The pastry setup sounds nice. Over most of our top, I just use liberal
amounts of mineral oil--it's amazing how much it will absorb. There
is a (home made) copper sink in the middle of the counter top, and I
did apply two or three coats of Poly in the area where the fixtures
come through the top. This was to protect the wood from the
inevitable seepage from the fixtures. The color in the Poly area is
lighter and less rich than the oiled part, but it doesn't look bad.
This is a potting table for us, and it gets heavy use. I'm not sure a
finish coating would survive. For your app, it might.

Based on the area I did Poly, it just doesn't look authentically
butcher-blockish to me.

"Bernard Randall" wrote in message ...
"ed_h" wrote in message
om...
I made a true (end-grain) butcher block counter top. It's 3 inches
thick and about 10 feet long--nearly 500 individual blocks of 8/4
random width rock maple. I think the end grain stains more readily
than edge grain would, but stains add character by showing it gets
used, right?


snip
Ed,
I did 2 3'x2'x2" with a 2'6" lump of granite between the two for pastry,
finished with 'good stuff', but as you say stains very easily. Thinking
about re-finishing with something a bit more resistant, any suggestions?

Bernard R