One of the critical uses of knives remains food preparation and one should use a good cutting board under the blade.
Here is a link to the cutting boards used by both Chris Reeve (ok, Anne Reeve

) and myself:
http://oldyankeecuttingboards.com/
The guy who runs this outfit is a great friend of both of ours and my fault for not posting this link much earlier.
The wood he uses is as amazing as the quality of construction and craft he puts into them.