Cord, I don't know if this is helpful or not. On boring evenings around the campfire, a colleague of mine throws hatchets. He used to throw them into trees until we got on him about killing a tree for no godd reason, blah,blah blah.
He went to a restarauant supply house and bought a big(professional use) cutting board. I'm not sure what it's made of but it is 24"X24" 1 1/4" thick, and has held up well for over ten years. As I recall it cost less than $35, so the wood probably was not that exotic.
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