Anyone with John Boos wood counters? Varnique v. oil?

13 years ago

I'm looking at the John Boos cherry counters for our little stretch of butcher block since they're one of the few options in our budget. Anyone have this (or another John Boos variety), and if so, do you have any thoughts on the varnique finish versus the oil?

We don't plan to use our counter as a "true" butcher block---it's really just a wood counter. No water or stove on this stretch of counter, and it's ostensibly designed as a baking center (which may/may not be how it pans out) and a fridge landing zone. We have a marble board for baking that will sit on top, and pullout cutting boards for actual cutting.

Given all of that, should we just get the varnique? If you have it, do you think it's worth the extra cost? Any downsides to it?

For what it's worth, we'll have to oil our main counter anyway so whether or not we oil the wood isn't a huge issue...but of course if we don't need to, it's easy to skip that! Thanks for any thoughts!

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Comments (8)

lisacerniglia
13 years ago
I have a walnut counter on island cooktop with varnique finish from butcher block specialist. I love it! Got the varnique to be waterproof and do not plan on cutting on it. My perimeter counters are carrera and wanted the wood as a respite from the marble.
chrisa62401
13 years ago
A little off topic, but I live in Effingham, IL. where the John Boos factory is. They have a store here that has considerable savings over their website prices. If you are close enough for a visit it would be well worth it.
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Thanks folks. I just spoke with a local company who can make the whole thing for me for a lot less than Boos (they also sell Boos). I can get either end-grain (like the typical butcher block) or plank. He recommended plank, as it looks more like a big farmhouse table, which sounds like a nice look. Our kitchen is quite small (an L shape about 10 x 10 at one side of a 20' by 16' room with fairly low ceilings...) and this island is going to be pretty massive in the space. So maybe a farmhouse table look is more appropriate? Do you think a 5' x 4 1/2' island is just too big for this space? I am considering cherry, on cherry cabinets, with a 10" overhang on the outside for stools. Prices quoted were $725 plank; $925 endgrain... about half what granite costs around here. So I'll do granite on the regular counters only. What do you think???
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I know I'm late to the game but... for what it's worth. Boos makes real honest to god butcher blocks, and they also make fancy schmancy kitchen furniture. Anything with the Varnique on it is meant to be more aesthetic than anything else. For a real butcher block/cutting board you are going to want to have END GRAIN surface with a MINERAL OIL ONLY finish. Real old fashioned butcher blocks are made to have animal fat constantly soaking into them. The end grain soaks it in, but you need to be doing it 40+ hours a week to get the right effect. A real butcher block will absorb so much animal fat that at t's saturation point, it will bead water. It will look rustic, and YES animal fat will go rancid so it's not the most hygienic of features. As you cut on a board, it's going to form scratches and gashes. Cross grain blocks gash up real fast. These make perfect habitat for bacteria. So roll the bones and know cross grain deeper gashes plus animal/vegtable fat = even more bacteria. Today the best solution for a butcher block top counter SEEMS to be, end grain maple or other dense fiber wood, soaked with Mineral oil. Now when I say soaked, it's WAY beyond the scope of most home owners. To properly set up a safe butcher block, you gotta take it naked, and saturate/wipe it down with mineral oil once a day for 7-10 days. After that you want to wipe it down once a week for another 2-3 months. By this point when you pool the oil on it, it should not soak in. It should just look wet till you wipe it up. From that point, once a month for the remainder of it's life should keep it in stasis. But remember, use Mineral Oil. It won't go rancid and it's food grade [read: safe-ish]. There are a few nice products on the market that have a mix of Mineral oil and Beeswax that are a good second choice. Anything else... don't use on anything you are going to 'CUT' on. You gotta know what you're getting into with a butcher block counter top/table top. It's not a granite counter. It's going to need on-going maintenance and care to stay "proper". So keep that in mind when you go with it. No hot pots, no cold sweaty beverage glasses, and for christsakes don't do something like dice beets on it unless you are ok with the blotchy look of a Jiffy Lube floor. Boos Varnique is a polyurethane family varnish. Polyurethane sucks in my opinion for furniture, and certainly for food surfaces. In my experience, poly is a pain in the butt to refinish because poly does not usually like to stick well to poly. You have to either strip it or sand it off to refinish it right. But on the plus side, it doesn't evaporate or dry out like an oil. If you really want a nice compromise of a food safe, shiney thick finish that's easy to recoat over old finish look at shellac. I wouldn't cut on it though. I build my own butcher blocks out of rock maple and other hardwoods, and my general rule of thumb is this... Varnish/poly if you are just going to look at it from a distance. Oil it, and accept that you're going to have to constantly recharge the oil if you plan to USE it. Do your homework on what oil you use because there are plenty of dingus's out there that will sell you vegetable oil based block conditioner that will eventually go rancid and smell like a dirty gym shoe at some point. (and they will charge you 20$ a bottle for it).
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I have used that Method wood cleaner and liked it, too. On the cherry darkening... I know it will darken, it's just that I would love it to be just a little different-looking than the cherry cabs it sits on. At the showroom, the John Boos cherry butcherblock finished with oil was several shades darker than the satin-varnished piece, which looked JUST like the natural cherry cabinets. So: I am trying to figure out if that darkening is something I coulod expect if I chose oil. I am leaning towards the Waterlox..... but would really like a little darker (or just different-looking?) top then cabinet bases. Does that make sense at all? Perhaps just being horizontal, it will darken more and look different?
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Wallycat, I keep getting those messages also. It started about two weeks ago, I think. Fortunately for me, my first post isn't actually posting like yours is. I've seen a spate of this type of re-posting recently.. Maybe a GW glitch? Perhaps someone should contact Tamra? Kompy--I received quotes on my black walnut island counter with sink from Boos, Craft-Art, and a couple of other places. In the end, I was nervous about the exactness of the sink cutout, placement, etc when constructing something from such a distance. I searched out and found a local woodworker who frequently makes counters. He took my prep sink to his shop in order to get the cutout perfectly perfect, and he did the install himself. Adding my runnels and an up-mounting of sorts with the sink so it wasn't undermounted as deeply as it would have been and hence making a deep sink even deeper, my total cost with install was just a bit less than my highest internet quote.
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lisacerniglia
13 years ago
I dealt with butcher block specialist via phone with WA area code. The counter actually shipped from IL.
artemis78
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks---sadly we are West Coast so no visit to the factory! I've actually found with a couple of things we've ordered online that they've shipped directly from the manufacturers, though---sounds like maybe that's what Butcher Block Specialist does, too. Interesting.

