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The RF energy is used not only to heat the glue but to cure it very quickly as well. As a microwave excites the water molecules, the RF energy does as well but may not allow enough time for the glue to penetrate the wood fibers enough for a good bond. This is a common method for curing glue in a factory setting.

"I guess I had a freaking magic board then. now I wish it hadn't been thrownaway." Must have been pure magic, kind of like Frosty the Snowman's magic hat. Of maybe it was pure luck that it didn't fail any sooner than what it did. Of maybe your dishwasher isn't that hot. Who knows. But there is a reason it was thrown away. Maybe you need more of theirs.

I have been making cutting boards now for 7 years as The BoardSMITH and for 8 years before that as a private non-branded maker and can say positively that a wooden cutting board will not last that long being washing in a DW. The heat and humidity will split and warp the wood, the heat will melt most glues and the internal stresses caused by the heat and high moisture will break a glue joint. Even a two-part resorcinal (hope I spelled that correctly) will break when exposed to high heat and humidity. As an illustration, I had a customer who left his under a stream of hot running water from his faucet and his board warped badly. That water was no where near as hot as in a DW. If it lasted for 8 years even with constant dishwashing, then it had to be a composit or a plastic board. Wood will simply not last. Even if it was laminated. As for wood boats, they are coated inside and out with a marine grade epoxy then coated with many coats of spar varnish. Neither the marine grade epoxy or spar varnish are food safe and a boat hull doesn't endure the high heat cycles found in a DW. Bamboo is a grass as another posted noted. It also contains a lot of resins to bind the tiny pieces together and may be hard on good edges. Resin and composite chips/particles don't seemk to be very appetizing.

Mad? Not at all! Seems like everyone makes boards. I just shipped out 35 last week and will send out 45 more by next Thursday. Individual blocks? Don't worry about embedded grit from a belt sander. If any is left behind it will be minuscule at best and not enough to hurt an edge. Those who use teak boards have much more grit/silica to worry about. However, if you are using a cheaper brand of belts, you may have somewhat of a point. A jack plane and scraper take to long so I contract with another shop for time on their 37" wide belt sander. We can get a lot of boards done quickly and each one is dead flat so all I have to do is trim each one to its size, finish sand each one and then dip in the oil tank. David The BoardSMITH

I am able to make that type of board in my shop. For a price quote, you can either call me at the numbers listed on the web site or send an email to boardsmith at triad.rr.com. (Email address written that way to avoid spammers.) The web site is theboardsmith dot com. which lists the phone numbers on the contact page.

I installed engineered wood flooring in the kitchen and den at the same time. BIG MISTAKE! Looks good but shortly after the ice maker line decided to leak which all but destroyed the flooring in the kitchen. Now it needs replacing and I am strongly considering cork tiles. No more wood flooring in any kitchen for me. Oh BTW, if you want to make an applied finish more slip resistant, add pumice to the finish and mix it in well before applying. Works well and doesn't cloud the finish. Polyurethane can be quite slippery as is any of the other applied finishes.

I guess Mr Goud has never heard of NSF! Maybe he needs to render his findings about acceptable wood to Boos and the other large, old and respectable manufacturers. I guess General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, etc... never test their products! How about General Mills, Hershey, Coke, Pepsi, etc...? As for the "Down South" comment,

Walnut is as toxic to humans as any other nut wood; oak, pecan, hickory, etc... The use of sap wood in an end grain board is permissible because it is nearly as hard as the heart wood and provides a high degree of contrast in the finished product. If it wasn't okay to use walnut sap and heart wood, why would large national companies like John Boos take a chance? I'm sure their research department did a very comprehensive study about walnut before using it in the boards they put their name on. Walnut does indeed cause a problem with horses, particularly their hooves. Horse breeders I know will not allow even a speck of walnut dust or shavings in their bedding. I have been told something in the walnut gets into the quick of the hooves and causes a horse to go lame. Most furniture makers, I grew up in a furniture plant here in furniture country so I know what their reasoning's are, hate sap wood so they heavily dye and stain the sap wood and heart wood until it looks nothing like what it started out as. In a lot of cases, the sap wood is unavoidable, unless you can afford to throw large chunks away. To compare furniture use and cutting board use in not apples to apples. Cherry is indeed a terrific wood to use. Somewhat soft as compared to other woods like maple, beautifully shaded when oiled and will naturally darken over time as the color oxidizes. Red oak and white oak are good for furniture and wine barrels because of the straight grain pores and their tannins but the open pores in end grain construction makes either to difficult to seal or clean properly. Hickory and pecan are somewhat interchangeable in their uses and border on to hard for a cutting board. Both are harder than maple and may cause chipping in the better knives. Hard maple is still the best.

