At the end of the day most butchers give their block a good scrub with a
stiff wire brush & soapy water to get rid of all the blood and grease that
has soaked in during the day. Thats how they get the nice curved surface.


"doityourself" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a solid wood restaurant butcher block table whch measures 24" X
24" X 10" thick. I found it thrown out on the sidewalk. I am really
excited about restoring it. Before I ask for help have a look at it
he http://www.flickr.com/photos/daliaandasaf/sets/1690170/

the butcher block has a lot of character (such as knife marks, dents
and has also gotten a nice color from all the grease and oils it came
into contact with) and I want to preserve that somehow. Putting
function slightly aside, I look at this from a slightly more artistic
perspective. I can see this as a piece of furniture.. a
chess/backgammon table or something for example or as a kitchen island
or just a stand alone piece of furniture somewhere. I love furniture
that has some kind of life and story to it.

Its really dirty and kind of nasty at the moment. Can someone offer
some suggestions about which solvents i can use to clean it
thogroughly? I'm thinking denatured alcohol / mineral spirits but will
that be tough enough to clean it?

In terms if bringing this to life, I think sanding it would ruin its
character no?
Given the knife marks and the sag that you can see in two sides it
would be sort of a disconnect to look at that as freshly sanded and
sort of homogenously colored dont you think?.

Though I picture sanding it and adding a linseed oil to it could look
pretty damn cool but once you go the sanding route you gotta commit,
theres no way back. Do you think a very fine grit sandpaper could do
the trick of cleaning it up without taking the color off?

What are your thoughts? Can you see what i'm driving at about wanting
to keep its character? I dont have much expericne with this, i usually
sand things until i get the original wood and then completely refinish
it. One person i asked suggested to leave it as it and buff it with a
paste wax a few times a year.

All you experienced woodworkers out there send me your suggestions !
Thanks so much!