Whirligig

When my middle son took wood shop in school, he made for me a butcher block cutting board. It is one of my most prized possessions, though it is very well worn. I use it nearly every day to cut bread, fruits and vegetables. For meat, fish and poultry, I use a different board that can be popped in the dishwasher. After I use the wooden board, I rinse it with hot water, wipe it off and let it air dry. Once in a while I scrub it with coarse salt and half a lemon. Lately, though, I’ve noticed it’s been looking rather shabby. Yesterday I pulled the hand belt sander out of the garage and ran it liberally over both sides of the board. It didn’t remove all the knife scars, but it did smooth things out a lot. Then I cleaned off the sawdust and rubbed in a liberal amount of mineral oil. Voilà! Almost like new!