Cutting board questions

Hntnhrd

I have wound up making a few of these for friends now and am wondering what some of you more accomplished chefs think. Would these be a marketable product ?? We have zero hardwood here in Montana but these standing dead Douglas fir are pretty hard. I have cut probably 20 cooks worth of meat on the one I made for myself and it doesn't seem any worse for wear then say a maple Board. If they were in the $25 to $35 range ? The bottom picture is one a made today from some blue stain ponderosa I found in my pile of wood. 
I want honest opinions. Good idea or Crap idea.

RRP

Old site, but here are several answers/opinions about the wood itself for a cutting board longevity.
https://www.homeownershub.com/woodworking/douglas-fir-ok-for-cutting-board-363475-.htm

fishlessman

my floors in the house are douglas fir, they are 77 years old i think it would be fine.  i would mistreat one, toss some water on it occasionally, see if it splits, might want to add some glued in dowels if it looks like it will split or warp ?

lkapigian

I think you should send some free samples as a test market to those here on he forum

bigbadben

I would head over to chefknivestogoforums.com and ask that crew. 

Or or just go for it. Open and etsy store. $0.20 to list it for sale. 

HeavyG

Hardness of the wood only really matters if you expect to be able to pass a cutting board down to your grandchildren.

Some rather soft woods are frequently used in cutting boards. Japan makes/uses cutting boards made from hinoki which is a rather soft cypress. Those boards will require occasional sanding down to "refresh" the surface and remove cutting marks. They aren't meant to be passed down as heirlooms.

Some of the neatest boards made are from Canada and made from larch which is just a bit harder than hinoki.

If I was a professional butcher I'd probably like one of those many inch thick rock maple type boards that can deal with daily blows of my cleaver but for your average home chef I think your doug fir boards would be neat.

Hntnhrd

Thanks for the input so far. The fir trees we
have been cutting were standing dead for a few years and the first boards have been in my shop for a couple more years . Very dry and beyond the point where the wood would impart any off flavors in to the meat. A couple nice bison fillets cut up on the first one I made. 

RRP

My 2 story home's floor joists are all made out of strong Douglas Fir 2/12's. While I saved many shorter pieces to burn myself I also saved many "too long to burn" pieces. That was 38 years ago. I no longer have any of it left, but this thread has made me realize now all the cutting boards which went into the contractor's burn pile!

fishlessman

once you put that in some sunlight it will start picking up those light and dark hues, will look better as time goes on.

nolaegghead

I made a huge cypress cutting board with two live edges and it works great.  Looks great.  Unless you use quarter sawed wood, you're inevitably going to have an issue with cupping, but this can be mitigated by treating and washing both sides of the board the same. 

Hntnhrd

@fishlessman that's what I like about Doug Fir. The sun really draws out the rich hues. 
@nolaegghead this were cut from the Butt section of the tree were it had a weird flare almost like a cypress tree. Non of them cupped sitting in my barn so mamyne behaved like quartersawn. Would love to see a picture of that cypress board if you get time

fishlessman

Hntnhrd said:

@fishlessman that's what I like about Doug Fir. The sun really draws out the rich hues. 
@nolaegghead this were cut from the Butt section of the tree were it had a weird flare almost like a cypress tree. Non of them cupped sitting in my barn so mamyne behaved like quartersawn. Would love to see a picture of that cypress board if you get time

if you oil it, just make sure you oil it all over, it keeps the moisture level throughout the wood, if you oil one side only, the other side picks up more moisture and causes the cupping

Hntnhrd

Thumbs up! Here is the first one I made a couple months ago. Cut on it with bread knife and pizza cutter also. Just a few knife marks. After cleaning it the second time I got some grain raised. I hit it again with the sander and haven't had that problem since . Haven't oiled in awhile either going to do that again today. 

nolaegghead

HeavyG

That's some nice grain in those boards!