I wouldn't cut on your butcher block. Use a cutting board. If you cut on your board you will eventually get to a point where you'll have to refinish the top.

That slab is beautiful!!

I have oak butcher block in my kitchen installed over 5 years ago. I used Osmo Top Oil in Acacia and am very pleased with the result. It is certified food safe and it created a nice finish that is mostly stain resistant. I say mostly because you still need wipe spills promptly to prevent stains. If you let any liquid sit on the counter for a while, it will leave a stain. But it's easy enough to sand the counter and reapply the oil. I had to do it once when I left some egg white drips on the counter.

I would definitely not cut directly on the counters. It will mechanically damage the finish and the top layer of the counter. So unless you like the worn look, do not do it. Osmo Top Oil comes in several colors including White and Natural.

https://www.amazon.com/Osmo-TopOil-3026-Acacia-Liter/dp/B08H2GB344?th=1

I have a walnut top prep table and just use butcher block oil. I cut on it regularly and reoil it monthly. It still looks great after years of use.

Our current house had butcher block counters. The ugly slashes and the black gunk growing in the cuts was disgusting. There was no way to really clean it once it had cuts. It never felt sanitary, safe. Yes, we could have sanded it down, but we would still have the issue of chicken juices ( potential salmonella) and beef blood. We did, for many years, have a real butcher block from an uncle who had used it in his butcher shop. But, we only used it as a dry work surface in our kitchens. It is now used as a dry work surface in our daughter in law’s kitchen.

“Mineral oil is the only food safe finish”

There are many, many food safe finishes.

In my opinion, for a white finish your best option is Rubio Monocoat Oil plus 2C. However, it will not be white like a bleached wood, it more or less prevents any of the darkening that finishes usually cause. Rubio’s universal maintenance oil is also food safe so use it instead of tung oil.

ETA: a little goes a long way so you will not need much for that counter. A 350 ml can will leave you plenty leftover for repairs if needed.

Agree!! Note the last."nothing" : )

and you will live a hundred years, or get hit by a bus after worrying?

If you're really obsessed? Use a cutting board, even the disposable variety.

Food safe all below

We have a large walnut top on our island. I don’t cut directly on the walnut, ever, but use cutting boards….it’s just easier (and much cheaper to replace!). After lots of oiling initially (we use mineral oil), we now oil it only twice a year. It cleans up very well.

"i want to be able to cut on my counters."

You should not cut on your counters - unless you want the counter to be on the fast track to a scarred, aged-before-its-time counter. Buy a separate cutting board.

"I am looking for a food safe stain to so a white stain on maple"

It would be better not to stain a maple butcher block countertop. Maple has a very tight grain - that is why it is so good as a butcher block counter. That makes maple difficult to stain without blotchiness, and the stain will easily be scratched anyway.

"...seal with tung oil"

Tung oil is a good choice in that it is food safe and does not go rancid. But it needs a lot of applications - like 5 coats. But also, it is made from the seeds of a nut, and there is a risk that people with nut allergies have a reaction to it. If someone has a nut allergy and sits at your tung-oil-coated counter, they may have a reaction. Not 100%, but is the risk worth it.

"The only 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 food safe option is mineral oil. It is sold as a laxative after all."

Enough with the hyperbole. I agree with what @bry911 said, and here is a recommendation for a beeswax mix finish. Clapham's Beeswax Finish. They call it "salad bowl finish", but it is good for counters, cutting boards, furniture, etc. It's food-safe, made in a nut-free facility, the beeswax comes from the Peace River Valley in Alberta, Canada, and then the Finish is made in the U.S., is so safe that it is recommended for children's wood toys and cribs, and when you use it, it moisturizes your hands too. Amazon used to sell it, but I just checked and it must be out of stock on Amazon, but you can buy on the website if you like.

https://claphams.com/product/beeswax-salad-bowl-finish/

Here is Roger Clapham:

I have glass electric cooktop and not much counter space. I ordered a custom butcher block to fit over my glass cooktop—I slide it to the side when I am using the cooktop which protects my grantite counters—I also use a vinul cutting sheet when I cut veggies or meat on that cooktop OR on my granite counters

there are times when someone else has NOT used my vinyl protectors and my cutting board/butcher block does have some cut marks. My husband just sanded down my top (2nd time in about 8 yrs) and we re-conditioned it and also cleaned it with Howard’s products we ordered from Amazon—maybe available at Lowe’s or other places but Amazon was fast delivery. If you think you can cut directly on the butcherblock—have at it. Your house/your rules.

we are planning a new house which will also have a glass electric cooktop and depending on the colors in that kitchen I will bring this wood cutting board or order another from same Etsy shop. I love using it and knowing I can set anything on it and not hurt the glass cooktop—THEY are $$$ to replace if cracked.

Thank you for that recommendation, M Miller. I would love to try it.

Usually butcherblock designed for cutting is end grain material--it is considered "self-healing" because the wood grains are just spread instead of being severed when you cut into them.

Your counter isn't that type and won't look nice if it's been cut. It is pretty enough to stain for the look you want and then use a cutting board. Don't cut on it! :)

To each his own, obviously. We spent over $7 k on our walnut island top, and it takes mere seconds for me to pull out a cutting board/sheet, which costs a few $$. To me it’s a no-brainer…I didn’t even spend a second contemplating whether to cut on the top directly.

