Can Cedar Be Used for Cutting Boards? Why It’s Not Recommended

No — cedar is not a good choice for cutting boards. It’s a soft, resinous softwood, and both the common types sold for building projects (Western red cedar and Eastern red cedar) contain aromatic oils that can irritate skin and airways and may taint the taste of food. Stick to a closed-grain hardwood like maple, walnut, or cherry instead.

Cedar’s reputation is built on outdoor and closet-lining uses — it resists rot, repels insects, and smells great in a chest or a sauna. None of that translates well to a kitchen cutting surface, and a lot of the “cedar cutting board” content online blurs those two very different use cases together. Here’s what actually matters if you’re deciding whether to build one.

Why Cedar Falls Short As A Cutting Board Wood

Cutting boards need two things cedar doesn’t have: hardness and a tight, closed grain. Cedar sits around 900 on the Janka hardness scale (roughly a third as hard as hard maple’s 1,450), so a knife carves visible grooves into it almost immediately. Those grooves aren’t just cosmetic — they’re exactly where food residue and bacteria settle in, and they’re much harder to scrub or sand out of a soft, porous wood than a dense one. That’s the opposite of what a food-prep surface needs, regardless of how the wood is marketed.

The aromatic oils are the other issue. Western red cedar contains compounds called thujaplicins and plicatic acid — the same chemistry that makes cedar naturally rot- and insect-resistant outdoors. In a workshop, repeated exposure to cedar dust is a well-documented occupational irritant and a recognized cause of “cedar asthma” in woodworkers who breathe a lot of it. On a cutting board, the same oils sit in direct, repeated contact with food, and a wood that’s actively marketed as insect- and mold-resistant is not a wood you want leaching into what you eat. Some people never notice a thing; others get a mild reaction or simply dislike food picking up a strong cedar taste. Neither outcome makes it a wood worth the risk when better options cost about the same.

Better Woods For A Cutting Board

Hard maple is the industry-standard cutting board wood for good reason: it’s dense and closed-grained (a Janka hardness around 1,450), it’s flavorless and doesn’t stain, and it’s gentle enough on knife edges that it won’t dull a blade the way a harder wood like oak can. Walnut runs slightly softer than maple but is still plenty durable, and its dark, rich color is why it’s popular for higher-end end-grain boards. Cherry is a middle-ground option — softer than maple, harder than cedar, with a warm color that darkens attractively over time.

Wood	Janka Hardness (approx.)	Good For A Cutting Board?
Hard Maple	1,450	Yes — the standard choice
Walnut	1,010	Yes — softer on knives, darker look
Cherry	995	Yes — mid-hardness, ages well
Bamboo	~1,300-1,400 (varies by manufacturing)	Usable, but harder on knife edges than it looks
Cedar (Western red / Eastern)	~900	No — too soft, aromatic oils are a food-contact concern

Bamboo deserves a specific note since it’s often lumped in with “eco-friendly hardwood alternatives”: it’s technically a grass, not a wood, and the manufacturing process that laminates it into board stock makes it harder and more brittle than most true hardwoods. That hardness is tough on knife edges even though bamboo boards market themselves as knife-friendly — it’s genuinely more sustainable to grow, but not gentler on your knives than maple or walnut.

If You Already Have A Cedar Board

A cedar board isn’t dangerous to own — it’s a durability and sensitivity trade-off, not a guaranteed health hazard, and plenty of people use one for years without issue. If you already have one, reserve it for dry work like cutting bread or serving cheese rather than raw meat or anything requiring aggressive scrubbing, since that’s where the softness and porosity matter most. Watch for any skin irritation or unusual food taste, and if either shows up, retire it to a decorative or serving role rather than active food prep.

Caring For A Hardwood Cutting Board

Whichever hardwood you choose, wash it by hand with warm water and mild soap, never in a dishwasher — the heat and prolonged soaking crack and warp solid wood regardless of species. Dry it standing on edge so air reaches both faces evenly, and keep it out of direct sun or near a heat vent, both of which pull moisture out unevenly and encourage warping. Oil it every few weeks with a food-grade mineral oil or a beeswax-mineral oil blend; this is what actually keeps a board from drying out and cracking, far more than the wood species itself does.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cedar Good For Cutting Boards?

No. Cedar is too soft to resist knife grooves and contains aromatic oils that can irritate some people and affect food taste. Hardwoods like maple or walnut are the better choice.

Can Cedar Wood Be Used In The Kitchen?

Cedar works fine for kitchen shelving or a spice-drawer liner, where it isn’t in direct, repeated food contact. It’s a poor choice specifically for cutting boards and utensils.

What Are The Risks Of Using Cedar For Cutting Boards?

Cedar’s low hardness means knife cuts carve deep grooves that are hard to clean, and its natural oils (thujaplicins and plicatic acid in Western red cedar) can irritate skin or airways and may affect food flavor.

Are There Better Alternatives To Cedar For Cutting Boards?

Yes — hard maple, walnut, and cherry are all closed-grain hardwoods that resist knife scarring and don’t carry cedar’s aromatic-oil concerns.

Conclusion

Cedar earns its reputation outdoors and in closets, but a cutting board asks for the opposite properties: hardness, a tight closed grain, and no aromatic oils anywhere near your food. Maple, walnut, and cherry all deliver that without the trade-offs, and none of them cost dramatically more than a nice piece of cedar.