maybe it was done away with because it was deemed pagan ???
I know nothing more than what this video says ..
Guessing there's truth in both tales though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWi6x8bU1Oc

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Irish yew isn't very old. All Irish yews are clones of a tree found in Ireland and were cultivated originally by vegetative propagation purposely because they were/are upright. Iirc it was only two or three hundred years ago.

Sorry, I just wrote that without seeing your link. I'll watch it tomorrow. The English churchyard yews aren't Irish ones, though.