The Latest Info On Wood Block

Ordered exactly what I expected. 2 blocks of wood so my boyfriend could practice whittling before he gets into shapes. Shipping was fast.

Told boyfriend he was getting sticks in his stocking and that’s exactly what he got. Bought the whittling kit on Amazon too to go along with his “sticks”.

To me butternut is the best wood for carving. It is easy to work and it is easy to paint.

I wanted to respond to problems mentioned by some purchasers regarding cracks and splitting of their butcher block cutting boards. These are end grain blocks. This is nice because it proves to be a soft surface for your knife edge, prolonging its sharpness and the resulting cuts on the board surface do not show if you keep the block oiled. It is problematic because wood cells run longitudinally parallel to the trunks long dimension. Thus the long dimension of these wood cells wind up being perpendicular to the cutting surface. These cells are what transport water and nutrients up the trunk over time in successive layers. Essentially they act as straws that suck in moisture. The surface of your end grain cutting block is essentially acting like tens of thousands of cut straws that suck in moisture when they get dry.

If there is an uneven ability to absorb moisture between the two end grain surfaces caused by one surface being more exposed to moisture than the other, one surface will absorb more moisture and differential movement in the wood will result which causes forces the bend, twist and can crack wood. This is the core of cracking problems in blocks like this. Another cause is that there are so many glue joints to join all the small pieces together in a block like this and the depth of the glue joints is not great ~ 2″ on my catskill block. The more glue joints you have in anything built with wood, the more opportunities there are for joint failure due to stress forces developed in the wood by differential water/moisture absorption. Wood moves with changes in water content.

So, lots of exposed end grain, lot’s opportunity to absorb water. Lots of glue joints, lots of opportunity for joint failure due to internal movement caused by moisture absorption increase the risk of failure. Relatively thin (2-3″ depth of cutting boards) end grain blocks are great but inherently problematic no matter who makes them.

What I was surprised by when I got my Catskill block was that is was bone dry. I kind of thought this was not a good way to ship something that was going to be sitting for days in hot trucks. My board soaked up an entire bottle of the oil I got from Catskill and wanted more.

The best way to care for these is to oil them regularly and not let them sit wet at all. I now use common food safe mineral oil available from any drug store for under $3 a pint, and this is the oil commonly used by manufacturers. You need to do both sides, regularly. Keep a bottle with your olive oil and other cooking oils and use it on both sides of your board frequently. This will minimize problems, but not necessarily prevent all of them in my view. Wood is going to move. When it moves, it generates stresses within the wood. Those stresses cause cracks and joint failure over time. Wiping your board dry when it gets wet and regularly applying oil will minimize problems, keep the board looking great, and provide a very functional beautiful piece for your kitchen despite small failures.

Best of luck.

This is a really well made cutting board and should last a lifetime. Be aware, however, that it is extremely heavy but with all of its mass it still can slide around on your counter unless you place a towel under it. Also, at 3 inches thick you should consider that it will effectively “lower” your body to the cutting surface and might be a bit uncomfortable, particularly for short people.

This block was an upgrade from the 9 slot J.A. Henckels I owned. I bought this since I just bought 8 steak knives with it. The only space I haven’t used is the big one. Since they don’t make the clevear anymore for twin cuisine line. It looks great and is smaller than what the picture looks like.

As others have mentioned, this is a good looking slicer. Unfortunately, it has not been durable. I’ve had this product for something over a year, and over that time the cutting wire has stretched badly. It is no longer able to make even slices, or even cut though to the bottom of the cheese block. There is no way to tighten the wire.

Mine works just great …

The silver or chrome came off of the handle.
It was wrinkled and had bubbles.
I assumed it was a protective sheet and when I went to remove it, I discovered that it was a chrome coating job done terribly.
I would buy again and I still feel lucky since some buyers got a wire that was too long.
I would send them back for a complete replacement if purchased from amazon.
It really does cut like butter if and when quality control does there job.

I love this knife storage block. There are so many slots of varying sizes and I am now able to store all of my odd shaped knives. The angle keeps the block a bit farther away from the wall than an upright one, but doesn’t really take up too much extra space. The wood is beautiful and you can’t beat the price. I have a very long knife that I keep in the top slot which gives it more room in length. The lower slots can be used for steak knives or odd short utility knives. I highly recommend this block.