[wyandotte]

My heavy, old, not-laminated cutting board turns to bits of fine sawdust when I use the knives I like best: the ultra sharp serrated kind. Can anyone recommend a board that won't do that. Good quality plastic is okay tho I kind of like wood. Or whatever you think. Thanks. PS. I'm not changing knives.

 

[sgsvirgil]

If you use high end knives, then, plastic and non-wood boards should be your last choice. If you want a good board that will hold up, I would go with bamboo. Its durable. Can take a lot of abuse and is easy to clean, not to mention they tend to be a little cheaper than traditional hardwood boards such as oak.

Good Luck.

 

[wyandotte]

@sgsvirgil. Many thanks for your advice and recommendations. There are cheap bamboo boards at the supermarket; would they be just as good as the pricier ones? I have no idea about these things. Am waiting for your further advice!

 

[brianshaw]

Some say that bamboo inherently holds dirt in its fiber... which could contribute to knife dulling. I use poly boards as well as maple wood boards. The poly boards are inexpensive, readily available, easily cleaned/sanitized, and don’t seem too rough on edges... including hard steel.

 

[sgsvirgil]

@sgsvirgil. Many thanks for your advice and recommendations. There are cheap bamboo boards at the supermarket; would they be just as good as the pricier ones? I have no idea about these things. Am waiting for your further advice!

In general, wood is going to be easier on your expensive knives than boards made from other material. There are pros and cons to every board regardless of material.

As for the bamboo boards at the grocery store, if you are just looking for a board to beat on with every day use, a bamboo board from the grocery store should work just fine.

There are several web based sellers that offer a variety of boards made from a variety of materials where you can look over and compare prices. Simply google "cutting boards" and you will get a variety of hits.

Good luck.

 

[wyandotte]

@sgsvirgil. Many thanks. I'm using my teeny tiny backup plastic board because the wooden one is not useful anymore and when winter comes will be thrown into the woodburning stove.

 

[rick alan]

Oh for goodness sakes!!!!!! You don't use serrated knives on wood, period! You might as well be using a saw.

Cheap hard poly board, that is all. The black ones with the pebble surface will likely show up the inevitable scratched less.

If you want a wood-ish look, bamboo might be hard enough, if you don't saw excessively hard. It's not that bamboo collects dirt, but that it is full of silica and much glue which is also abrasive because of the filler used in the glue.

You really don't need to give a serrated knife all that much protection, a granite counter actually won't do all that much harm to it, if you have the pointy-tooth type of scallop as opposed to the smooth-wave kind. Here I don't have any idea what you mean by the "ultra-sharp" kind.

 

[kronin323]

Yeah when I read "the ultra sharp serrated kind" I think of the old Ginsu infomercials with the knives that could “cut through a nail, a tin can, and a radiator hose, and still cut a tomato paper thin!"

If that's what we're talking about here, sawing through stuff with those is going to mark up whatever you use. Might as well try the suggested bamboo if you want a wood board.

 

[wyandotte]

Oh for goodness sakes!!!!!! You don't use serrated knives on wood, period! You might as well be using a saw.

LOL. But what do you REALLY think of stupid people, rick alan?

Someone here, Brian Shaw, said I should look for poly board. So I thought of buying a Vettore Large Non Slip Poly Cutting Board. I found this on Amazon.

 

[rick alan]

Ahaha, it's not you, that's just the kind of thing inexperienced people do. Heck, there was a time I would cut on a ceramic plate with a straight-edged knife. I didn't sharpen the knives, or even think about that, that was the knife sharpeners job (my father), and amazingly he never complained about it. I was just surprised no one had yet nixed the wood and serrated knife combo.

 

[rick alan]

Yeah when I read "the ultra sharp serrated kind" I think of the old Ginsu infomercials with the knives that could "cut through a nail, a tin can, and a radiator hose, and still cut a tomato paper thin!"

If that's what we're talking about here, sawing through stuff with those is going to mark up whatever you use. Might as well try the suggested bamboo if you want a wood board.

Yeh, I did actually think that would be the best guess, pointy tooth, cause only a serious knife type would spend the dough on the wavy edge kind.

 

[foodpump]

Hi Wyandotte,

Actually Rickallen wasn’t that far off when he commented that serrated knives act like a saw. They ( serrated knives) pretty much ARE saws, each individual tooth and corresponding gullet ARE saw teeth, and cutting a loaf of bread is a whole lot different than dicing an onion or slicing meat.

If the serrated knife is used only for bread, use a cheap solid wood board and reserve it only for bread. Don’t worry too much about sanitizing that board—as long as you keep it dry and only cut bread on it, it will be fine. Replace the board only when it becomes hollowed out, the pointy teeth WILL carve gouges, so it is to be expected.

If you want to use a serrated knife for food other than bread, get a knife with rounded teeth. Victorinox makes a good one, as I am sure others do as well. The rounded teeth are much gentler on your boards than the pointed teeth.

Hope this makes sense

 

[wyandotte]

@foodpump. Many thanks for your helpful comments. Maybe I was not correct in describing my favorite knife as "serrated", because it is not serrated like the kind you use for bread (I have a couple of those also). It is beveled on one side. It is scary sharp and I just love it.

Maybe I don't understand how to describe it (my best knife); it looks like this: