The wine club I buy from tries to induce its members to buy more wine by doing little “…and get one of these free” offers. (Not that I need inducing to buy wine). This month they sent me a cheese board and knives (very nice too). The cheese board smells delicious.
My wife, who is a horticultural person, tells me that the wood is probably banana (it does smell like banana, mixed with vanilla) of the genus musa.
Now I always thought a banana plant was a green squishy item, not a wood. But now I smell this cheese board and think, “draw bottoms”.
Does anyone know if banana wood would be suitable for such a purpose; or would it, unlike cedar or similar, actually attract the insects rather than repelling them? And how long does the smell last?
Does anyone in the UK know if banana wood can be bought anywhere here? I can’t find a timber merchant online who lists it.
Thanks in anticipation.
Lataxe.
Replies
Banana (Musa)is a very fast growing small tree. If memory serves me correctly, the fruit bearing trunk dies or is removed after the single large stem of fruit is removed.
The growers cut the 2 year old stalk off to produce a new sucker to develop from the base.
The fact that they get hacked off with a machete would lead me to think that the wood would be less than cutting board quality.
With todays technologies (pressure treated wood) they can probably introduce a selected scent into the wood.
Barbecue scented cutting boards.........!
Ron
I don't know anything about banana wood but they are doing some amazing things with bamboo, which may be similar. There's a good chance your cutting board is bamboo, unless there is a sticker that says otherwise. Lately the kitchen supply stores have been loaded with bamboo cutting boards that are made either with end grain or long grain. Very attractive boards, inexpensive and light weight.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
And hard on the knife edge. Better off with maple.1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
Having had banana trees in my backyard for a number of years, I can't imagine any kind of wood from them. When the weather would turn bad and really freeze they would turn to a rot. You had to cut them back(I used a 12p crosscut to do this. Some people would react to the sap and get blisters from contact.
Bamboo also grew in yard. The only way to thin the bamboo was to dig it out and use an axe to clear out the roots.
I used to live in Hawaii, when you're talking about a bananna plant, think 'onion', soft, layers & really wet.
Yes, I've come to realise, after these posts and a bit of Web research, that my cheeseboard cannot be banana, despite its delicious pong.
I don't think the smell of this wood is artificially induced - its only a cheeseboard so why would anyone bother impregnating it with banana/vanilla? Also, the smell is not fading and seems "authentic", if you know what I mean - no overtones of ICI or Dupont.
Perhaps I need that R Bruce Hoadley book. I can't find the right combination of descriptors for this wood in any of my other wood books.
Lataxe.
Lacquer thinner used to be called Banana oil Do you get 'high' from sniffing those drawer bottoms?(I couldn't resist that one Sorry L O L Steinmetz
They may call it banana but it probably isnt from the fruiting plant which is a fast growing herb with a spongy trunk of overlapping leaves with very high water content. We use to kid tourists about bananawood furniture....ha. aloha, mike
It's been a long time since I had botany, but if I recall correctly, the banana is not a tree, just a large plant. It does not have a woody stem, so there would be no wood to harvest.
Yes, I have been fooled into thoughts about banana wood by the strong pong of the cheeseboard, which is not fading.
The board appears to have an oil-based finish (lustre but no obvious coating) so perhaps the rascals that made it have been using some exotic finishing oil, with banana and vanilla smells.
The ladywife now opines that the wood may be bamboo. But it was she that suggested banana wood, in the first palce! I think she may be having fun at my expense, me being no botanist and quite gullible really.
Lataxe
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