Ash is a reasonable cutting board wood with one real drawback. It is hard and famously tough, close to white oak on the Janka scale, but its texture is medium to coarse, like oak, with a band of large pores at the start of each growth ring. Those pores are often plugged with tyloses, which makes ash a better bet than red oak, yet the coarse surface still holds food in the grain more than a fine-textured wood does. An ash board suits bread, cheese and dry prep better than daily raw meat and juicy produce.

Here is what ash is like as a material, how it compares with the classic board woods, and how to get the most from an ash board.

What ash is

Ash is the genus Fraxinus, and the species covered here is white ash, Fraxinus americana, a tree of eastern North America. Its heartwood is light to medium brown, and its sapwood is wide and beige to light brown, often without a sharp line between them. The grain is usually straight.

Ash is the wood of baseball bats and tool handles. The Wood Database says white ash has excellent shock resistance, which makes it a common choice for handles, especially shovels and hammers. Its other common uses are flooring, millwork, boxes and turned objects.

Hardness

On the Janka scale, which measures a wood’s resistance to denting and wear, white ash is listed at 1,320 lbf. White oak is 1,360, and hard maple, the classic board wood, is 1,450.

By hardness, ash sits comfortably in the cutting board range: hard enough to resist deep scoring, while still giving under a blade in a way glass and stone never do. The Janka scale for cutting boards explains what the number does and does not tell you.

The pores: coarse, but not like red oak

Ash is ring-porous. Each year’s growth begins with a band of large earlywood pores, and The Wood Database describes the texture as medium to coarse, similar to oak.

That is why what wood should never be used for a cutting board groups ash with red oak. Large pores at the surface are small pits that hold moisture and food residue, and they take more scrubbing to clean.

There is a difference worth knowing, though. The Wood Database lists tyloses as common in white ash. These bubble-like growths fill the vessels in the heartwood, as they do in white oak. Red oak heartwood lacks them, and The Wood Database notes that its pores are so large and open that a person can blow into one end of the wood and air will come out the other.

So ash is a closer call than red oak. Liquid has a harder path deep into the wood. The coarse surface, though, is still coarse. Can white oak be used for a cutting board explains how tyloses change the picture in oak.

Other things to know

Decay. The Wood Database rates ash heartwood as perishable, or only slightly durable, for decay. A board left damp has little natural defense, so drying on edge matters.

Smell in the workshop. Ash can give off a distinct, moderately unpleasant smell when it is being worked. That is a sawing and sanding note for the woodworker.

Sawdust. Ash has been linked to skin irritation and reduced lung function. As with most woods, the exposure that matters is sawdust, so a woodworker should wear a dust mask.

Supply. The emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle first detected in Michigan in 2002, has since killed millions of ash trees across the United States and Canada.

Where an ash board works

An ash board earns its place for work that stays fairly dry.

  • Bread. Crumbs brush off a coarse surface, and there is no juice to soak in.
  • Cheese and charcuterie. Serve, wipe, and dry.
  • Herbs, nuts and dry chopping. Light work that leaves little residue.

For raw meat, poultry, fish and juicy produce, a finer-textured board is the easier one to keep clean.

If you are building an ash board, sand up through the grits to a fine finish so the pores are as smooth as they can be, and finish with food-grade mineral oil or a mineral oil and beeswax board cream. The Wood Database says ash produces good results with hand or machine tools and glues and finishes well. What oil to use on a cutting board covers the choice of oil.

Care for an ash board

  • Wash by hand with warm water and dish soap after each use, with a brush along the grain.
  • Towel dry and stand it on edge so air reaches both faces.
  • Oil it when the surface looks dry or water stops beading.
  • Never soak it and never put it in the dishwasher.

Ash or bamboo

If you want one board for everything, including the wet work, a dense, smooth surface is easier to live with. Bamboo is a grass, not a wood, rated about 1,380 lbf on the Janka scale, close to hard maple. It is less porous than many traditional hardwoods, so it absorbs fewer liquids and odors, and its tight, linear striping gives a smooth face to cut on. Is bamboo porous explains why.

The WONAMU. bamboo cutting board is 12 by 9 inches, with a perimeter juice groove that keeps liquid on the board rather than the counter, and it ships with a cotton care cloth in a gift-ready box. Keep the ash board for bread and serving, and let the bamboo take the rest. How to care for a bamboo cutting board walks through its routine.

The short version

Ash is hard, about 1,320 lbf, and tough enough for baseball bats, and its pores are commonly plugged with tyloses, which puts it ahead of red oak. Its texture is still medium to coarse, like oak, so it holds food in the grain more than a fine-textured wood such as beech or birch. Use an ash board for bread, cheese and dry prep, dry it on edge and keep it oiled.

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WONAMU. makes a bamboo cutting board designed for daily prep, 12 × 9 inches, bamboo, with a perimeter juice groove. Available on Amazon.

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