I have a question that I hope doesn't sound stupid. Is mahogany is safe to
use as the wood in a food chopping block?
I want to make someone a chopping block, and I have a slew loud of mahogany
on hand, so if I can use it, I will.
thanks for any help.
dan
--
" I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do.
And for the people who like country music, denigrate means "put down."-- Bob
Newhart
> > Offhand: no, it is not safe. The more durable a wood is the less safe it
will be for ingestion. The darker a wood is in color the less safe it will
be for ingestion.
> > Likely nobody knows exactly how dangerous mahogany is, and this is
because research was aimed at finding wood that was safe, not in trying to
find out if fine furniture grade woods could be used for purposes nobody
would put them to.
> > Traditional woods used for contact with food are beech, maple and such.
Chopping blocks are made of hornbeam (also hawthorn?).
Wade Lippman <[email protected]> schreef
> When I worked in a butcher's shop 30 years ago, all cutting blocks were
made of sycamore. I doubt that has changed.
> Do you have any references for your idea that dark woods are more toxic?
If not, I have trouble with that also.
> Mahogany is often used for salad bowls and the like, as is teak. I have
not heard of any salad bowl fatalities.
+ + +
Making statements on food safety is something that needs to be done with
some caution. Very few woods are dangerous upon contact only (obviously
these are not traded widely). Whatever dangers there are will lessen upon
every layer of finish applied.
This will change if you stick a piece of wood in boiling hot food: this will
help extraction of the chemical substances from the wood. Obviously the
nature of these chemical substances will matter, a lot. Equally who gets to
eat the food, and how often.
Cutting boards are not heated, but there is the risk of splinters getting in
the food on the one hand and open cuts in the wood, offering room for
accumulation of whatever. So in a cutting board or block you want a wood
that contains as little potentially dangerous chemical substances on the one
hand and a tendency to close any cuts as much as possible. You want a
light-colored dense wood (with small pores, 'fine grain') .
As to the relationship between color and toxicity just take any book
containing info on chemical substances in wood, durability and color. Any of
the woods with high levels (say 30%) of "extractives" (secondary
metabolites) will be pretty dark. There is not a 1:1 relationship between
color and durability/toxicity (a few light-colored wood are very durable,
and quite a bit more dark-colored woods are not durable) but pretty close.
PvR
Dan posts:
>I have a question that I hope doesn't sound stupid. Is mahogany is safe to
>use as the wood in a food chopping block?
>
>I want to make someone a chopping block, and I have a slew loud of mahogany
>on hand, so if I can use it, I will.
>
Mahogany is an open-grained wood. It's not hard to fill, but fillers don't last
well in such uses. It is also a bit soft for cutting board and chopping block
use.
>" I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do.
>And for the people who like country music, denigrate means "put down."-- Bob
>Newhart
This from a guy who made a very good living playing a DIY writer who didn't
know how to DIY anything much. His "Coffee, tea or milk" routine in the '60s
was funny. after that, it was sagging eyelid time.
Charlie Self
"Men willingly believe what they wish."
Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico
> Ditto on the cutting board but I thought his skit on the bringing of tobacco back
> to England was great. JG
>
> This from a guy who made a very good living playing a DIY writer who didn't
> know how to DIY anything much. His "Coffee, tea or milk" routine in the '60s
> was funny. after that, it was sagging eyelid time.
>
> Charlie Self
>
> "Men willingly believe what they wish."
> Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico
>
>
>
>
On 06 Sep 2003 12:50:16 GMT, [email protected] (Charlie Self)
pixelated:
>JGS responds:
>
>>> Ditto on the cutting board but I thought his skit on the bringing of
>>tobacco back
>>> to England was great. JG
>>>
>>> This from a guy who made a very good living playing a DIY writer who didn't
>>> know how to DIY anything much. His "Coffee, tea or milk" routine in the
>>'60s
>>> was funny. after that, it was sagging eyelid time.
>
>That was after I quit watching and listening. Anyway, tobacco is the American
>Indian's revenge on the white man.
Alas, they got whisky in trade. Which is worse?
------------------------------
Gator: The other white meat!
------------------------------
http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development
Larry Jaques responds:
>>
>>That was after I quit watching and listening. Anyway, tobacco is the
>American
>>Indian's revenge on the white man.
>
>Alas, they got whisky in trade. Which is worse?
