News — board maintenance

If you look after a good bamboo chopping board, it will quietly look after you for years. A bit of care, a little oil and the right routine can keep it smooth, safe and beautiful well beyond the point where cheaper plastic boards have gone cloudy and cracked. In this guide we will walk through exactly how to oil bamboo chopping boards to make them last years, using the same approach we recommend for our own Deer & Oak boards. Why bamboo chopping boards need oiling Bamboo is a natural material. It is tough, sustainable and naturally antibacterial, but it...

If you love cooking, your chopping board and your favourite knife are probably never far apart. Look after one and you usually help the other. Neglect either and you end up with a furry old board and a blade that feels like a butter knife. Let’s fix that. In this guide we’ll provide evidence-based guidance on board maintenance so you can preserve both the board and your knives for years, whether you use bamboo, carbonised bamboo or acacia. Why the right board makes knives last longer Not all boards are kind to knives. Studies comparing cutting surfaces consistently find that...

If you care about sharp knives, your chopping board matters just as much as your sharpening steel. Not all wooden boards are equal, and the choice between classic hardwood, bamboo and acacia can make a real difference to how long your blades stay keen. Let’s explain the differences between wooden, bamboo, and acacia boards in terms of knife protection, so you can pick the right board for your kitchen and your favourite chef’s knife. What actually protects a knife on a chopping board? Before we compare wooden, bamboo and acacia boards, it helps to know what really affects knife protection:...

If you care about your kitchen knives, the chopping board you use matters just as much as the steel in the blade. Search results on knife care all tend to agree on one thing: the wrong board will blunt your knives faster than you can say “sharpening stone”. So let’s summarize what the search results say about choosing chopping boards for knife care based on material type, and how that lines up with our own experience in a busy British kitchen. What knife experts generally agree on Across chef blogs, knife forums and kitchenware guides, a few clear themes keep...