Teakhaus End Grain Butcher Block

So this is the most amazing cutting board ever. But it cracked. So now it’s the two most amazing cutting boards ever, and I’ve learned my lesson. When I bought this, I was terrifically excited. Gorgeous egg grain teak, nicely finished, great durability. I used mineral oil fairly religiously, kept in a spray bottle under the sink, same as I use for soapstone counters, just more frequent. Kept it on my countertop all the time because it was so dang massive I didn’t know where else to put it. And that is the beginning of the drama, and of me learning a thing or two. Every few days, maybe once a week, I would find it had begun to warp, raising up in the middle. “Aha!” I would say to myself, “it’s drying out, I need to oil it more!” and so I would, and it would always thirstily soak up whatever I put on it. The drying cycle was much worse in the winter when the air is very dry here in New England — dry noses, skin, etc. my wife made fun of me for the amount of effort I put in, but I loved this cutting board for everything - meat cleaver, onions, herbs, chopping vegetables, it is a real gorgeous centerpiece and hugely functional if you have the counter space. Imagine my dismay when after 2 years, I got lazy and didn’t oil it for a few weeks and... one night I hear a tremendous CRACKing noise, come downstairs, and after searching for an hour finally find the cutting board has cracked. “Crapola!” I say to myself, “after all that effort!” So finally, I do my research. First I cut the thing into two pieces (luckily the crack was parallel to the short side). It wasn’t that I was oiling it too little, it’s that when I wiped it down I was letting it sit in a small amount of water. No wiping the counter afterwards would ever be enough. Any amount of water trapped underneath would leach in, and when it evaporated would cause the bowing. Enough bowing and it would naturally crack. Simple physics. So now I have two smaller boards which make for a lovely cheese serving tray and a gift for my son in law, and I’ve bought a new one. They don’t bow nearly as much, because I found the secret. Keep it on top of a folded kitchen towel, and pick it up to dry out once every few days! Oil it once every week or two. It drinks up so much less oil now that I keep it on a towel. You can’t beat understanding the physics. And if you doing understand the physics, they will beat you every time. It’s not the cutting board’s fault if it cracks, you (& I) are just not maintaining it right. If you want a cutting board to to be maintenance free & impervious, buy something made of petrochemicals or glass. This is wood. Treat it right, I’m confident it will last a lifetime. It broke and I still love it.