On ballance, wood does as well as plastic . . .
. . for two reasons. Cuts in plastic can close locking in contamination. Wood doesn't do that, and has some antiseptic properties as well.
Myself, I have only one chopping board. It's large (16x18 inches - 40x46 cm), very thick (2 inches - 5 cm), end block wood. I do not hesitate to break bones on it. For hard bones I use a Henkels meat clever, driven by a heavy soft faced mallet. No, I rarely swing the thing. For softer bones (fish, chicken, pig feet, etc. I use a razor sharp Chinese cleaver knife, driven by the same mallet.
Stupidest thing I've read on knives is "A meat cleaver doesn't need to be sharp". Hell it doesn't. It needs to be sharp like any other knife, just at a steeper angle for strength. Sharp so it bites into the bone and the bone doesn't slip.
A dull cleaver is just asking for a bone to escape from under it, fly across the kitchen, at high speed, straight into the antique glassware you aunt Julie gave you - and she's coming to visit next week, and will do inventory.
Myself, I have only one chopping board. It's large (16x18 inches - 40x46 cm), very thick (2 inches - 5 cm), end block wood. I do not hesitate to break bones on it. For hard bones I use a Henkels meat clever, driven by a heavy soft faced mallet. No, I rarely swing the thing. For softer bones (fish, chicken, pig feet, etc. I use a razor sharp Chinese cleaver knife, driven by the same mallet.
Stupidest thing I've read on knives is "A meat cleaver doesn't need to be sharp". Hell it doesn't. It needs to be sharp like any other knife, just at a steeper angle for strength. Sharp so it bites into the bone and the bone doesn't slip.
A dull cleaver is just asking for a bone to escape from under it, fly across the kitchen, at high speed, straight into the antique glassware you aunt Julie gave you - and she's coming to visit next week, and will do inventory.