For choosing woods, look for something closer in hardness. I use maple and walnut on a few of the boards I make and sell, 1450 and 1010 on the Janka scale. A good light to dark contrast and fairly even for hardness. Walnut tends to be a little more open grained than maple so it is better in this use for a border. For a solid color board, walnut makes a striking looking board all by itself. If you are using the good super sharp Japanese knives, the harder wood is less forgiving to the edges and will dull them quicker and can cause chipping. Even if you are using the less hard European knives, there will still be a greater chance of quicker dulling and chipping. If you are using Cutco, just get a brick to cut on. The board shown in the video has a small defect, the block pattern. All the glue joints line up along the length and width which makes it weaker. If you look at all the major manufacturers, their block pattern may line up along the length but not the width or along the width and not the length. The better boards have a running bond pattern, like the bricks on your house. (By necessity, the board pictured below has to have two joints running across the board as well.) Another defect, the wrong glue. TiteBond II is water resistant and may cone apart with prolonged exposure to moisture. TiteBond III is water proof and will not come apart even with prolonged exposure to moisture. If you try to combine end grain and long grain, you are inviting a disaster. When wood absorbs moisture, it expands along its width and thickness, not along its length. With a long grain border, the blocks in the center will expand and contract in different directions than the border and something will have to give. I have seen and heard first hand what happens. Sounds like an explosion. And I have had to replace others boards that were made this way. Hope this helps. David The BoardSMITH

Great question. Here is the reply I posted at Chef Talk. There is a general rule for choosing the wood for a cutting board: Any wood from a tree with running sap, hard maple - maple syrup, or a tree with an edible nut, walnut, pecan oak, etc... Good woods - Hard maple, black cherry, black walnut, oak(?), pecan/hickory, alder, beech plus others. Soft woods like pine, poplar, cedar or cypress should be avoided. Too soft and will not last long. Woods like cedar or cypress contain natural oils which keep the insects away. If the insects don't eat it, neither should you. Some of the exotics do look terrific but should be avoided. Great for furniture but not necessarily great for a cutting surface. Some contain oils which can be toxic to humans. (Just because your friend down the street has a brother-in-law whos third cousins neighbor may have a board made from an exotic and hasn't had any ill effects doesn't mean that you won't. Some are downright dangerous.) I have seen boards made from black locust. Black locust will kill a mule if eaten. To be safe, stick with the rule of thumb as stated above. Thickness; the thicker the better. Thin boards tend to warp, crack and split. Thicker boards are more stable although a little harder to wash in the sink. Be careful of how you pair the woods together. Softer woods wear quicker than harder woods and the resulting cutting surface can be uneven making it tough to cut on. That "handsome" match today might look like a wavy surface in the near future. Also, soft and hard woods absorb moisture at different rates which might cause some cracking in the future. You can research the hardness rating of woods using the Janka scale available on line. Look for woods that closely match each other in hardness. David The BoardSMITH

Lisa- Hard maple is the traditional wood used for cutting boards here in the States. Hard, dense, durable and heavy, it will serve for years with care. However, some national manufacturers infuse their maple boards with a resin hardener in an attempt to harden the surface which can cause chipping in some of the harder Japanese knives. Acacia is seen a lot in cheaper boards. Certainly usable and has a look similar to walnut but with more voids in the wood. Not a soft wood, it is 1.25 times harder than maple. Also, they are not made here in the USA so the manufacturing plants may not come up to American standards and the glues used may not be able to withstand repeated washings. Teak is not a good choice. It is 2.5 times harder than maple and contains silica which can sand down the edge of a good knife. Cherry is a great choice. Softer than maple, beautiful color that will turn darker over time and durable in an end grain board. Is not as expensive as walnut but still has an expensive appearance. End grain is the best construction method. When the knife edge contacts the cutting surface, the wood fibers relax a little bit and allow the edge to penetrate slightly. When the edge is removed, the wood fibers may show a cut but not severed fibers as with cheaper long grain boards. David The BoardSMITH

