Cutting board

[gw21]

I'm a beginner and currently using a wooden cutting board made of oak for cutting leather with a head knife. I have a feeling that that cutting on wood makes the knife dull.  

So, can you please recommend some natural materials for cutting boards. I dislike using polymer/plastic products. What is the traditional surface for cutting leather with a head knife?

 

Thanks.

[DieselTech]

I would just buy a plastic uhmw cutting board. Lmao if your worried about plastic, then you probably don't want to know what is in your leather. 

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, gw21 said:

I'm a beginner and currently using a wooden cutting board made of oak for cutting leather with a head knife. I have a feeling that that cutting on wood makes the knife dull.  

So, can you please recommend some natural materials for cutting boards. I dislike using polymer/plastic products. What is the traditional surface for cutting leather with a head knife?

 

Thanks.

wood is fine leather doesn't know the difference. th board is to protect your blades and wooden Cutting boards are as old as knives. 

[Northmount]

3 hours ago, gw21 said:

using a wooden cutting board made of oak for cutting leather with a head knife.

Depending on how you are cutting, sometimes the knife wants to follow the wood grain.  Self healing cutting mats are nice as they are all marked out in measured squares making it easier to layout and cut straight lines with a guide rule.

[TonyV]

Yes, wood contributes to your knife getting dull.  Just think of all the opportunity you have to get really good at sharpening and stropping! 

If you're determined to avoid plastic surfaces, try a softer wood surface, such as plywood, which you would be able to easily replace when needed.

But really, the best cutting surfaces are made of plastic. Many of them are made of recycled plastic, if that helps.

Edited January 21 by TonyV

[nylonRigging]

1 hour ago, TonyV said:

Yes, wood contributes to your knife getting dull.  Just think of all the opportunity you have to get really good at sharpening and stropping! 

If you're determined to avoid plastic surfaces, try a softer wood surface, such as plywood, which you would be able to easily replace when needed.

But really, the best cutting surfaces are made of plastic. Many of them are made of recycled plastic, if that helps.

Soft cutting boards really sucks the sharpness edge off the blades, I use a lot of the Poly. cutting boards and razor knife everyday. from what I understand the #1 Best Cutting Board materials is .. Acetel Copolymer . Delrin is another but more expensive.

.

[TomE]

I covered my work table with white HDPE (https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/panel-products/plastic-utility-panels/1-4-x-4-x-8-hdpe-panel/whtkhdpe48x96x220/p-1561703293086-c-14048.htm).  Less drag = much easier to control the knife, compared to plywood or the self-healing mat that I previously used.  The white color brightens up my workshop and helps me see the work.

[jcuk]

I use MDF no drag and does not dull the edge once its to cut up on one side turn it over, just remember to only use it for cutting because it will scratch your work.

Hope this helps

JCUK

[fredk]

For rough-out cutting I use one of these hook blades. It doesn't cut into any board. With care it can be use to cut right on the pattern line

For finish cutting I either use shears/scissors or a knife on a self-healing cutting mat

 

[Northmount]

17 hours ago, jcuk said:

I use MDF

I've seen bits of metal embedded in MDF.  Fine for stropping since you're not cutting into it, really smooth.

[jcuk]

5 hours ago, Northmount said:

I've seen bits of metal embedded in MDF.  Fine for stropping since you're not cutting into it, really smooth.

I seem remember you mentioned this in another thread, but to be honest i have never seen this and i have been using it for almost 30 years now also its what we used when did my training. But as daft as it sounds i suppose there maybe a varying quality of MDF from different suppliers. 

 

[toxo]

Been fortunate that my main leather shop has a big clicker press and over the years I've collected various sizes and thicknesses of off cuts that they use on that. Don't know what it's called but it's tough. In the thicker sizes I can use it almost like an anvil. Perfect for stuff like belt ends etc and unlike  the thinner stuff there's absolutely no distortion.  I use the self healing mats for  intricate stuff like patterns. 

[Northmount]

5 hours ago, jcuk said:

I seem remember you mentioned this in another thread, but to be honest i have never seen this and i have been using it for almost 30 years now also its what we used when did my training. But as daft as it sounds i suppose there maybe a varying quality of MDF from different suppliers. 

 

Good memory!

I'm sure you are right about different suppliers.

When cutting MDF with a circular saw, I've seen sparks fly.  I would suppose that it may be from whatever grinders they are using, or some scrap that gets picked up from truck boxes, loader blades, or whatever during handling.

[fredk]

A builders merchants I used to buy timber from carried 4 different grades of MDF. Each grade was for where the builder wanted to use it. The most expensive (really really expensive) was a hard exterior weather-proof and the cheapest was a softer interior type used to line walls inside 

[kgg]

On 1/21/2025 at 12:07 PM, gw21 said:

I'm a beginner and currently using a wooden cutting board made of oak for cutting leather with a head knife.

Like @TomEI use HDPE to cover my work table and have some smaller cut of pieces for smaller projects. Doesn't seem to dull the knife blades as quickly, the main downside is it is very smooth and can have a tendency to slide around if not weighted down, screwed or clamped in place. However the main reason I use HDPE is to protect my butcher block table tops as blades are cheap to replace, the 1 1/2" thick butcher block isn't.

kgg

[SUP]

I should think that if you don't want to use any plastics of synthetic materials, wood is the way to go. 

[Beehive]

In the knife community. Test after test shows that poly cutting boards have the least effect on edge retention. The problem with wood is you have to cut with the grain. Any cuts across the grain and it'll dull the edge faster then cutting with the grain. 

When you have nothing but expensive kitchen knives. You get the poly board. 

[dikman]

Using wood for a leatherwork cutting board can be a bit problematic compared to using it for a kitchen cutting board. In the kitchen grain in the wood doesn't matter but cutting shapes from leather can be tricky if the knife tries to follow the grain. A very dense hardwood should reduce that possibility but dense hardwoods are probably the worst for damaging a blade edge (just ask a woodturner who turns hardwoods!!). Conversely a softer wood will be gentler on the edge but the blade will tend to dig in and try to follow any grain.

So you may not like it but synthetic materials generally make the best cutting surfaces, but if you must use wood I guess MDF is probably the best bet (although MDF is made using synthetic resins so can't be called a "natural" material).