John Boos Chop-N-Slice Series Square Wooden Maple Cutting Board 10”x10” – 1” Thick, 4-lb Reversible Butcher Block with Eased Corners & Edge-Grain – Made in the USA

Perfect compact size. It is great quality and makes chopping vegetables and herbs much easier!

i waited a year to write this review because there were so many people complaining of splits and cracks. I have ha no problems and am quite happy with my board. I have kept it dry and haven't exposed it to extreme temperatures. I have used it daily, cleaning immediately and treating it with Mystery Oil when dry. I condition it regularly, I'm not sure I'd need to oil or condition except for sanitary reasons. The board is quite solid and well-made. Two things to consider with a solid wood product splitting: 1) Where does the split occur? 2) How was the product stored and handled? A split along a seam is manufacture. A split in a piece of wood could be material selection, but is more likely care. That includes the care given during transportation and storage between the manufacturer and your kitchen. A board that has been stored in a humid environment or allowed to get wet may not recover well, or quickly. Buy from a reputable seller. Check packaging for signs of moisture or stress. Allow the board time to acclimate before oiling and using, if it's been transported from a different climate. Be careful about using the board near a range top, where heat can stress the wood if it's wet. I love my board, will continue to care for it, and expect to see many more years of use from it.

Boos cutting boards are generally very well made, this is no exception. But the juice groove on one side takes up a LOT of space, and the cutting area inside it is silly small. Please tell the Boos company to make this size without the juice groove!

UPDATE - 5/12/2014 It is splitting as many reviewers have now posted. This is infuriating. As I mentioned in my original review I am pretty OCD so the board has never been left sitting in the sink, or put away wet, and it has been oiled. Nevertheless it is now splitting in multiple places and is almost worthless. DO NOT BUY THIS I like this cutting board- it is big, thick, and feels solid. You will definitely want to put a wet towel or paper towel under the board to keep it from sliding on top of smooth counter tops like granite. My one complaint that prevented it from getting 5 stars is that it stains easier than any board I have ever used. After I got it the first thing I did was cut up a cucumber. I am pretty good at cutting up cucumbers, so this took me maybe 1 minute to peel and and slice. I then moved the cucumber to a bowl, rinsed/washed off the board and... there are green stains on it. If you have ever cut up a cucumber you know that it doesn't spill out green juice everywhere- there is only a tiny part of liquid that even comes out. So that was disappointing and since I am a little OCD bothers me constantly. It doesn't affect the performance at all though.

Gorgeous, solid, well-made block of wood.

This review is about the large 20 by 15 inch board, which I have used daily for two years. The first thing you notice is the weight: it's nearly ten pounds. That makes it primarily a stationary board: although it can be carried, you will bring bowls and pots to it, rather than the other way around. The large work surface and stability offered by its weight make this my favorite board for chopping vegetables and large-scale cooking. (To minimize the need for cleaning, meats are processed on other boards.) I like it well enough that I just bought another for the parents. It is fairly well made, consisting of strips of maple well glued along their length, then cut to size, planed flat on both sides for two working surfaces, and rounded nicely on all edges. (Deep finger-holds are routed into both ends.) I say "fairly" because there is a problem that many have noticed: this board tends to split at the ends in dry weather. The reason is that wood expands and shrinks in response to changes in moisture. Wood consists of tiny straw-like fibers that tend to absorb moisture at their ends much more than elsewhere. Thus, this board responds to moisture changes primarily where those fibers are exposed in the end grain: along both short ends of the board. However, moisture is only slowly transmitted along the fibers. What happens is that the first inch or two at each end will quickly expand (when wet or in humid air) or shrink (when dry) *relative to the rest of the board,* which changes little. You won't notice the expansion: that just squeezes the ends harder together. But extra shrinkage splits the sections of board apart at the ends as they pull apart from one another. Mine has gaps that get as large as 1/16" across and penetrate up to 2" into the board. (A by-product of these moisture-driven changes is a slight curving of the board across its short length. This actually is good: by placing the convex side of the board up, you get a surface that works better for cutting because it lessens the depth of the hollows that are carved out after years of chopping.) Much of this splitting problem could be avoided if the manufacturer would glue up the board when the pieces are extremely dry and at their most shrunken. The solution is occasionally to soak the *ends* of the board in a pan of water during dry weather (winter, here in the US northeast). Within a few hours the gaps will close. Unfortunately, they open up again within days, so frequent maintenance is required if the splits bother you: that's the reason for just four stars. When moisture is not extreme--which for us is most of the year--applying a little mineral oil to the surface and ends once every month or two and letting it sit overnight before wiping off is all it needs. Once the splits close this spring, I plan to soak the ends even more liberally with mineral oil to reduce its moisture exchange with the air, but I am not optimistic that this will fully cure the problem.

The groove is too wide for this small cutting board, the surface is not very smooth (for oiling it is better to use sponge or microfiber instead of a kitchen towel). The JB cutting boards are very dry, not seasoned, so you need to spend some efforts on oiling

While this board is beautiful and well presented, the top face cutting area is quite small given the surrounding juice groove. I have not used it yet but intend to use the reverse flat side for veggies, fruits, cheese etc.

Esta tabla de cortar me ha resultado muy útil, la limpieza es muy fácil además de que recomiendo adquirir los productos para mantener la tabla en buen estado, siendo esos los aceites. Muy resistente, incluso al caer de una mesa de trabajo. El precio es algo elevado, pero vale la pena invertir en un producto de gran calidad.

John Boos stand to it's reputation " great product, best quality". Never had a second thought when I bought this chopping board because I knew it will last a lifetime with proper care and attention. And by the way this is my second chopping board from John Boos, my first is 24X18x2.25 inches. I love it and you'll love it too professionals, amateurs and home cooks alike. Little heavy, but that what makes a beautiful, reliable and heavy duty chopping board.

Needs regular oiling!