Our products - All useful information

Hi, I'm Gianni, and together with Ugo we have created the InCut brand, a brand born from sharing the same values ​​and from the experience gained in working solid wood for the creation of cutting boards.

In this article I don't want to give you our story, much less a tutorial on how to make cutting boards, but a summary of the processing of the raw material and of all the products used in the production chain so that you all have a better idea. complete with the mechanics that gravitate around the world of wooden kitchen cutting boards, which are anything but obvious.

Let's begin!

What is a chopping board and what woods are used?

The world of chopping boards is vast, they are made from different materials which, simplifying, can be wood, plastic, stone or metal.

In short, there is one for every taste and purpose but basically a chopping board is a kitchen utensil that is used to make preparations, such as cutting food and dishes and/or to serve them during an aperitif .

Wooden chopping boards have always been used and a series of clichés and sometimes positive, sometimes discrediting stories weigh on them, which we will explore in other articles.

The most common woods of which a kitchen cutting board could be made are many, but the most common could be:

• Beech tree
• Walnuts
• Maple tree
• Teak
• olive
• Bamboo
• Oak (or Oak)

But the list doesn't stop there, because basically almost all woods can serve this purpose.

We have chosen 3 (the first on the list) both for a matter of beauty and for a matter of usability and ultimately also for the cost, so as to be able to bring excellent quality cutting boards to the market without having prohibitive costs.

But are all woods perfect?

Generally yes (take this statement with a grain of salt), but some woods are more suitable than others for this purpose due to their intrinsic characteristics.

For example, beech is more compact than oak just as olive is less permeable than almond and this allows these specific essences to be more suitable than others.

Therefore? Which should you choose?

Basically, the choice of material for a wooden cutting board is more oriented towards personal taste and the available budget.

For example, a beech chopping board is a safe choice because it allows you to have a chopping board with excellent features at a low price, but you may not like the aesthetics of the material.

But a lot also depends on the quality of the workmanship, the construction method and the raw material.

How are our chopping boards produced?

Our production starts from the raw material which allows us maximum control over the product, in fact we know perfectly every single piece of wood we use and we do not rely on pre-packaged panels from large companies whose exact composition we do not know and which are often glued using glues not suitable for indirect contact with food and not suitable for working in humid conditions.

Our processing is 80% artisanal, we only entrust some tasks (such as customization and engraving) to machine tools in order to have incomparable quality control compared to the large manufacturers.

Our catalog contains chopping boards created with 3 different construction methods:

• Egg grain
• Side grain
• End grain

In principle, Edge grain cutting boards are those cutting boards in which the rough board is planed and shaped while maintaining the original design of the wood grain.

The Side grain chopping boards are the chopping boards in which the raw board is sectioned into strips which are then glued together (parquet effect to be clear) and then shaped.

End grain chopping boards, on the other hand, are professional and very resistant chopping boards because the rough board is always sectioned into staves which are glued together, but the head of the wood is used as a workspace.

But we will delve into the strengths and weaknesses of each type later.

Bonding?! So glue is also used?

As we said before, our catalog has chopping boards created according to 3 different construction methods, this implies the use of glues for gluing, resins for repairing imperfections in raw wood and finishing products to treat the finished chopping board.

Then you may be wondering "Isn't a wooden chopping board completely natural?"

Well no, it's not, but that's not a bad thing, because in years of evolution man has been able to create products that are safe for us and our surroundings.

In fact, our work is not limited to the choice of the wood material alone, but also to all those products that surround it and in fact, thanks to our experience in this field, we have selected a particular type of glue that is perfect for the purpose, because it is resistant to ' humidity and is suitable for indirect contact with food.

"Indirect?! So I can't place food on it?"

Yes of course we can place the food on it you can remain calm, but we must be intellectually honest speaking and use the correct terms and say "indirect contact", the glue will NEVER come into direct contact with your food and, like any material we use, it becomes totally non-toxic once hardened.

The same thing goes for the resins that we use in the repair phase, they are called "Food Safe" resins which does not mean that we could season our dishes, but that once solidified they could also come into contact with our body (in small quantity, such as for example a micro fragment that could be generated by the daily use of the chopping board) without any kind of consequence.

Finally, once the chopping board is finished and smooth, we use a final series of finishing products, these too chosen ad hoc and these too suitable for contact with your food.

I'm talking about oils and waxes specifically designed to treat kitchen utensils and which serve, as well as to enhance their beauty, also to improve their impermeability , saturating the wood fiber and thus making the surface waterproof.

I hope I have been clear and exhaustive enough in this general smattering on the world of handcrafted wooden kitchen cutting boards.

For now we'll stop here, we will deepen all the most interesting and useful aspects of this article with various articles aimed at the subject, to inform you and to ensure that you choose your cutting board carefully, without any doubts.

For now, I refer you to our catalog and wish you a good day.

Until next time

John L.