>
Depends on the person, I'd guess, but a lot of the Indian problem with booze
stems from classic reasons that have nothing to do with race. Yes, some people
are stuck with a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism, but I've never seen
any scientific evidence that ties that predisposition to Indians...or any other
racial group. Lots of anecdotal evidence, of course.
And I'd be willing to bet that the Indians had their own form of booze. Every
society I've ever heard of has. In fact, "tiswin" is a name that comes to mind.
It's a Hopi or Navajo beer. Possible problems that are reported originally came
from different strengths of the two mixtures. God knows, reading some of what
was put in "Injun whiskey" made my stomach roil, so that may also have been
part of it.
Charlie Self
"Men willingly believe what they wish."
Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Charlie Self) wrote:
>Larry Jaques responds:
>
>>>
>>>That was after I quit watching and listening. Anyway, tobacco is the
>>American
>>>Indian's revenge on the white man.
>>
>>Alas, they got whisky in trade. Which is worse?
>>
>
>Depends on the person, I'd guess, but a lot of the Indian problem with booze
>stems from classic reasons that have nothing to do with race. Yes, some people
>are stuck with a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism, but I've never seen
>any scientific evidence that ties that predisposition to Indians...or any other
>racial group. Lots of anecdotal evidence, of course.
Ethanol is metabolized through the action of the enzyme ethanol dehydrogenase.
Asians and Native Americans are much more likely than people of European or
African ancestry to have unusually low levels of this enzyme. Anyone whose
body has difficulty metabolizing ethanol will get drunker faster, and stay
drunker longer.
--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
> Offhand: no, it is not safe. The more durable a wood is the less safe it
> will be for ingestion. The darker a wood is in color the less safe it will
> be for ingestion.
>
> Likely nobody knows exactly how dangerous mahogany is, and this is because
> research was aimed at finding wood that was safe, not in trying to find
out
> if fine furniture grade woods could be used for purposes nobody would put
> them to.
>
> Traditional woods used for contact with food are beech, maple and such.
> Chopping blocks are made of hornbeam (also hawthorn?).
When I worked in a butcher's shop 30 years ago, all cutting blocks were made
of sycamore. I doubt that has changed.
Do you have any references for your idea that dark woods are more toxic? If
not, I have trouble with that also.
Mahogany is often used for salad bowls and the like, as is teak. I have not
heard of any salad bowl fatalities.
Dan <[email protected]> schreef
> I have a question that I hope doesn't sound stupid. Is mahogany is safe to
> use as the wood in a food chopping block?
> I want to make someone a chopping block, and I have a slew loud of
mahogany on hand, so if I can use it, I will.
> thanks for any help.
+ + +
Offhand: no, it is not safe. The more durable a wood is the less safe it
will be for ingestion. The darker a wood is in color the less safe it will
be for ingestion.
Likely nobody knows exactly how dangerous mahogany is, and this is because
research was aimed at finding wood that was safe, not in trying to find out
if fine furniture grade woods could be used for purposes nobody would put
them to.
Traditional woods used for contact with food are beech, maple and such.
Chopping blocks are made of hornbeam (also hawthorn?).
PvR
Charlie is right as usual. Almost every chopping block I have seen is
made from a tight-grained wood such as maple. Mohagany looks great
but is not suited for that. I am guessing that birch, alder and the
like would be OK.
On 06 Sep 2003 10:13:19 GMT, [email protected] (Charlie Self)
wrote:
>Dan posts:
>
>>I have a question that I hope doesn't sound stupid. Is mahogany is safe to
>>use as the wood in a food chopping block?
>>
>>I want to make someone a chopping block, and I have a slew loud of mahogany
>>on hand, so if I can use it, I will.
>>
>
>Mahogany is an open-grained wood. It's not hard to fill, but fillers don't last
>well in such uses. It is also a bit soft for cutting board and chopping block
>use.
>
>>" I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do.
>>And for the people who like country music, denigrate means "put down."-- Bob
>>Newhart
>
>This from a guy who made a very good living playing a DIY writer who didn't
>know how to DIY anything much. His "Coffee, tea or milk" routine in the '60s
>was funny. after that, it was sagging eyelid time.
>
>Charlie Self
>
>"Men willingly believe what they wish."
>Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico
>
>
>
>
>
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>