Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Why do maple, walnut, and cherry, what I call the Neapolitan woods, dominate the cutting board market? A big reason is their grain structure.
But instead of just laying down facts and pretending to be your teacher, let's look at the evidence firsthand.
I've got three samples here: hard maple, walnut and cherry. These are what you'll find floating around craft fairs and kitchen stores. We'll compare them to red oak, normally seen as the villain of cutting boards. Let's see what their grain structure actually looks like under a microscope.
Our first sample is hard maple, often considered the gold standard for cutting boards. Notice how tight and uniform the structure is.
Walnut is next. The pores are larger than maple, but still fairly consistent throughout.
Cherry looks similar to walnut. Small pores, a fairly uniform structure, and easy to see why it's another popular choice.
Now let's look at red oak. Compared to the others, it looks like Swiss cheese.
Those large pores are one reason red oak has a bad reputation as a cutting board wood.
Liquids can penetrate much more easily than they can in woods like maple.
In fact, if I shine an LED COB strip through these samples, walnut and cherry show a few tiny pinpricks of light. Red oak looks like it's hosting a dance party. Hard maple? Basically dark.
So after seeing all that, which of these four woods would you rather cut raw chicken on?
Like step by step projects? Check out the second channel! → @makethingswithrob
Become a patron! → patreon.com/makethings ←
Huge thank you to my patrons that keep this thing going!
*MAKER TEAM*
Michelle B
Keith Current
Rich Lightfoot
Tutor the Barbarian
Aubrey G.
Nukebert
Sam W.
Aaron Knows DIY
G. Salazar
David B.
Marc B.
Richard B.
Ben. K
Bill Patterson
D. Lundman
Make Things
#MakeThings #mtbitesize
Why do maple, walnut, and cherry, what I call the Neapolitan woods, dominate the cutting board market? A big reason is their grain structure.
But instead of just laying down facts and pretending to be your teacher, let's look at the evidence firsthand.
I've got three samples here: hard maple, walnut and cherry. These are what you'll find floating around craft fairs and kitchen stores. We'll compare them to red oak, normally seen as the villain of cutting boards. Let's see what their grain structure actually looks like under a microscope.
Our first sample is hard maple, often considered the gold standard for cutting boards. Notice how tight and uniform the structure is.
Walnut is next. The pores are larger than maple, but still fairly consistent throughout.
Cherry looks similar to walnut. Small pores, a fairly uniform structure, and easy to see why it's another popular choice.
Now let's look at red oak. Compared to the others, it looks like Swiss cheese.
Those large pores are one reason red oak has a bad reputation as a cutting board wood.
Liquids can penetrate much more easily than they can in woods like maple.
In fact, if I shine an LED COB strip through these samples, walnut and cherry show a few tiny pinpricks of light. Red oak looks like it's hosting a dance party. Hard maple? Basically dark.
So after seeing all that, which of these four woods would you rather cut raw chicken on?
Like step by step projects? Check out the second channel! → @makethingswithrob
Become a patron! → patreon.com/makethings ←
Huge thank you to my patrons that keep this thing going!
*MAKER TEAM*
Michelle B
Keith Current
Rich Lightfoot
Tutor the Barbarian
Aubrey G.
Nukebert
Sam W.
Aaron Knows DIY
G. Salazar
David B.
Marc B.
Richard B.
Ben. K
Bill Patterson
D. Lundman
Make Things
#MakeThings #mtbitesize
