I made a board for my wife about 25 years ago and it is getting pretty bad. She wants another and I have some nice 1" Oak that I intend to use. Then I found a nice piece of Blood wood that is also 1"  I want to use it for color stripes.

 

Is Blood wood a good choice?

I think I'd be more concerned about the oak, especially if it was red oak. As you know, that species has open pores in which food could get trapped. If you are going to use a thick film finish, this might not be a problem, however.

 

Here's a link to Blood Wood characteristics-

http://www.wood-database.com/bloodwood/

Edited August 31, 201610 yr by lew

Only use closed cell hardwoods. Red oak is open cell. 

 

Maple, walnut, cherry, white oak are valid choices. 

19 minutes ago, Ron Altier said:

I made a board for my wife about 25 years ago and it is getting pretty bad. She wants another and I have some nice 1" Oak that I intend to use. Then I found a nice piece of Blood wood that is also 1"  I want to use it for color stripes.

 

Is Blood wood a good choice?

Check with Allen Worsham. He made some awesome boards.

 

As others have said, Red Oak is not a good choice for cutting boards.

 

Tony

the oak is mixed, a dumpster salvage with a stain and finish on one side, not such a good choice. I'll chose another.

 

How about the Blood wood?

I don't see any reason why blood-wood would be a problem for a cutting board.

It is a very hard, dense wood. Just make sure you have a decent blade in your saw when you go to cut it.

It will look good with another contrasting wood like maple.

 

Tony

Thanks, I am due for a new blade anyway.

Ron I have used Bloodwood in cutting boards before. As they said I wouldn't use the Red Oak.

 

I made a Maple and Bloodwood board. You should be fine.

 

we use bloodwood as accents in our cutting boards frequently. one caveat with it is that it has interlocked grain which gives a lot of chipout when planning. it also has some natural oils or resin which clogs a drum sander ruining the paper