OP hasn't yet returned so I will go OT for a minute - can we talk about Roger Clapham's cutting board in that video above? It's beautiful, where can I get one like it?

We use beeswax on our maple cutting board, and beeswax is 100% edible.

We tossed our plastic cutting boards after taking a look at their scarred surfaces and realizing that we must have been ingesting microplastics from food cut on them. So I would argue that cutting directly on wood counters is far safer than using plastic cutting boards.

@lomo thanks gor your answer hut that is actually incorrect. there ate many oils that are food safe.

@bry911 sadly rubio isnt food safe. they actiakky say bot to cut on their product

@Isaac Becker i completely agree! Plastic cutting board are gross!

Thanks to wveryone who has replied. i appreciate the concern but it is rather easy to refinish a wood counter top. therefore I will be cutting on mine.

@m miller thanks for the recommendation. I actually have stained maple and habent had any issues. I guess if i have issues i will be sanding down and going natural!

I ended up finding a water-based ecos paint that is rated in use for children’s toys aka will go into the mouth.

so i stained the maple with that. my counter around my sink i sealed with general finishes high performance poly.

For my cutting area i am currently doing tung oil.

@Somaerah Rubio and Ecos meet the exact same standards.

Rubio Monocoat Shows Food Contact Compliance

Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C has been one of the most versatile wood oils for many years now. You can apply it to floors, furniture, stairs… and it also lives up to the European toy standard. Moreover, our oil is ideal for countertops and other surfaces where food is involved. Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C has indeed been declared to be used in contact with food.

Additionally, Universal Maintenance Oil, when applied over Oil Plus 2C, is also Food Contact Compliant. This ensures you can always use the matte finish you've come to love, or bump up the sheen a tad to give it some extra luster!

But what does this mean exactly?

Well, in practice this means that charcuterie boards, butcher block countertops, tabletops, etc. that have been treated with Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C are also safe for household use, something that increasingly becomes a recommendation for lots of projects. In fact, our oil was tested by the independent testing institute Eurofins, according to the underlying specification of European Framework Regulation 1935/2004 for Food Contact Materials. The test results show that Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C is in full compliance, when applied to a wooden surface. Therefore, if Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C (A+B) is used on a wooden surface that is in itself food safe, then the combination of the wood and our Oil Plus 2C is also safe! And of course you can then add Universal Maintenance Oil to increase the sheen while retaining Food Contact Compliance.

View the Food Contact Compliance Declaration

@bry911 i completely agree. i dont quite understand why when i reached out they said they wouldnt recommend it.

i really only want the white ti counter any yellowing with clear coat as you mentioned earlier. so far the ecos is great though!

this is with poly over it for my sink area

@coray 7 thousand on an island 😬 ihope you mean the kind with beaches 😂 I got two one 12 and one 8 feet and it wasnt even a thousand. so for the money i feel fine cutting on it. plus wood isnt hard to refinish

@aem04 uh i agree that cutting board is amazing and now i want it! Hey then I might not cut on mine 😂

Somaerah K said "i completely agree. i dont quite understand why when i reached out they said they wouldnt recommend it."

Because stains don't really penetrate. Even penetrating stains only penetrate a few micrometers. I strongly suspect that Ecos doesn't recommend their product for cutting boards either because you are going to be cutting through the finish into the unfinished material.

That is the nature of stained wood products and if your material is not food safe then you are going to penetrate the coating every time you cut it with a knife and have a problem with exposing non food safe materials. However, Maple is typically antimicrobial and cutting through the finish is not as big a deal as it would be on Walnut.

Mineral oil is a byproduct of crude oil in the making of gasoline. No minerals involved. If you use it make sure it highly refined... don't cheap out on it.

@bry911 I am sure you ate correct however, they However, they did tell me that it would be okay to use. i am only cutting on a small peninsula. At some point it will obviously need refinishing and ill likely take that portion back to raw wood and just use oil. An interesting thing I read is that tung oil is bit likely to cause a nut allergy because the refining process removes most of the protein from the nut which is the allergen

The OP photo and the later photo that says "this is how it's turning out" are the same. Looks like the OP already had completed the job when they posted.

It looks very gray, which is odd for butcher block. I'd want it to be a bit warmer, in a brown-ish hue, that looks more like wood.

@aem04 no i just posted the wrong picture later and posted the correct one later on in the comments. i have taken so many pictures of this project.

it isnt much difference though to be honest. mostly i was just hoping to counteract the yellowish tone maple can get from sealing it.

@diana i wished it wasnt quite so gray as well but the picture does give more gray than in person. i prefer a more natural wood look just wanted to counteract the yellowing from sealing

Thank you to everyone!!!

in the end i decided to forego the stain and resanded everything down for a natural look!

I will still be using it to cut and have oiled that portion with tung oil on my second coat drying. so that is the darker portion below.

the lighter maple is coated with three coats of general finished high performance poly in satin. highly recommend this product. crystal clear and amazing velvety soft feel!

For 90 bucks you could make yourself a 24 x whatever cuting board? I i dont get the agony:)