Wood has been used as a food preparation surface for centuries. In fact large tree rounds (crosscut section of a tree trunk) were used throughout the 1800’s and were sometimes wrapped with heavy metal loops to keep cracking and splitting to a minimum. Wood offers many advantages over other materials as a food preparation surface. With advantages come some disadvantages as well. Wood is dynamic and is affected by ambient conditions that can cause wood to change shape and deteriorate. In general, moisture is wood’s worst enemy. A low relative humidity can cause wood to dry and shrink, while a higher relative humidity can cause wood to swell. The cracking and splitting in the tree rounds were a contamination and deterioration disadvantage.

A Pork-Butcher's Shop Seen from a Window - Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

To counter this problem, during the late 1800’s, several companies started to build what were originally called “Sanitary Meat Blocks”. These blocks were usually made with hard maple and constructed by a process called lamination. This technique involves taking evenly cut strips or blocks of wood and gluing the pieces together to form a much larger section. The modern butcher block was usually made very large and thick, to create a stable working surface. One that would not move when a large slab of meat was thrown onto it. Also, once the surface became worn out, it could be planed and sanded to rejuvenate the block. Additionally, a professional butcher could use this thick block for a very long time. It was not uncommon for an apprentice to buy a sanitary meat block and use it his entire career.