Cutting Boards - Part 12

Today just a little fun fact about the material I currently use to make kitchen boards.

Jatoba is one of the hardest woods in the world. It is commonly stated that it is twice as hard as oak, which I have no trouble believing. It is extremely difficult to cut and plane. Taking off material with a belt grinder is possible with a slow-running belt, but when grinding across the grain even a new belt bluts relatively quickly and begins to burn it.

One of the reasons for this is visible in this photograph. This is a freshly cut prism, but it looks like it has stains of dried glue on it. However, those are not glue stains, those are silica deposits. Jatoba literally consists partially of stone.

I will write about the manufacturing process again next week.