End Grain Checkerboard Butcher Block - Maple & Cherry
-
Materials:
Maple, Cherry
-
Finish:
Hard Wax Oil
-
Dims:
Care Instructions: Cutting Boards & Kitchen Utensils
These are real wood goods made by hand in Portland, Oregon. Treated right, they'll outlast everything else in your kitchen. Here's what you need to know.
Serving Boards, Cutting Boards & Butcher Blocks
Your board is solid hardwood. It doesn't need much. What it does need, it needs consistently. There are three things to know: how to clean it after every use, how to condition it when it starts looking thirsty, and how to refinish it when years of use catch up to it. Do those three things and this board will outlast you.
Daily Care
- Hand wash with hot soapy water right after use. A natural dish brush is ideal here: firm enough to scrub, gentle enough not to damage the finish. Don't let food sit.
- Wipe dry with a clean cloth and stand the board upright so air hits both sides. A wet board lying flat is a warping board.
- Coarse salt and half a lemon handle sanitizing after raw meat. The salt scrubs, the acid does the rest. Rinse, dry, done.
- No dishwasher. No soaking. No bleach or harsh detergents. No setting it next to the oven. No prolonged direct sunlight. We could keep going.
Conditioning
- Do it when the board looks lighter in color or feels dry to the touch. For boards in daily use, that's roughly every 4 to 8 weeks. The board will tell you.
- Use the AWG Board & Wood Conditioner: polymerized linseed oil and pure beeswax, food contact safe, the same finish we put on every board we make. Food-grade beeswax or a hard wax oil also work. Skip the mineral oil. It never fully cures and goes rancid.
- Burnish lightly with a soft cloth or 0000 steel wool. Apply a thin coat, just enough to see the wood shift from dry to saturated. Let it soak 60 minutes. Buff dry. Leave it 24 hours before using.
Refinishing
- Deep knife marks, stubborn staining, or a surface that just won't come clean: it's time to sand and start over. This is not a sign of failure. This is the whole point of a solid wood board.
- Start with 80-grit for serious damage, 120-grit for lighter work. Sand with the grain, never across it. Work up through 180 then 220 until smooth.
- Wipe all dust with a damp cloth, let it dry completely, then condition as above. It'll look new.
- Structural damage: a crack, a split, something beyond surface wear: reach out at afootwoodgoods.com/pages/contact. As long as we're building, we'll fix what we made.
Kitchen Utensils
The spatula, the spurtle, the scraper: whatever you bought, the care is simple. Three things: wash it right, condition it occasionally, and refinish it if it gets rough. Do those and a solid walnut spatula will last a decade of hard cooking.
Daily Care
- Hand wash only. Every time. Hot water, a little soap, and a natural dish brush if anything is stuck. Dishwashers wreck wood: the heat and soaking cycle will raise the grain, crack the handle, and strip the finish off anything made by an actual human.
- Don't let utensils soak. A few minutes resting in the pan is fine. An hour sitting in a bowl of water is not. Wood moves fast when it gets wet.
- Dry completely before putting them away. Store upright in the AWG Heron or Swan utensil holders, or flat in a dry drawer. Never store them wet or jammed into a container that traps moisture.
- Hot cast iron, carbon steel, high-heat searing: all fine. Open flame directly on the wood: not fine. Keep the blade in the pan, the handle out of the fire.
Conditioning
- When a spatula starts looking gray or feels rough, it needs oil. Rub a small amount of AWG Board & Wood Conditioner in with a cloth. Let it absorb 30 minutes. Buff dry. That's the whole job.
- Do this a few times a year or any time the wood looks tired. It takes two minutes and extends the life of the piece by years.
Refinishing
- Surface roughness, raised grain, light staining: all fixable. Light sand with 220-grit, wipe clean, re-oil. Don't go below 180-grit on utensils. The blade edges are thin and don't need the same aggressive approach as a board.
- When the blade gets too thin from repeated refinishing, or a crack develops along the grain, it's done its job. A spatula used hard enough to need refinishing three times lived a better life than one that never left the drawer.
The AWG Board & Wood Conditioner
The same finish that goes on every board and utensil we make, in a 3 oz tin for your kitchen drawer. Polymerized linseed oil and pure beeswax. No solvents. No petroleum. FDA-approved food contact safe. Available at afootwoodgoods.com or wherever you bought your board.
About the Wood
Every species behaves a little differently:
- Walnut: deepens and darkens with age and oiling. Light sapwood streaks blend in over time.
- Cherry: ages dramatically from pale salmon-pink to deep amber-red over years of light exposure. A cherry board you buy today will look completely different in five years. Better.
- Oregon White Oak: natural tyloses seal its pores, making it especially moisture resistant. Shows dramatic ray fleck patterns that shift in the light.
- Oregon Big Leaf Maple: pale and warm with swirling figure. No two boards look the same.
- Pacific Madrone: dense, orange-red, almost poreless. One of the hardest woods on the Oregon coast.
All FSC certified. All made in Portland.
The Repair Promise
AWG goods are built to last. But things happen. Drops, cracks, accidents. And sometimes the wood itself has other plans: a check that opens up over time, a knot that shifts, a crack that develops along the grain years down the road. That's wood being wood. If something fails due to craftsmanship, a defect, or the natural character of the material, reach out. As long as we're building, we'll do our best to fix what we made. No profit. No runaround.
100% Plastic-Free
100% Plastic-Free
Real, Solid Wood
Real, Solid Wood
Food Contact Safe
Food Contact Safe
End Grain
End Grain
Wood is Natural
Note: There will be variations of color, and wood grain, even when using the same species of wood resulting in a completely unique product.
Wabi Sabi
"The view or thought of finding beauty in every aspect of imperfection in nature." We love incorporating these natural imperfections whenever we can.
Craftsmanship
We make our goods to ensure they stick around. Good, old-fashioned craftsmanship is something the world needs more of. Quality over quantity. We promise to never sacrifice the quality or longevity of a product for the sake anything else.
Form & Function
Our goods will not only perform well at their function but will look good as they do it. They will put a smile on your face and soul. We don't want to make more of the same. The world needs more creativity, originality and quality.
Sustainable Wood
We only use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) wood that certifies the wood is harvested from responsibly managed, socially beneficial, environmentally conscious, and economically viable forests.
Support Your Local Makers
We proudly make our goods in the USA (unlike many Wall Street conglomerates) and whenever possible we source our materials locally. We love supporting our local community first and foremost. Shop small whenever you can and support your local artist/ makers.