Many finishes sold as "oil finishes" are, in fact, oil/varnish mixes, so don't waste your time unless you're sure that what you want to apply is substantially different than what's already there. I'm not familiar with the finish that Boos uses and can't comment on how hard it is to remove, but the rumor of easy sandability sounds believable.

As Jon mentioned many finishes are combination of oil and varnish. Behlen's "Salad Bowl" finish comes to mind as an example.

Why do you want to remove the old finish?

Mike

I'm just beginning to understand something about finishes. Butcher blocks (boards and tops) generally have an oil finish: you renew it by rubbing in more oil (food safe oil, no varnish). these surfaces can be used for food preparation including cutting, which is what I want to do.

The Varnique finish is a harder, shinier, finish, that you cannot cut on, as it would ruin both your knives and the top. Boos also says that you should not put glasses filled with water, etc, on the top as these will also ruin the finish. If you tried to put oil on this top now, it would just sit on the surface. Boos says these tops can be renewed with their "EZ-DO Wipe on polyurethane gel." no further description.

I have the opportunity now to exchange the table for one that has an oil finish. The only reason I hesitate is that the one I have has some desirable features that I would not get on the oil-finished table. Also it's nice to have the legs, drawers and lower shelves finished with a harder finish than oil; only the top needs the oil finish. So, I could continue with the table I have, but I would put glasses and wet objects on it, pretty much using it as a food prep table, but not cut directly on it. At some point, I would probably want to sand the Varnique finish off the top. That's why I'm asking if it could be sanded off fairly easily. I'm also wondering how the varnique finish would look after I've used it a while like this, and before sanding.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like you're dealing with a fairly typical synthetic wiping varnish, though I doubt that cutting on it will damage your knives. Pretty much any finish will be damaged by cutting on it. The finish you've got may not be certified as officially food-safe, but safety is very unlikely to be a serious problem with it. The bigger problem would probably be appearance, because regularly wiping on more coats of the stuff would rapidly build a thick, plasticy film in some places while tending to stay worn down and dull in others. Pure oil finishes are better for frequent recoating because they don't contain the resins that cause varnishes to build a film so rapidly. So yes, a pure oil finish would probably be a good choice. Yes, it's good to have the other finish on the rest of the piece for the sake of water resistance, and yes, it's likely to be fairly easy to remove the varnish you've got now with either sanding or a cabinet scraper.

Hi,
if the underside is also finished, and if this top is less than, say, 8 inches thick, you would need to remove the finish on the bottom to make sure both sides are finished the same. Reason being that you want both sides to absorb/expel moisture at the same rate to avoid warping.
Casey

In theory, at least, Casey is right that having any given slab of wood finished the same on both sides is ideal. In practice there are many situations, this one included, where it won't make much difference. Factors that affect only the top side, like direct sunlight and exposure to water, pretty much eliminate your chances of having a perfectly balanced, tension-free structure anyhow. The world won't end.

Just from a brief reading at Boos' website it seems to me that the "varnique" is more of a "decorative" rather than "functional" finish. In other words you need to use a cutting board just like you would with a traditional countertop.

The best course of action may be to call Boos and ask for advice. I'd think the finish could be sanded off with relative ease, if that's the course of action you want to take.

There's no hand applied finish that would damage a knife. Now some of the factory applied floor finishes (e.g. Pergo) are exceedingly hard but you can't touch them up at home.

Mike

thanks all. I've decided to keep the one I have, and take my chances with the finish. I'll let you know how it works out.

Did you ever try to sand the Boos "varnique" finish? I am looking at buying one of their pieces, and I see where this could be a problem. It almost sounds like a piece of fine furniture in the kitchen. The surface would have to be more forgiving than that for my family!

What did you end up doing?

Rita

here's how things stand almost two years later. I have used one end of the work table for cutting food and have treated pretty much the entire table as a counter top. The area where I cut shows numerous criss-cross knife marks, which are darker than the surrounding area. Other areas show dark scratches, cuts, blotches, etc. I have not yet tried thoroughly sanding the entire top. I did sand a small area and then applied butcher block oil. in this area there are still light and dark areas. the varnique finish apparently contains a stain which is lighter than the wood, and a more thorough sanding would be necessary to remove the finish.

wouldn't it be wonderful if people just told you what they were using instead of making up hoo-haa names to apply a certain mystique to what is an ordinary and well-known process?

If you are cutting on it, you do not want a film-forming finish as it will soon be cut through and start fracturing and letting liquid water through, accelerating peeling etc. Most "butcher block" finishes are either straight mineral oil, or mineral oil with about 10-12% paraffin wax in it.

