I wouldn't use either. Too open grained or porous for food service, and too soft to avoid knives digging it up.

 

Are they that bad? There is such a slim picking of hard wood in jamaica.

 

Butcher Block style may work some better than cutting board style .

 

Doubtful, the end grain of wood is more porous than edge or face grain, particularly cedar or pine. Think of wood construction being similar to a bundle of tiny straws. The "straws" are larger in some species than in others. It's how trees move nutrients from the roots up to the leaves. The end grain will likely show knife marks less, but it will absorb everything placed on it. Hence the need to keep a butcher block heavily oiled. The old method for treating butcher blocks was: Oil once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once month for a year, and once a year thereafter.

 

Makes me wonder why every little grocery that sold fresh meat had a butcher block . Try a meat cleaver on a wood counter top .

 

Traditional butcher blocks were constructed of end grain hard maple. Very dense grain. They were cut down occasionally to level them when worn and the re-oiling process was done.

 

Is there a risk of cedar oils getting into the food?

 

Perhaps but the amount would be so little you would never be able to tell it and it wouldn't hurt anything. You would more likely get small chips of cedar in the wood as the wood is really too soft for a working cutting board. There is a reason the majority of cutting boards are made out of maple.

 

Most industries have over time, through experience, developed what is known as best practices, cedar and pine are just not suited for cutting boards.

 

Too soft. One can dent either one with your thumbnail.

 

What about guango lumber or blue mahoe?

 

I'm not familiar wih either species. Where do you purchase your wood? Do you have a nearby dealer that could give you advice?