Cheapest material for semi-disposable cutting boards?

[Essex Barn Workshop]

Hi,
I did two craft fairs over the weekend, and at one was asked if I could make and deliver a minimum of 60 lightweight cutting/charcuterie boards for Christmas cheese gift packs!
They would be sold with a variety of cheeses on them, may well be refrigerated at some point, need to be lightweight to avoid adding too much to the shipping costs and could become a large order in future.
Each board need to be an identical size, at the moment we are approximating around 250mm x 400mm. I say semi-disposable because the boards won't become a heirloom item, like the 1 1/2" thick solid oak ones I was selling on the day, and may well be thrown out once the cheese is consumed.
Obviously I want to do it, but am not sure what the best wood would be. I was thinking bamboo, but that isn't easy to source in affordable sheets.
I know that one of the yards I use often has a huge supply of larch, which I could mill and smooth out, but I don't know if it would otherwise be suitable.
What do you guys think, and what would you use?

 

[Jameshow]

Beech???

Cheers James

 

[Rorschach]

Ikea rubberwood cutting board recut to a new and more interesting shape.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Beech or sycamore.

 

[JobandKnock]

Look for the stuff that forresters regard as "weeds", namely ash, birch and sycamore. Of those ash is open pored, therefore unsuitable, birch generally isn't available in large enough section in my limited experience of it, however sycamore grows big and is often cheaper than beech (which in any case isn't sourced locally that often in the north)

 

[Jacob]

Yes beech or sycamore but they last for life!
If they are throwaway why not just use a faced ply? Could mould the edges half round and they'd look nice.

 

[Rorschach]

@Essex Barn Workshop wow good or wow bad?

 

[Essex Barn Workshop]

wow cheeky!
(And out of stock!)

 

[LJM]

(And out of stock!)

Not too cheeky to not be worth investigating then…;-)

 

[recipio]

I'd go back to the idea of bamboo plywood. Throwing away perfectly good hardwood is not a very eco friendly idea ?

 

[TheTiddles]

Ebay

 

[Droogs]

6mm birch ply with a bullnose edge and given a sand @ 320g

 

[baldkev]

I was in brighton area last week and i worthing city centre, a guy was selling wooden kitchen kit for peanuts.... wooden spoons, with words etched in, 2 quid, chopping boards, £4.50 etc..... so as suggested above, the most economical way might be to search out a supplier.... like tiddles said, ebay


The 3 pack represents great value.... then just get a firebrand / stamp made up

Edited for terrible spelling

 

[JobandKnock]

eBay doesn't seem like a sustainable source, though. Probably all right for the first order, but subsequent orders?

 

[coyspurs]

Hi,
I did two craft fairs over the weekend, and at one was asked if I could make and deliver a minimum of 60 lightweight cutting/charcuterie boards for Christmas cheese gift packs!
They would be sold with a variety of cheeses on them, may well be refrigerated at some point, need to be lightweight to avoid adding too much to the shipping costs and could become a large order in future.
Each board need to be an identical size, at the moment we are approximating around 250mm x 400mm. I say semi-disposable because the boards won't become a heirloom item, like the 1 1/2" thick solid oak ones I was selling on the day, and may well be thrown out once the cheese is consumed.
Obviously I want to do it, but am not sure what the best wood would be. I was thinking bamboo, but that isn't easy to source in affordable sheets.
I know that one of the yards I use often has a huge supply of larch, which I could mill and smooth out, but I don't know if it would otherwise be suitable.
What do you guys think, and what would you use?

 

[coyspurs]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WOODEN-S...=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

 

[ShadowCast]

Bamboo £3 at Morrison's

Morrisons on Amazon

 

[Cabinetman]

Funnily enough I did something pretty much like this for a wedding once and I used Oak faced six mil MDF rounded over as Jacob said earlier, the MDF was pretty much the same colour as the oak so it blended in very well. Ian

 

[Craig22]

Anything with MDF has three problems. It is not ecofriendly to produce (urea formadehide resin to bond the wood fibres). It is dangerous stuff to work with and needs excellent dust handling and a face mask (my cousin died from dust inhalation; he was a set builder at Pinewood). And if wet will swell. Likewise with ply.

Bamboo has to be shipped half way round the planet, and is also not eco-friendly.

So I'd second using cheap UK sourced wood - sycamore has been mentioned, which looks to be around £20 per cubic foot in 15mm. (for example Timber Prices | Sutton Timber ) That could be re-sawn into two 7.5mm planks, minus the saw kerf, which would come out at close to 6mm after finishing.

English sourced hard wood could be used as a selling point.

 

[Cabinetman]

A bit off the wall, another cheap way to make something disposable would be to use cardboard with a stick on paper-thin plastic face printed to look like wood, it’s amazing how strong cardboard can be made. Ian