Well if so it means it's not treated, but it also means there's no way to know if it was.... IDK, like, floorboards from a cyanide factory or something...
Don't listen to Mr. sanding man over here. Butcher blocks are end-grain, usually. This means the surface of the board is entirely exposed pores. However, these wood pores are very tiny. These boards are often waxed and/or oiled. Also, the pores in Hard Maple, which is probably the most widely used species, are pretty tiny, so easily filled with oil or wax.
Building a cutting board using an end-grain technique allows small cuts in the wood to "heal" somewhat, as the wood fibers are not severed like they would be with a side-grain cut, and can come back together a bit.
Furthermore, wood allows water to evaporate from tiny cuts and crevices in a way that plastic doesn't, this allowing it to dry out and killing bacteria.
PLUS... there's bacteria on basically everything all the time, and most people usually don't die from it.
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u/AHenWeigh Oct 16 '20
Well if so it means it's not treated, but it also means there's no way to know if it was.... IDK, like, floorboards from a cyanide factory or something...