Faster and less likely to damage that starting off with a sander of some sort is to use a cabinet scraper to remove superficial damage. I did this for a lady a few years ago whose tenants cut into her pristine tops. I thought her eyes were going to pop out when she saw the bushel of shavings when she walked into the kitchen after about 15 minutes. Her husband called that evening and said they looked wonderful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oil Finishes

If it were up to me, I would probably just buy an oil finished butcher block counter top in the first place. You definitely don't want to be cutting on the varnique finish as it will scratch and may cause damage later on if water gets into it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Butcher Block

Mally, I'd love to know, as I'm sure other posters would, too, how your butcher block counter is doing all these years later?

We recently bought a John Boos "Calais" American Heritage Collection butcher block table second hand, in like-new condition. Evidently, as I'm now learning, it has the Varnique finish on the maple block top. (This is an older, out of stock style, and anything I could find on the internet about it never really point-blank mentions the Varnique finish...) As we had originally planned to use the table as an ACTUAL BUTCHER BLOCK in our kitchen, it's a little disheartening to learn about their finishes and what they recommend them to be used and not used for. Granted, we can always use this table for baking-related projects, but we're having granite counter tops installed so, it feels rather redundant. We can use cutting boards on the JB table but I'd love to know how your table is holding up all these years later including the area on it where you used it to cut things? Any thoughts in hindsight? Did you eventually sand it all down and just use mineral oil and conditioner on it from that point forward?? Thank you in advance!

Hi, I was just wondering what you finally about your table? I have one that I picked up a few years ago with the Varnique finish and would like to refinish the top but haven't been able to find and definitive information😕 Thanks!

We decided to use ours for baking and decorative function. We store cutting boards in a rack below it and everyone in our house knows to cut on those and not directly on the surface. I do like that it always looks nice and presentable. I like the mix of wood tones in my kitchen, too. My husband uses the Varnique surface for baking projects and that has worked out well. If we had used it as an actual butcher block, I'm sure I would have appreciated the patina that would have provided to our kitchen, too, however, we cook a lot of ethnic foods so inevitably there would have been sweet things un-intentionally tasting of garlic, onions and all that. We have a built-in butcher carving station next to our stove (part of the existing kitchen cabinetry we kept after we moved in & renovated) that disappears back into the base cabinet when not needed. That is our compromise on leaving the butcher block with the Varnique intact. From what I was able to find online (and this goes for regular & vintage used butcher blocks as well that are re-sold) you can sand down the surface area and have the wood [re]exposed but you need to seal the heck out of it with mineral oil and a wood conditioner (a very labor intensive and time consuming process) and then treat it regularly on an ongoing basis. Each finish has it's pro's and con's. I might suggest you use it with cutting boards and see what you think before making any big changes? You can always sand away the finish, later, if you think you would prefer it as a regular chopping block. But it would be harder to go back to a Varnique finish if you later decided you liked that better (if that makes sense?). Also, in sanding down the top layer, you risk losing the John Boos logo which most folks enjoy having visible. My mom has a 40 year old freestanding

square John Boos actual butcher chopping block that really needs to be refinished but she doesn't want to lose the JB name burned onto the side. (I have no idea why they have to sand down that far and on the sides but there you have it.)

Below is our table...

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I actually contacted John Boos customer service yesterday and they gave me some information on the refinishing process for the Varnique finish along with a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj2Sd9-kl2A on the recommended way to do it. The only problem I see at the moment is the pricing on the EZ-DO gel they suggest using, it's only sold in pack sizes of 4-12 cans and the cost is very high and I only need a pint or so! I'm going to continue searching the internet and hopefully find a comparable product that can be purchased in a pint size. I really appreciate you responding to my note since this forum is over a decade old😁

*Your table looks beautiful👍

I appreciate you posting the video link! I also did a quick search and found your gel available in smaller quantities. :D If the link doesn't work, the website is called The Fruit Press and they sell the cans for $29.95 each. Thank you, too, for the kind comment on my table. I am very happy leaving the Varnique finish at this point. Good luck to you! And remember to post any lessons learned if you do this. Best, M.

https://thefruitpress.com/Item/TFPHVR-CTEZ#:~:text=EZ-DO%20is%20a%20non,for%20the%20American%20Harvester%20press.

Thanks so much for sending me this link, I wasn't having any luck with the folks at John Boos. I'm going to order it and give it a try, I'll let you know how it comes out once I get it completed. I primarily use my table for bread making and over the last few years I have noticed that the Varnique has developed some cracks, hopefully this will seal them up😁