The best woods for cutting boards are hard, close-grained hardwoods: hard maple above all, with birch, beech, cherry and walnut as the usual alternatives. That is not just woodworking lore: the US Food Code, the model food safety rules that most state and local health departments adopt for restaurants, says wood may not be used as a food-contact surface except that “hard maple or an equivalently hard, close-grained wood” may be used for cutting boards, cutting blocks, bakers’ tables and utensils such as rolling pins and salad bowls (FDA Food Code 2022, section 4-101.17). This page compares thirteen woods on the two things that rule names, hardness and grain, plus how much each moves with the seasons, using USDA Wood Handbook data.
Cutting board woods compared
| Wood | Janka hardness (lbf) | vs hard maple | Pore structure | Tangential shrinkage | 12 in board, 6→12% MC | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar maple | 1,450 | 100% | diffuse-porous | 9.9% | 0.25 in | The reference wood named in the FDA Food Code. Hard, fine and even textured, light coloured; the standard for butcher block. |
| Yellow birch | 1,260 | 87% | diffuse-porous | 9.5% | 0.24 in | Close to maple in hardness and texture, a little softer; good for boards and utensils. |
| American beech | 1,300 | 90% | diffuse-porous* | 11.9% | 0.31 in | Hard, fine-textured and pale; moves a lot with moisture, so keep strips narrow and finish both faces. |
| Black cherry | 950 | 66% | diffuse-porous* | 7.1% | 0.18 in | Fine, close grain and attractive colour; softer than maple, so it shows knife marks sooner. |
| Black walnut | 1,010 | 70% | semi-ring-porous | 7.8% | 0.20 in | Popular dark contrast wood; softer than maple but close-grained and stable. |
| Red maple | 950 | 66% | diffuse-porous | 8.2% | 0.21 in | Soft maple: same fine texture as hard maple at about two-thirds of the hardness. |
| American sycamore | 770 | 53% | diffuse-porous* | 8.4% | 0.21 in | Fine, even texture with a flecked quartersawn figure; moderately hard. |
| Shagbark hickory | 1,880 | 130% | ring-porous | 10.5% | 0.30 in | Harder than maple but coarse, ring-porous texture; very tough. Usable, though not “close-grained”. |
| White oak | 1,360 | 94% | ring-porous | 10.5% | 0.26 in | Ring-porous with large pores, but they are plugged with tyloses; coarse texture, used for some boards but not close-grained. |
| Northern red oak | 1,290 | 89% | ring-porous | 8.6% | 0.27 in | Large open pores without tyloses (the Handbook’s own words: “open pores”); food and water get in. A poor choice. |
| White ash | 1,320 | 91% | ring-porous | 7.8% | 0.20 in | Hard and tough but coarse and ring-porous; better for tool handles than food surfaces. |
| Yellow-poplar | 540 | 37% | diffuse-porous | 8.2% | 0.21 in | Fine texture but soft (about a third of hard maple’s hardness); scars quickly. |
| Teak | 1,000 | 69% | ring-porous | 5.8% | 0.13 in | Oily and durable but coarse-textured and ring-porous; the Handbook notes that its silica often dulls tools. |
What “hard and close-grained” means
Close-grained describes woods with small pores spread evenly through the growth ring (in the Handbook’s terms, diffuse-porous), such as maple, birch, cherry and yellow-poplar. Their surface is smooth and even and has no large open vessels for food, water and bacteria to sit in. Ring-porous woods such as oak, ash and hickory have a band of large pores in each ring; red oak’s are open tubes (the Handbook notes that red oak lacks the tyloses that plug white oak’s pores), which is why it makes a poor food surface even though it is hard. Walnut sits between the two (semi-ring-porous) and is generally regarded as close-grained enough.
Hard matters because a softer board scars faster, and deep knife scars are hard to clean. The Food Code does not give a number for “equivalently hard”. Of the other woods above, only shagbark hickory tests as hard as hard maple or harder, and it is not close-grained. In practice board makers treat birch, beech, cherry and walnut as acceptable alternatives, and the Food Code’s rule is aimed at commercial kitchens; at home the choice is yours.
Edge grain or end grain?
- Edge grain (strips glued side by side, edges up): the easiest to make, stable, and the knife cuts across the long fibres. Shows knife marks more over time.
- End grain (short blocks with the end of the fibres up, the classic butcher block): the knife edge slips between fibres, so it is gentler on knives and the surface closes up; heavier, more work to make, and it needs more oil because end grain absorbs more.
- Face grain (one wide board): simplest, but a wide flatsawn board cups and moves the most; see the movement column above.
Making a board that lasts
- Keep strips narrow (about 1 to 2 in) and alternate the growth rings so the board stays flat.
- Mixing woods is fine, but woods with very different movement (beech next to walnut, for example) stress the glue lines over years; pairs with similar movement figures above stay together better.
- Use a water-resistant wood glue that its maker states is suitable for indirect food contact once cured.
- Finish with food-grade mineral oil (white mineral oil is an FDA-listed food additive, 21 CFR 172.878) or an oil and beeswax blend, and re-oil when the surface looks dry. Film finishes such as varnish chip under a knife.
- Wash by hand with hot soapy water, dry it standing on edge, and never soak it or put it in a dishwasher: repeated wetting makes it swell, check and split.
- Resurface a scored board by sanding or planing. The Food Code requires restaurants to resurface boards that can no longer be cleaned and sanitized, or discard them (4-501.12).
Woods to avoid for cutting boards
- Open-pored woods such as red oak.
- Soft woods: pines, cedars, basswood, yellow-poplar and other woods well under half the hardness of maple scar quickly.
- Very oily or silica-rich tropical woods such as teak; many exotic species also cause skin or respiratory irritation in some people when worked, so check before using an unfamiliar wood.
- Any preservative-treated or chemically treated wood. The Food Code allows treated wood only for shipping containers of uncut produce, and only with preservatives approved under 21 CFR 178.3800.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best wood for a cutting board?
Hard maple: hard, close-grained and the wood the FDA Food Code names for cutting boards. Birch, beech, cherry and walnut are the common alternatives.
Is walnut good for cutting boards?
Yes. Walnut is softer than maple (1,010 lbf against 1,450 lbf Janka) but close-grained (semi-ring-porous), stable and widely used, often as a contrast strip.
Is oak good for cutting boards?
Red oak is a poor choice: its pores are large open tubes. White oak’s pores are plugged with tyloses, but it is still coarse and ring-porous, not “close-grained” in the Food Code’s sense.
Is cherry wood good for cutting boards?
Yes, though at 950 lbf it is about 66% as hard as hard maple, so it marks sooner.
What oil should I use on a cutting board?
Food-grade (white) mineral oil, or a mineral oil and beeswax blend. Avoid vegetable oils that can go rancid and film finishes that chip.
Sources
- US Food and Drug Administration, Food Code 2022: 4-101.17 (Wood, Use Limitation), Annex 3 public health reason for 4-101.17, and 4-501.12 (Cutting Surfaces). A US Government work.
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook FPL-GTR-190 (2010): chapter 3 (diffuse-porous and ring-porous woods), chapter 2 (red oak open pores, white oak tyloses, teak), Tables 4-3 and 5-3 (shrinkage, Janka hardness), Table 13-5 (dimensional change coefficients).
- 21 CFR 172.878, White mineral oil; 21 CFR 178.3800, Preservatives for wood.
Last reviewed: 25 October 2026. Related: Janka hardness chart, hard maple vs soft maple, wood shrinkage chart, wood species database. Spotted an error? Please let us know.