One Piece End Grain

Wasn't quite sure where to post this question but here goes. I was wondering why end grain cutting boards seem to always be made up of a lot of small blocks.

I've read that the larger the blocks, the better. If that's true, then why not just use one cross section? I imagine it would be much much more expensive but I was wondering if there was another reason.

good question

one of the reasons is to use odd sizes wood from leftovers. I prefer the single piece end grain which is devoid of any glue which is hard...

It can still crack at the corners/ edge and wld be difficult to sell and the whole piece wld become scrap and hopefully you can cut it usalvage the piece for something else

rgds z

sherryberry said:

... why not just use one cross section? I imagine it would be much much more expensive but I was wondering if there was another reason.

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For a board of any size its just impractical. First the board would have to fit into the cross-section of the tree. Second you'd have to manage to dry that piece without checks (cracks along the grain) which is very hard, perhaps impossible, to do. Then, you'd still have to deal with the different regions of the cross-section, (unless the board was small and the tree huge,) having different characteristics. Lastly, it would need to be very thick to have enough strength to keep the board from splitting. (There's a reason you cut firewood one direction and split it the other.)

The only single piece "boards" I've seen are very rustic cross-sections bound with metal bands and probably 8"+ thick. Heavy, round, and not matching the typical kitchen's decor seems like a very small market.

Butcher blocks have been made this way for at least 140+ years. Probably longer. Both Boos and Michigan Maple Block have been around since the 1880's. There was no lumber conservation at that juncture. Northern hardwoods were plentifull. The primary reasons were already mentioned. The wood needed to be dried to have a stable product. The smaller the cuts the faster the drying process. Smaller pieces also offered strength in areas of high humidity. The whole glue Vs larger pieces tidbit was long on conjecture and short on substance. Unless a maker is using some sub-standard product then IMO the amount of glue within normal industry standards was pretty much moot. If you are using products from China where manufacturing materials are largely an unknown then I'd be far more concerned about the wood itself than the glue.
I'm not sure exactly how long both Boos and MMB made the Monarch style butcher counters (100+ years?) but they were still of the same construction. The primary difference was the wood pieces on those blocks were 4" - 16" thick depending on what the customer ordered. Also if you were going to use end grain the diameter of the board in a single piece would have been restricted to the diameter of the tree and even when Virgin timber was being cut I doubt Mother Nature produced very many perfect trees that would have made any sort of production volume practical.

Unless they are very thick, single piece boards have a tendency to warp or cup. Large block multi piece boards are actually stronger and stay flatter than single piece boards because you can arrange the grain patterns in a way that encourages them to stay flat all the time.

Logs are usually sawed up into lumber, so there's probably not great availability of huge cross cut pieces of a big diameter tree trunk for full end grain blocks. Of course, there are rustic blocks that are like that, I think if you look hard enough for them, you can find them for sale.

There are also issues in drying green wood that is cut as big cross cut pieces. If you ever cut a tree up and let it sit, you'll see it cracks a bunch because of the stresses from drying. Essentially the end grain exposed sides will dry faster and the stresses from uneven drying and shrinkage cause the wood to crack. If you want to keep big cross sections intact, then you'll need to slow down the drying process and then the drying time is not economical compared to cutting the usual lumber and drying those slabs/boards.

JohnnyChance said:

Unless they are very thick, single piece boards have a tendency to warp or cup. Large block multi piece boards are actually stronger and stay flatter than single piece boards because you can arrange the grain patterns in a way that encourages them to stay flat all the time.

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Yes, this is the answer. Single piece cross sections are simply not dimensionally stable.
Slab style edge grains are more common if you want a big chunk of wood.

Sitka spruce is a huge tree and readily gives up such large single slab boards.
I think they are on A frames for anyone curious.

in my region.. South East Asia... Burmese Yellow Heart.. locally known as tembusu has been used traditionally used as a chopping board.. hard enough and not too soft and you dont get wood fibers when you chop or cut. Used by the butchers, chicken and pork sellers and the hawker stalls.They are not commercially grown.... free harvesting by the locals or indigenous people/ tribes. These days with wood becoming expensive... any large trees are gazetted by the authorities or deemed protected and with the right motivation, permits wld be issued... save for the indigenous people who goes into the jungle to look for such trees. you dont want to mess up with anyone in a deserted forests.. They have to go deeper and deeper into the forest each year ...

yes.. all green wood need to be dried properly. If you are fortunate... they come across a fallen tree and it has dried naturally and the wood is suitably dry enough for immediate use.. other than that.. slowly let it dry up to teh moisture level in the air.

From my limited experience most of them are about 1.5 to 2 inches thick for general/home use. Seems stable enough...Butchers normally ask for 4 to 6 inches thick most often requested is 16 to 18 inches diameter. Round shape. . My round shape John Boos... a few places at glued "joints" hv come apart slightly. I just sand it... put the saw dust in and add super glue to fill up the "open area" to avoid food trappings or food juices getting into it.

hv fun z

You can buy them. I have one similar to this that i purchased at my local Asian super market. We use it all the time. Its definately more pours than my butcher block and warps a bit more but it was cheap as hell.

http://wokshop.stores.yahoo.net/choppingblock.html