I was walking around New York City circa 2014 when I stumbled across a store called ABC off Broadway St in Union Square. I found this vintage butcher block table there that I fell in love with. I always thought that it would fit beautifully in a small NY kitchen. A New York kitchen that I never owned 😂. The store had lots of beautiful items, all insanely priced. This table they were asking about $3000.00 usd for.
ABC is not really a place where I would go shopping but I certainly would go to get ideas and see inspiration
Fast forward a few years to 2022 and now I am living in Italy.
I was told Facebook market place is the best equivalent to ‘Craigslist’ in the USA. A website called Subito is also similar. So far, facebook market place has really been the best place to find furniture pieces and even real estate not listed by estate agents. My antique markets are good for random items and things I did not know I wanted 😂
I found these two beautiful vintage butcher block tables on facebook market place. They both had been neglected for a number of years… but nothing I couldn’t fix with a little elbow grease and imagination. I purchased both of these items and had them delivered for €400.
Purchasing,
I remember the lady I was purchasing them from lived near Gallipoli. She was very sweet via text. I think it was obvious that I was using Google translate and struggling to communicate.
My husband and I were having an issue getting to Gallipoli because its over an hour away and we share a car. Well I didn’t even think about how large these items were to process getting them back. I just knew I wanted them… So I offered to pay her to deliver the butcher blocks but she needed her son to do this. The lady really needed the cash and I felt bad that she was holding the tables for me. So I did what I would not recommend anyone do – I sent her a ‘bonifico’.
bonifico ~ is basically an instant wire transfer.
I will not lie, never having met this woman and not knowing if she would actually ship the tables made me a little nervous but in the end, she was very grateful that I had enough trust in her to wire money with never meeting her or seeing the items. I was grateful that when the butcher block tables finally arrived that I had paid someone to deliver them because these damn things are HEAVY!!! Ha
Butcher Block restoration numero uno
The yellow butcher block table was 70cm X 70 cm. The rustic wood block was 30cm x 30cm. Both about 90cm tall. I wanted the smaller block for the townhouse in Ostuni. The large block is for myself. =)
This is the Yellow butcher block. Originally from a company named BLOKVLAK and appears to still be in business today. The company is based out of the Netherlands and specialize in ‘Hygienic work furniture’.
This is the block I started restoring first. Here, my first step is to remove the old layers of wax that had built up on the top. I originally did not want to use a chemical stripper but the block actually had a mold growing in some of the chipped surface areas.
Once I noticed the Mold, it was game over. The hard chemicals came out in force. I covered the top of this butcher block in a ‘decerante’ (in Italian). This is basically a wax remover or paint stripper. I chose to use my trusted source “StripGel” from amazon. I left this product on the table for about 20 minutes after each application. I applied this twice. In between applications I took a wire brush and scraper to the top of the block to help loosen the wax.
Once most of the wax was gone, I went back over the entire table with dawn dish soap and warm water. I washed the table thoroughly to make sure the mold and chemicals were gone. I let the table dry for almost a week before sanding and washing the debris away. Not because it needed a week but I was out traveling and it was a nice ‘mini’ vacation before coming back to finish my projects. I let the table dry for two days after sanding.
Finally it was time to add the finishing oil. I choose to use pure tung oil. Some people hate this for the amount of time it takes to cure. I on the other hand… had nothing but time. So I applied a heavy coating to the entire block. After I applied the oil I let it sit to absorb. I checked back every 2-3 hours and added more oil to the spots that were bare or dry looking. I did this over two days. When I tell you this block absorbed oil… I was shocked. 😳
Once I was satisfied that the oil had absorbed deep into the butcher blocks core, I let the table dry for about three weeks while I tackled butcher block number 2.
Butcher Block restoration numero due
As you can see from the disassembled pieces, the block just sits on the table legs. It is stabilized mainly by its weight. The additional 4 wooden slats sitting on top of the block are basically boarder trim. It does prevent the block from sliding if you add to much finishing oil ( which I will discuss later. Lol)… but the top does not get secured to the base.
Time to start sanding! I started with an 80 grit paper and a mouse sander. I did not want to reshape the old block. I actually liked the blocks ‘used’ appearance. Though I had to remove the chipped wood and rough edges from the sides. I also had to remove what appeared to some discoloration in the wood on the verticale grooves which could have been more mold.
Note: you usually will need to strip off old wax before sanding butcher blocks like this. As I did on block #1. This specific piece did not have any wax or oils to strip. It was just raw wood that had been left to weather outside when I received it
After everything was sanded, I knew that my townhome was not going to have a lot of drawers or a pantry. Especially for food storage. I thought building a few small rustic crates that fit under the block would make a great place to store root vegetables and a few pantry items.
I went to Leroy Merlin to buy a few piece of slat wood. Measured my opening in the table legs and took my table saw ( as that’s all I had available) to trim the slats down to size. I proceeded to create 3 custom drawers for the butcher block. After I finished I realized that I loved this idea and built a drawer from butcher block number 1 as well!
To get the color to match with the new slats and the old butcher block was the most creative part of the process. I needed to take brand new wood and quickly age it to make it match the table and legs that had been exposed to the elements for years. For this process I took steel wool and apple sider vinegar. I mixed about 1 cup of apple sider vinegar with 3-4 steel wool rolls. Make sure to take each piece of steel wool and rip them apart to give the vinegar enough space to touch the wool and oxidize. This is the solution you will put on new wood. For a better description read ‘Gadgets and Grains’ blog here.
Note: There are a few changes I had to make to the ‘aging solution. I used Apple Cider Vingar
1) The blog says to let the solution sit for 1 hour. For me, I let the solution sit for 24 hours. When I check the solution after 1 hour, I only had minor changes and it was not enough to match my wood.
2) The blog also states you will see changes in the wood immediately. For me, I did not see any change at all for 15-20 minutes. Again, to get the full affect I waited almost 24 hours. Have patience!
Frankly… I think the solution and the crates turned out perfect. The solution provided an exact match! Though, as usual when I am restoring a piece of furniture, I forget something…. I did not take into account that I needed to oil and wax seal the butcher block. This always changes the color of wood.
I knew that I wanted to use pure tongue oil as I used on the first butcher block. After finishing the drawers, I applied a thick layer of tung oil just like I did on butcher block number 1. I even checked the piece every 2-3 hours and added more oil to dry spots. Again I did this over two days. After the application I left the block dry for a week. I did the same process on the crates but I used two different types of wood. Thus my crates will not match my block without using an actual stain.
During this time I came up with an idea (via Pinterest) that both tables needed knife holders. Because, your butcher block needs a knife holder right? Well I thought so! I ended up taking scrap wood and cutting it down to size on my table saw. I took a router to the edges to inlay pieces of the slat wood from building the creates. I then found wood stains to match each piece.
For block number two, the block is much more rustic looking and a clean board did not look good on the butcher block. Here I took a wire brush attached to my drill and a wood chisel. I beat and scored the wood pretty good to give the appears of aging.
After everything was finished I added leather handles to the drawers as the finishing touch! You would have thought that I would go back and stain the wood drawers darker on butcher block #2 to match as well… because I clearly had the stain to create the knife holder. Sadly that thought did not even cross my mind until I started typing this blog 😂 … so I will go back and do this before the butcher block gets placed in my townhome.
Do you love them or do you have no taste? Because I love them! 🥰😍
Thanks for checking out my two butcher blocks! I cannot wait for you to see the final design in the townhouse once its finished.