While solid black walnut boards are very appealing and popular another great option is a black walnut board with some exotic.
End grain cutting board wood types.
The main types of wood for cutting boards are maple walnut cherry beech teak and bamboo which is actually a hard grass.
Face grain edge grain or end grain.
The three basic types of cutting boards are end grain edge grain and flat grain.
End grain is the end of the wood where you can see the rings and edge grain is the side of the wood where you see a familiar wood grain pattern.
The history of the wood cutting board is the history of cooking itself.
Generally speaking end grain cutting boards tend to be the strongest and most popular.
As a maker of custom cutting boards by far the most popular wood for cutting boards in recent years has been american black walnut.
The edge grain runs along the board s narrow side while the end grain runs along the board s short side.
The two types of cutting boards are easy to tell apart because end grain cutting boards have a distinct checkerboard pattern made from several wood ends being fused together.
To understand how they compare in strength stand a 2 by 4 piece of lumber on its end and look at the top.
Cutting boards that are made of the end grain tend to resist marks and cuts especially well.
You can see a great example in my how to build an end grain cutting board article.