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Cleaning Butcher Block Cutting Board

last year

For those that have one of the large butcher block cutting boards (the 2-3 inch thick ones) - how do you do daily maintenance? I understand the need to oil/season as needed but after each daily use of just cutting random veggies/fruit, etc do you need to bring to the sink and wash each time or can it just be wiped down if the board is properly oiled already?

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Comments (4)

Verbo
last year
Separate veggie use from meat use boards. Never mix use, ever. Salt and a lemon. Scrub. Quick rinse. Allow to thoroughly dry.
gardengrl66 z5
last year
I wipe down if it has only been used for veggies. Otherwise salt/lemon works but I use soap. Because I am lazy and just want to do all the dishes with the same thing :) You will need to oil more frequently as the soap will pull some of the oils out of the wood. But so long as you don't really scrub at it (which you shouldn't have to do) it is not a big problem.
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I have a very large island of butcherblock (dragging it to the sink for a scrub is not a possibility). Like leahcate, I don't cut meat on it. Frankly, I wipe it down, scrubbing hard at any gunk left (like from rolling out pizza dough) and use hot water and a clean dishrag. Every now and then I bleach it (really, really seldom). I do make sure I oil it regularly so the wood is not thirsty. I won't reopen the debate over antibacterial qualities, but I have read enough about what goes on inside the wood to feel safe with my practices. I have been working like this (with a super big cutting surface) for at least the past 10 years; my grandfather used butcherblock his whole life. Good luck!
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Recommendations? Don't do it. If you don't sand out all of the existing scratches very thoroughly before staining, then more pigment will lodge inextricably in the remaining scratches. This will look bad. If you manage to refinish the counter successfully and then start using it as a cutting board, you will soon cut through the stained wood in places. This will also look bad. Even setting food safety aside, a cutting board is just the wrong place for stain.
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Thanks, casey and bobs, for your responses. I think I will stop at 150 grit and then apply mineral oil. Yes, it will be a working board, so it'll get sliced and diced daily. Today I looked at new cutting boards being sold at Williams-Sonoma, and they were quite rough--certainly no smoother than mine is now. Their display tables, on the other hand, had sealed butcher block tops that had been sanded, as Casey describes, to a silky sheen. Thanks again!
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Comments (2)
Amy, use a magnet to make sure no metal is inside just to make sure and you can cut it if there is no metal. Most cutting boards you find in-home use, held together with food-safe glue. The heavy-duty butcher blocks you see inside meat markets, or butcher shops, on which they use mallets to pound meat or a cleaver to chop through bone, ribs, etc these butcher blocks are reinforced and held together with metal rods that run through them. But these butcher blocks are heavy, and usualy anywhere from 8-18" thick.
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lanikaicoconut
last year
I rinse if it's been just used for dry fruits and veggies like cucumbers, apples. If used for wet fruits/ veggies (like tomatoes and watermelon) I will use dish soap. I keep my cutting boards stacked using an acrylic file folder organizer out on the counter on a drying rack because I use it multiple times a day. I'm too lazy to dry and put away. Definitely not channeling my inner Marie Kondo here.

I use plastic for meats/seafood because I can throw it in a dishwasher for sanitary purposes.
Sarah P
Original Author
last year
Thank you everyone!!

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