Sushi chef cutting boards

[DALI]

I am looking to purchase a large wooden cutting board that many top sushi chefs use. Does anyone know of any makers for boards or somewhere that sells them. Here is a pic of a style of board I am looking for.

[budrichard]

Where are you located? The wood that is classically used is Hinoki wood or in the USA it is called Port Orford Cedar.

Much of the wood used in Japan is reclaimed and in the US comes from old growth and in fact is shipped to Japan. I installed a 10' sushi bar in my home and had wanted Hinoki wood. The quote from a Japanese Restaurant Supply House in Chicago (Yamasho)was $6000 about 10 years ago but the real problem was that the quote ended up in mm and because of the conversion over that length, the board would have been almost 2" short. It also began to seem ridiculous to me to ship wood to Japan, have it cut and then ship it back to the US! A source of Port Orford Cedar in Oregon could not supply a 10' piece. I tried all resources available on the Internet. I settled on John Boos end grain 4" butcher block counter-tops for my cutting surfaces and the 10' bar piece is John Boos edge grain 1&3/4" maple.

So to get a high end piece as you pictured you will have to deal with a Japanese source, for Hinoki wood it will be expensive and then their is the measurement system to contend with.

Where is the restaurant pictured?

What you want is not simple both monetarily, and culturally.-Dick

Edited November 29, 2010 by budrichard (log)

[DALI]

I am located in the us. The restaurant pictured is Urasawa in beverly hills, ca. I am just looking for a board like that, I am not looking to do my whole kitchen in such a material. There must be someone in the us that can make such a piece.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Try Korin. You might need to call them, and they can probably get it. Info at korin.com.

[tme4tls]

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.

[budrichard]

I am located in the us. The restaurant pictured is Urasawa in beverly hills, ca. I am just looking for a board like that, I am not looking to do my whole kitchen in such a material. There must be someone in the us that can make such a piece.

Why don't you query the restaurant?-Dick

[ScoopKW]

The board pictured is a simple flat-sawn hunk of wood.

Any woodworker with a good jointer, table saw and thicknesser can make that for you, provided you locate the wood you need.

Port Orford Cedar grows in Oregon -- google some lumber mills and ask if they'll ship you a single 16/4 or 20/4 piece of rough-sawn stock. Plan on sticker shock -- the price per board foot goes up with size, much like diamonds.

But it won't be in the thousands of dollars range -- hundreds probably, but not thousands.

EDIT -- bring a tape measure to the restaurant next time. That piece looks to be 20" x 48" x 5" to me. Then add an inch in each direction to account for milling. That's about 38 board feet (a measure of volume, how lumber is sold). Plan on at least $10/board foot for the kind of quality lumber you want. So around $400 for the wood, plus the cost of milling it, plus shipping.

Check with your local cabinet shop. I'd mill it for a block of foie gras and a white truffle, but that's just me.

Edited November 30, 2010 by ScoopKW (log)

[_john]

don't waste your money on hinoki. in west japan we use Ginko wood cut in the same style. hinoki has a strong smell which transfers to things cut on it. a pure white ginko board, don't oil it, don't cut things that will color it, and it can be your canvas.