Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Sep 19, 2002 07:04am | #1

   This list may help you out:

   http://www.mendelu.cz/~horacek/toxic.htm

   PS:  When selecting woods for cutting boards, one of the main factors is porosity (sp?) of the wood, eg., you don't want an open-pore wood like oak.  Reasons should be obvious.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

   
   

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   Edited 9/19/2002 12:07:03 AM ET by forest_girl

2. 
   JeffKurtz | Sep 19, 2002 09:16am | #2

   James,

   Do you really want to use inlay on a butcher block, or will it be more decorative than functional?

   I think beech is a good choice since it is relatively inexpensive and imparts no flavor - foul or fair - to the food it comes into contact with.  (That's why they used it for a lot of kegs years ago.)

   Jeff

3. 
   HowardAcheson | Sep 19, 2002 05:32pm | #3

   Also, you need to be careful about the expansion/contraction rates of various woods and the grain orientation. Gluing two woods together that have a significant difference in there expansion/shrinkage rates can lead to failed gluelines and/or warping. Flatsawn wood will expand/contract about twice the rate of quartersawn so don't glue flatsawn to quartersawn or you may have problems.

1. 
   JAMES70114 | Sep 20, 2002 03:31am | #4

   Thanks for the site forest girl. I was planning on doing the lay-up with all of the grain oriented the same way to minimize problems with expansion and contraction, also as a finishing touch, I am going to forge some iron banding to go around it. By heating up the metal and allowing it to cool around the wood, much like the wheel wrights of old, should keep it together for a long time.

   Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that one of my other hobbies is decorative iron work.

   scares me, and I'm fearless

1. 
   JAMES70114 | Sep 20, 2002 03:33am | #5

   Oops! Forgot to post the message to all!scares me, and I'm fearless