This is a wonderful utility wood cutting board.When shopping for a cutting board, there are several factors you want to consider: Material, Size, Shape, Upkeep.
Material:
There are several to choose from, but Wood is the best if you care about your knives and your chopping arm. Wood is the easiest on your knives because the blade will sink into the wood instead of dulling on it (as if you were on granite/glass). It absorbs the shock of the impact, unlike granite/glass, which can be quite jarring to cut on. Wood also has natural antibacterial properties. There was rumors going on for awhile about the dangers of wood harboring bacteria, but after extensive research, they found out the wood actually seems to kill bacteria naturally. Scientists were not able to recover bacteria on a wood board after an hour, yet they could recover bacteria from plastic after days... There's extensive material on this, so I'll let you research more of it on your own as I continue the review of this board.
The advantages that a plastic cutting board has over a wood board (it's easy to clean, dishwasher safe, light, easy to store) goes downhill over time whereas the advantages of a wood board deteriorates very little over time. The biggest reason for this is that a plastic cutting board is only "cleaner" than a wood board when it's brand new. As soon as it gets knife scored, those little crevices harbors bacteria. People say that can be taken care of by scrubbing with soap but think about it, you can't FULLY clean your teeth by just brushing! Why? Because brushing does not get into the crevices between your teeth, that's why it's crucial to floss. Now think about how much smaller a knife cut in plastic is than the crevices between your teeth. Microscopically smaller, yet large enough for lots of microscopic bacteria to live in. Then some people say to soak the plastic board in bleach water. This doesn't work either because of the vacuum effect and water's surface tension. You'd need to be able to force the bleach water INTO each knife score to rinse out the bacteria in there. Water will not force it's way into a vacuum like that on it's own (what you're doing when you simply dunk it into a container of bleach water). Bottom line when it comes to plastic vs wood wood has natural anti-bacteria properties that does not diminish over time, and a knife scored plastic board does not. Even all studies and people recommending plastic over wood tell you to toss the plastic board when it becomes badly scored.
Size & Shape:
I think that this 18 x 12 x 1.5 size is the smallest board you can consider if you prep meals for 2 people. I like having a board that is large enough to chop on, and then move items over to little piles off to the side while I chop something else. The rectangle shape allows me to do this better than a square or circle. An oval shape might work, but it would be harder to store since you can't stand it on it's side. There are larger and smaller of these John Boos boards so there's plenty of choices. I would say this size is the smallest to consider for a main prep board. I prefer the 20 x 15 x 1.5" as my main board as that board is just about the topmost limit that my kitchen countertop can handle, along with my sink to wash the board in). This board is also 9lbs, which makes it manageable. A smaller board would not be sufficient for my chopping needs. Consider making a simple meal with onions, garlic, parsley. That's 3 piles, while leaving room to chop some more that's what this sized/shaped board can do well. These boards also comes in 2 thicknesses: 1.5" and 2.25" thick. I think if you buy a wood board you want it at least an inch thick. Thinner boards warp/break easier. You need it to be hefty. The 1.5" thick of this board is perfect. The 2.25" thick one is good for heavy chopping as in bones, and is more in line of a "butcher block".
Upkeep:
Glass/Granite can break/chip, but otherwise can last forever. It's easy to clean, can be very pretty, and is dishwasher safe. It's just jarring to cut on and will dull your blades.
Plastic is superior on everything easy. Dishwasher safe. Light, easy to store, cheap, comes in different colors...but be prepared to replace it as soon as it's badly knife scored.
Wood. Of all the materials, wood needs the most to upkeep. You can buy John Boos Mystery Oil which is a mixture of Mineral Oil, Linseed Oil And Tung Oil. You can't just use any oil because it needs to be safe to eat in case of any oil transfer, and you don't want an oil that can go rancid. You just oil the wood every 4-6 weeks . Wood is not dishwasher safe. You want to avoid ever soaking wood in water, although a quick scrub and rinse through the sink, along with a quick and thorough drying with a towel will do the trick just fine. Yes, it's more work than the others, but it's not THAT much work, and I think it's defnitely worth it.
One more note about wood boards. Maple is the best material becaues of it's small pore size ratio to hardness of wood. You might think that oak is very hard wood, but it has bigger pores, so stick with Maple.
John Boos Cutting Board Conclusion:
I think this is a perfect cutting board. The material, size, shape, weight, is all right. John Boo has also been doing this since 1887, so it's a good American company that's been around long enough to know a little something about wood. The customer service is great as well. My only complaint is that it's not very pretty. It's quite plain looking. The wood boards are a gorgeous addition to my kitchen, warming it up and giving it a very earthy and real feel but being a girl, the cherry on top would have been if it were just "prettier".
One last thing, this board is reversible. I don't like when they put little feet on one side of the board that prevents you from using both sides. This extends the use and life of the board and I think it's a shame to take that away. You can always just place a removeable, nonslip surface under your wood board to keep it in place like silicone pad or a sheet of that non-slip drawer liner stuff.
You must invest in this board.
Buy John Boos 18-by-12-Inch Reversible Maple Cutting Board Now
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