News — wooden chopping boards

If you want a chopping board that protects your knives, lasts 5 to 10 years and is easy to look after, the best wood for cutting boards in most British kitchens is medium hard, closed grain timber such as acacia or quality bamboo. Oak looks beautiful, but for daily chopping, acacia and bamboo boards usually perform better and are kinder to your blades. What makes the best wood for cutting boards? When people ask “what’s the best wood for cutting boards?”, they usually mean: which board will stay flat, resist stains and not ruin my knives. To answer that, it...

If you're wondering what the safest chopping board for a busy family kitchen is, the short answer is this: a well maintained wooden board, such as the Deer & Oak Large Bamboo Board (45x35cm, 1.8kg), typically holds far fewer live bacteria than an old, deeply scored plastic board, even though tests have shown that some kitchen boards can carry up to 200 times more bacteria than a cleaned toilet seat. The key is material choice, board size and how you clean it every single day. Why do chopping boards harbour more bacteria than toilet seats? Toilet seats are usually smooth,...

If you are choosing between bamboo and acacia chopping boards and want to know which needs oiling more, the simple answer is this: bamboo usually needs oiling slightly more often than acacia. For most home kitchens, that means oiling a bamboo board roughly every 3 to 4 weeks, while an acacia board can often go 4 to 6 weeks between oils, assuming similar use and washing habits. Why bamboo usually needs oiling more than acacia Bamboo is a tightly packed grass, not a traditional hardwood. It is naturally harder and a bit more brittle than acacia, which means it benefits...

If you want to stop your wooden chopping board from cracking and warping, the single best method is to dry it upright on its edge within 5 to 10 minutes of washing, at normal room temperature (around 18 to 22°C), away from direct heat and strong sunlight. Why Drying Matters More Than Washing Most boards don’t fail at the sink. They fail on the drying rack. Wood swells when it soaks up water and then shrinks as it dries. If one side dries much faster than the other, the board starts to cup, twist or split. The good news is...