butcher block

[Gary T. Heller]

How do you treat a butcher block? I remember reading something about just using cooking oil.

[papadan]

Cooking oil will turn ranced in short order, you have to scrub it and reapply often. Check out sites like www.rockler.com (http://www.rockler.com) or www.woodcraft.com (http://www.woodcraft.com) and get some salad bowl finish. Made just for this purpose.

[hewood]

Mineral oil should be fine also, but as Papadan pointed out, there are oils made specifically for that purpose.

[imported_wbrooks]

I like the food grade pure Tung oil from Lee Valley, made a board out of cherry for a friend and it still looks great and requires minimal care.
LV TUNG OIL (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=20049&category=1,190,42942)

[Gary T. Heller]

O.K, thanks for the tips and have a Merry Christmas.