What’s the deal with OAK cutting boards?

Before I started making cutting boards a friend gave me a white oak side grain board. We’ve been using it for 6 years. During that time I treated it once with mineral oil. Yeah, we pretty much abused the cutting board. It looks a bit dry but nothing has happened to it. Either myself or my wife cut on it almost everyday and it gets washed and wiped dry. I’m here to say white oak is a great wood for cutting boards. I agree, never use red oak.

Wow thanks! Quick and straight to the point!

Great information!

Very good info and to the point. I very much appreciate concise point focused videos not two minute videos that are 20 minutes IMO.

Nice video and I really like your experiments. For the reasons you show I've always steered clear of red oak as a cutting board. I have used it for a bread board which doesn't involve much liquid or moisture. But even as a bread board, I've noticed that the red oak grain tears quite a bit so then I might worry about small splinters. I normally stick to maple or cherry for the cutting boards I've made and they hold up pretty well. Thanks for sharing and just subscribed.

This is a great video. Very informative!

Thanks, very helpful

Thanks ,very informative. Greetings from Maine.

Good video. I think that more research is needed as I have been using oak for chopping boards for years and have never had any issues. White oak has been used for butcher blocks for over 200 years and some of those butcher blocks are still around. My biggest questions are 1. Why not use danish oil that creates a water resistant seal and closes up end grain with the imbedded resin? And 2. Chopping boards are not supposed to left to soak in water. Every board that I have ever made or physically seen says wipe down after use. Leaving your board in water for 12 hours is just asking for trouble. But great video, I did find it very useful. P.s use Iroko, no need to oil it every and will never rot, the grain is tight and it's easy to work.

I would enjoy a video comparing the difference between Maple, Walnut etc. Nice video.

Did you make the second video yet? I would like to see how walnut, maple and cherry compare

Fantastic video, I enjoyed this the whole way through! Keep putting stuff like this out, hence a subscription and a new fan on your channel - wish I could make this. How do you have so little subscribers, the algorithm will treat you right ASAP! Greetings from Denmark my friend! 😀

I would like to see what white oak looks like compared to maple, cherry, and walnut. If the others are significantly more resistant to absorption, then I would want to use them. In terms of hardness and workability, all four are similar.

Good Video, thanks, Video Idea. If anyone has time and access to the tools it would be interesting to use a closed grain cutting board and red oak. Wash both the same amount of time and take a bacterial sample. Too bad mythbusters is no longer on tv.

Waiting on the newest video!!!!

Oh GREAT! All I did was ask my kitchen contractor to make a nice cutting board on an extra cabinet I didn't expect we'd have. So if I'm right, he made it in Oak! Now what can I do? I'm not sure what type of Oak this is! It's actually the countertop for this cabinet so removing it is not a great option. Any suggestions? We haven't treated it or used it yet. ANY HELP?

I was told that oak is a bad cuttingboard material because the tannins. I finished with foodsafe hard oil and beeswax and i have no problem… In the other hand tannin is antibacterial…

I saw a documentary on the oak that was used on the USS Constitution. A type of oak called “live oak.” Which was so dense and heavy that cannon balls would bounce off of her sides which gave her the nickname “Old Ironsides.” Have you tried this type of oak? I know it is heavier. I’m only curious.

Why not try the same experiment with beeswax