You guys must be using power strokes if you need a scraper to
level your cutting boards? I've used my wood Cutting Board for
many years, and the cut marks are very shallow. I guess it's
all in the 'touch'. I knew a man once (he's dead now) who used
a Machete to cut open Durians.....WY

Wheatgrass Yogi Wrote:
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> You guys must be using power strokes if you need a
> scraper to
> level your cutting boards? I've used my wood
> Cutting Board for
> many years, and the cut marks are very shallow. I
> guess it's
> all in the 'touch'. I knew a man once (he's dead
> now) who used
> a Machete to cut open Durians.....WY


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WY

It's not really about how hard that one pushes downwards with their knife while cutting..Any knife, regardless of how sharp it is, is going to cut & slice the fibers of the wood on the surface of a cutting board..This starts with the first stroke of the knife on a new board & continues until the board is no longer used as a cutting board..

If you took a look at the surface of a well used cutting board under a microscope it would look incredibly fuzzy due to the thousands of knife strokes cutting, separating, & fluffing the fibers..

Scraping first came into prominence hundreds of years ago as a means of keeping the wood surfaces of the very large tables, ie. benches, that pastry chefs & large restaurants used for prepping foods..Water is the enemy of wood..It was found that scraping off a layer of the old, dirty wood every day, as opposed to washing the bench's surface, was preferable..

Thus, prep tables & pastry benches became thicker & thicker..the first pastry bench that I ever worked on in a pastry shop measured 60" wide x 144" long x 14" thick..This bench had originally been 18" thick when it was manufactured..Over 75 years of use & scraping had hollowed the center of the bench considerably..When the new owners that I worked for purchased the shop they had the bench re-surfaced..A team of men clamped a steel framework around all 4 sides..This framework allowed an industrial router to move on an X-Y axis..Taking 1/4" cuts the men slowly brought the table back to level..In the process they removed 4" of maple from the bench..

I you own a thick, heavy wood cutting board & don't want to wash it, then scraping is a viable, time-honored alternative..Scraping has as much place in our 20th Century world as washing the board with soap & water..Perhaps more so..

Bruce

i can't tell you how much i'm enjoying this thread, it's fascinating!

baltochef Wrote:
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> I you own a thick, heavy wood cutting board &
> don't want to wash it, then scraping is a viable,
> time-honored alternative..Scraping has as much
> place in our 20th Century world as washing the
> board with soap & water..Perhaps more so..
Thanks for the info. I wash my Board with
water only, since I never cut meat on it. When it starts
drying out, I oil it....with Mineral Oil for a light
coating, or with Wood Creme (from Kitchen Emporium) for
a heavier coating.
As you know, there's a Best Way to do everything (not just
Cutting Boards). It's up to each of us to find that Way (for
a more complete Life).....WY