Butcher Blocks

vltor17

vltor17

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Joined
Dec 5, 2008
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363
Post them if you have them. This is a Boos commemorative block. I need to clean it up a bit more, but it has seen very light use. Original plaque is missing, the reproduction was supplied by the previous owner. E5BABA51-11A3-4FF7-BD48-5AAB43EFC9AC.jpeg4E1922E2-0396-4485-8CF0-ED16227DF25B.jpeg
 
No butcher blocks here, just several cutting blocks. Beginning to get too many. Just found one about 3.5" thick. Cleaned up and waxed, ready for use. How do you clean your block since you can't put it in the sink to wash, just wipe it off amd spray with white vinegar?
 
Maybe I have a really big sink. 🤡 Honestly, all I’ve ever done is hot water/dish soap. Dry and oil/wax. What is your preference for a cutting block manufacturer?
 
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Here's my cutting board that a buddy made me as a gift. 12"×24"×2" end grain walnut with maple bands. The maple isn't quite lined up, but he did a great job otherwise. This probably isn't what your going for with the thread, but I figured I would share anyway haha
 
Auglaize117 said:
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Here's my cutting board that a buddy made me as a gift. 12"×24"×2" end grain walnut with maple bands. The maple isn't quite lined up, but he did a great job otherwise. This probably isn't what your going for with the thread, but I figured I would share anyway haha
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Beautiful! This thread is all about wood cutting surfaces, for preparing food. I’m currently looking for a cutting board similar to what your friend made.
 
Cmon fellas. No one has a butcher block, or a sweet end grain cutting board??!? I am disappoint. 🤔😕😉
 
Wife and I have a 12x9x2 on rubber feet. Laminated same/similar to Victor17's block. got it about 35 years ago and use it daily for everything except raw chicken. Just wash it off with soap/H20 - occasionally rinse with vinegar or rub with salt and rinse. serves us well. Some staining and knife cuts, but very well made. A cheap 12x10x1 pine for raw chicken.
 
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Not true butcher's block but I got it free and gave it to my buddy.

It was in ruff shape. All kinds of stains on it. Blueberry, wine, and not sure marks. I used my orbital sander on it, peroxide to get rid of the stains, and oiled it.

She did not have decent boards.
Got her walnut one free so I sanded it and fixed the bark inclusions and oiled it. Then I bought the bamboo and oiled it. The cheese walnut is hers.
 
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BA_Colt said:
Not true butcher's block but I got it free and gave it to my buddy.

It was in ruff shape. All kinds of stains on it. Blueberry, wine, and not sure marks. I used my orbital sander on it, peroxide to get rid of the stains, and oiled it.

She did not have decent boards.
Got her walnut one free so I sanded it and fixed the bark inclusions and oiled it. Then I bought the bamboo and oiled it. The cheese walnut is hers.
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Damn, looks good.
 
vltor17 said:
Damn, looks good.
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Thanks. I want to make an end grain board. I have a good friend who was a coworker and is a cabinet maker and has a carving studio. She is a great artist. But she lives 2 1/2 hrs away. I do have the tools. I figure the lumber, chop saw, table saw, Titebond 3, clamps, and sanders. It would be a fun project.
 
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BA_Colt said:
Thanks. I want to make an end grain board. I have a good friend who was a coworker and is a cabinet maker and has a carving studio. She is a great artist. But she lives 2 1/2 away. I do have the tools. I figure the lumber, chop saw, table saw, Titebond 3, clamps, and sanders. It would be a fun project.
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Prove it.😉 Sounds like a great project. Probably needed an excuse to visit the friend anyway, right?
 
I have one of from way back too. As long as it's not cracking they can easily be resurfaced and will look like new. One of those Hasagawa resurface accessories works perfectly on end grain maple. Won't take more than 20 minutes to do an excellent job by hand. Then ya oil it up, let it soak up with oil, then you hit it with the oil+wax. etc. Obviously if you have tools it can be done other ways but that's just one pretty easy quick cheap way to do it by hand. I'm generally not like a big fan of end grain, it's fine, some of them look really neat and whatnot, generally though it's just higher maintenance and more fragile with zero advantages over edge grain other than aesthetics. I do love the look and feel of end grain maple tho. Feels great to cut on it.
 
I have heard from butchers and chefs and they told me they prefer end grain to edge grain because they are gentler on blades, don`t require as much steeling and stropping between prep batches and are tougher because of the geometry of the wood fibres.The main reason people buy edgegrain over endgrain is because it is much cheaper.
It`s like using cheaper cuts of meat - there`s a good reason why some meat is expensive.Better texture, more taste, less gristle and waste etc.
 
vltor17 said:
Post them if you have them. This is a Boos commemorative block. I need to clean it up a bit more, but it has seen very light use. Original plaque is missing, the reproduction was supplied by the previous owner. View attachment 2092235View attachment 2092236
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Even for a 36 year old board it looks badly made to me.I had an end-grain oak butchers block from the mid sixties that was much better quality than that.
The pieces of wood are totally random grain directions and colours and there are big gaps between every block - the joins if not the grain should be nearly invisible - every joint should be flush for a top of the range board - It looks thrown together - it would have still looked an expensive big amateurish mess all those years ago.
You can tell it`s not made with care or attention to detail or with high manufacturing tolerances and it probably cost hundreds of dollars then.

John Boos boards today are getting terrible reviews for shoddy workmanship on boards costing $300-$600+.They have splits , gaps and warps are not properly matched etc and they have access to million dollar plus CNC lathes and the best woods so there is no excuse for a dogs breakfast board.
 
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roaduck said:
I have heard from butchers and chefs and they told me they prefer end grain to edge grain because they are gentler on blades, don`t require as much steeling and stropping between prep batches and are tougher because of the geometry of the wood fibres.The main reason people buy edgegrain over endgrain is because it is much cheaper.
It`s like using cheaper cuts of meat - there`s a good reason why some meat is expensive.Better texture, more taste, less gristle and waste etc.
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End grain does hide cuts or self heal better or however you wanna say that. That's a good point. I categorized that under aesthetics. Idk what gentler on blades means though, it really makes no difference to your edge which direction grain you're cutting on. idk about face grain because that's not commonly used in cutting boards. The abrasive wear is between an end vs edge grain surface is within any reasonable margin of error. I understand why people marketing end grain products might claim they have magical edge saving properties, but let's see some evidence. I've tested it. The real difference is different types of wood. End grain acadia will be much harder on your knives than edge grain of any softer wood like teak, walnut, maple.
 
I am just saying after living in over twenty Countries and travelling to over sixty Countries from Ramallah , Palestine to Haugsund, Norway plus cooking well over fifty years for 300-400 people a day sometimes; that`s my experience.

I have also forged my own knives in Hong Kong and Yorkshire.Plus I made end-grain boards from scratch myself in the mid 80`s onwards.
Obviously you are entitled to your opinions but it is universally known that
teak, walnut and maple are definitely not soft and neither is acacia - please research Janka hardness and you could perhaps ask in the chefs, pro butchers and woodworking forums about edge grain vs endgrain boards pros and cons vis a vis the same and differing woods.
There are people on Reditt etc that are a lot more knowledgeable than myself in metallurgy and carpentry specialties that will come to the same conclusion.
 
I have a kitchen table from John Boos company. The table top is end-grain maple butcher block, about 4" thick. I don't actually use it for cutting directly on, though. Mostly I use Shun brand edge-grain hinoki wood cutting boards. It is a soft Japanese cypress wood, easy on blades, light weight.
 
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