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Dropped $60 on a fancy bamboo cutting board that split in a week | Broken Social Norms - Talk Freely

Dropped $60 on a fancy bamboo cutting board that split in a week

I bought this thick end-grain board from a local woodworker in Portland because everyone says bamboo is indestructible. After washing it ONE time and letting it air dry on its side, a crack opened up right down the middle like a canyon. Has anyone else had premium kitchen gear fail way faster than the cheap stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean_johnson164mo ago

Blame the hype cycle honestly. We're all guilty of thinking expensive equals better but half the time it's just marketing and pretty packaging. Bamboo is actually pretty brittle compared to maple or walnut and woodworkers cut corners by using thinner pieces than they should. Same thing happens with $150 chef knives that chip if you look at them wrong or $400 blenders that burn out after six months. The cheap stuff gets engineered for durability because it has to survive a thousand people using it wrong. Premium gear is made for enthusiasts who treat it like a museum piece and one accidental drop or wash reveals the truth.

henry6044mo ago

Portland woodworkers are usually solid, but @sean_johnson16 is right that bamboo is naturally brittle compared to hard maple or walnut. Just a heads up though, bamboo is actually a grass, not a wood, so it behaves differently under moisture.

skyler_smith853mo ago

Respectfully, the moisture thing gets overstated with bamboo. I've got a bamboo cutting board in my kitchen that's been through hell for three years, soaking wet every day, and it's still flat with no cracks. Maple would've warped by now for sure. Bamboo's issue isn't moisture, it's the fact that cheap strips are glued together with low-grade adhesive that breaks down fast. The actual grass fibers handle water better than most hardwoods if the manufacturing is done right. It's more about who made it than what it is.

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