If your chuck of wood is as you describe, a cross section cut from a tree, it will split. As the moisture evaporates, the wood fibers will shrink and you will see the splits as they travel along the weakest part of the wood. Checks in the wood will turn into splits. (All wood will split when dried. That isn't a particular trait of cherry.) You can soak it in water all the time which will lessen any splitting. You can try to wrap a steel band around the outside but the splits will continue. (Chinese chopping blocks are made from one piece like you describe but their use is heavier and they don't split as much from the constant application of water and fats.) There isn't much you can do given the organic nature of wood. You can avoid the splits by deconstructing the wood, making smaller blocks and then reassembling. May not be as pretty or as you envision, but with proper reassembly, the splitting will not be as likely. You will not see many fruit tree wood boards available because the trees are usually to small for commercial use. Cherry is usually expensive so most makers stay away from it. However, it is easy on the knife edges and has a beautiful look to it as it ages. Or, you can call me and I can make one for you. David www.TheBoardSMITH.com

I believe, IMHO, the important thing is that some form of sanitation is used as opposed to nothing at all. Each form has its good points and bad points, each has the best place and the worst place for use. To use nothing is criminal and shows no respect for your friends or family who dine on what has been prepared on the cutting surface. That is a person I would avoid at all costs. Is wood better or is plastic? That answer is up to the individual and can be argued and discussed to the point of nausea. I believe that wooden boards are best, but I make wooden boards so my opinion is skewed. Using plastic or wood is better than glass or stone and some sanitizing is better than none. David The BoardSMITH

I would keep water off the wood in any form except for washing. The natural pores of the wood will absorb moisture and will cause cracks and warps. Since wood is a natural organic material, the shrinking caused by the internal moisture leaving the wood will cause cracking and splitting. It is inevitable. A solid piece of wood isn't nearly as stable or as strong as a layered or laminated piece. Plywood is stronger than solid wood for instance. BTW Iron wood is super hard. On the Janka hardness chart, Ipe/Ironwood is rated at 3680, 2.5 times harder than hard maple. Can cause chipping and premature dulling of your fine edges. David The BoardSMITH

Thanks Bob. I'm still learning how to post and some of the nuances are new to me. I'll get better. Figured that if I'm getting support from the various forums, I might as well nose around on my own. David

As a maker of butcher blocks and cutting boards, I would strongly suggest that you return it to the store from where you purchased it BEFORE you attempt any repairs. An attempted repair may very well void your warranty, if you had any. I can only make a guess as to what has happened. The dry winter weather, with the lowered humidity, caused the cracking and I believe it will go away when the warmer weather finally shows up. That is why the cracks disappeared when you washed the wood. Those cracks should not have showed up on a new block. Good luck with your block. I hope you can get this ironed out. David Smith The BoardSMITH ← I hesitate to add this but..... The link you provided showed a round rubbertree wood block. Those are mostly made in the Orient. The glues that they use aren't of the same quality that are used over here so I suspect that washing has loosened the glue a bit which has caused a glue joint to start failing. Unless you are willing to wait until the joint fails completely, then try to reglue, I would again suggest a return trip to the store to see if it can be replaced.

As a maker of butcher blocks and cutting boards, I would strongly suggest that you return it to the store from where you purchased it BEFORE you attempt any repairs. An attempted repair may very well void your warranty, if you had any. I can only make a guess as to what has happened. The dry winter weather, with the lowered humidity, caused the cracking and I believe it will go away when the warmer weather finally shows up. That is why the cracks disappeared when you washed the wood. Those cracks should not have showed up on a new block. Good luck with your block. I hope you can get this ironed out. David Smith The BoardSMITH