Hi Frank,
I understand you wanting to have a wood cutting board, and Boardsmith boards are well worth the money, probably the best quality out there.
I tend to think of them (wood boards) as supermodels...
Yes they are highly desireable, BUT they require a lot of maintainance, care, and attention.
The biggest thing for me, as a professional cook, is sanitation. A wood board obviously can't go in the dishwasher, so it must be wiped down/scraped down to remove debris, then wiped down with bleach, quats, or the like, then wiped off, and allowed to air dry. Don't buy into any hype about wood "self sanitizing", wood is a bunch of hollow fibers held together by lignin. When these hollow fibers eventually plug up with oils, food debris, natural salts and minerals, there is no "sanitizing effect".
So, the pro's:
-Very good looks!
-Easy on knife blades
-Heavy and solid, won't squirm around on your counter.
-Easy to plane or sand down when it becomes scarred.
Con's
-Difficult to sanitize, or better said, requires more effort to sanitize than a nylon one.
-Requires regular oiling, albeit with a cheap and easy to get mineral oil (any drugstore, sold as a constipation aid/ baby skin care)
-Bad things happen if the board sits in water for any length of time.....
Nylon board Pro's:
-Easy to sanitize--toss it in the dishwasher and you're done.
-Cheap like borscht
-Easy to plane down when it gets scarred
Nylon board con's
-Cheap like borscht, and looks like it too
-Thinner boards warp fairly quickly, although anything over 5/8" is pretty stable
-Melts easy if anything hot touches it. d.a.m.h.i.k.t. ......
Sani-tuff boards
Pro's
-kinda looks like wood
-easy to sanitize, toss it in the d/washer
Con's
-expensive compared to nylon.
-chips fairly easy
My conclusion?
Solid wood boards are great for "dry" stuff like bread, and there's no real need to sanitize if you
only use it for this purpose. For the occasional carving of a roast, it's worth the effort of cleaning, sanitizing, and oiling.
Keep a couple of (dishwasher size) nylon boards handy for boning out
chickens or breaking down meat, maybe one reserved for onions and garlic too.
Hope this helps