re: First butcher block

This is creeping from my back burner to a front one, as my sycamore dries. Meanwhile, I’ve done a lot of reading on the matter, to find the easiest way to make my first one.

From my readings, I’m sold on the end grain. As is pointed out, over and over again, pros and others used it for centuries, over long grain, for a reason, and it wasn’t just because of the pounding of cleavers.

My knives are wicket sharp. After using what most of us grew up with, that had to be all but hammered through a potato, then using thin bladed knives sharpened with my Edge Pro, I would never voluntarily go back. Both my wife and I thought we’d gotten soft potatoes, since the knives seemed to nearly fall through them. Repeatedly dragging my sharp blades over long wood grain would severe it. End grain, on the other hand, would, for the most part, just separate.

Many of us grew up with plywood cutting boards. They looked horrible, in short order, from use. End grain, of the other hand, would have held up much better. Especially if it were treated with oils that left the wood swollen and pliable.

As to bacteria, that’s why we use tight grain. It’s also why you should treat your cutting boards regularly. If the board/block is deeply penetrated with mineral oil, the cells are swollen and bacteria isn’t going very deep. At least no more than it would in the slices left behind from cutting on straight grains.