As the name implies, a butcher’s block was originally a tool used by a butcher. The block is made of wood, commonly sugar maple, that has been bonded with glue together to form a thick block for cutting meat. The best butcher block is invariably made from hard woods.
Butcher’s blocks are made with the wood facing one of two ways. If the wood grain is perpendicular with the surface of the wood, it is called end grain and if it is parallel it is called edge grain. The way the wood faces effects the quality and cost of the butchers block.
End grain butcher’s block is the preferable style of butchers block as it helps to keep cleavers sharper. With most end grain butcher block being over four inches in thickness, eng grain butchers blocks are very tough and durable. Even repeated blows by large meat cleavers do not harm these blocks. On occasion, the surface may need to be re-planed and re oiled, but this does not remove any appreciable amount of the total thickness of the block. This invariably makes the best chopping board.
Edge grain blocks are made of rails of woos that may be full length or jointed in construction. While these blocks are also durable, they are less durable than blocks constructed with the end grain exposed.
Up until the 1880s, butcher’s cut meat on tree rounds, which were a section of a tree trunk that was set on legs. These predecessors of the butcher block would often crack and meat waste and blood could collect in these cracks to form a breeding ground for bacteria. The welded construction of the butcher’s block makes cracking much less likely. Maple Wood provides the right hardness for durability, yet is not so hard as to dull knife blades. Even with today’s high standards, butchers blocks are considered sanitary.