@yakkinyetti, did you cut your counter down at all, or order it to the size you needed? We have to cut ours, and I imagine we're going to need to reapply Varnique to the edge that gets cut, so wondering what's entailed in that, too. Hmm...more questions for them!
lisacerniglia
13 years ago
I ordered mine to size. I spoke with I think the name was Rob and gave exact dimensions with stovetop cutout specifics. I also had to fax a drawing showing exactly how I wanted it. My cutout is actually off center(to have a larger area to one side). I was very nervous until the final product arrived as I did the ordering and drawing of the measurements. I have ogee edges which is pretty cool.
My thought when I unpacked the counter is that is looks like a piece of furniture!
Lead time was about 5 weeks.
dickross
13 years ago
I used the 3" thick Boo's cherry countertops. I ordered them unfinished and cut them to size. and put a 3/4" roundover edge on them. Had to buy a New Makita 8 1/4" skill saw to cut 3" depth. I put 4 coats of tung oil top and bottom before installing. now I reoil maybe every 6 months or so.
A note on installing. I fastened one piece the recommended way with two screws near the back in oversize holes. then I thought What's the point? if the countertop moves 1/4" it messes up the caulking. The first piece didn't seem inclined to move at all, so the second piece just got put in place with no screws. neither piece has moved a bit. It's held in place just by it's own weight and caulking to the backsplash. If I was installing lighter thinner contertop I would glue under the back edge and let the front float.

Boo's cherry counter top is Steamed cherry. This darkens the color and spreads the color into the sapwood. It looks good but if you are trying to match other cherry woodwork, it looks a lot different than regular cherry.

Pure tung oil is food safe. I use polymerized tung oil from Lee Valley that is thinned with paint thinner. It is not advertised as food safe but the paint thinner evaporates in a day or so. Actualy Most finishes that dry are relatively safe. There is just not enough that actualy will get into food to cause a problem unless they are made with lead or arsenic.

Cherry is soft relative to maple butcher blocks. If you need to sand out digs or dings at some point, reoiling is a lot less trouble than Varnique or Waterlox.
jenny_indiana
13 years ago
chrisa62401, I think I'm close enough to drive! My husband visits Mattoon often for his business. Do you have an idea about the percentage of savings by purchasing in the store? This is great news!
jenny_indiana
13 years ago
Just checking in to see if Chrisa might see this thread.

:)

Anyone with John Boos wood counters? Varnique v. oil?

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lisacerniglia

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Anyone with John Boos wood counters? Varnique v. oil?

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lisacerniglia

chrisa62401

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