Kitchen Knife Block

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Peanut

Peanut

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My kitchen knife block is 30 years old+. It was seriously showing its age. Most of the original polyurethane coating was gone. It had water stains, especially on the bottom edges. It was made from 15 pieces of cheap pine, sawed, then glued together. It had also warped a little over time.

My old 1/4 sheet sander died last year. I finally got a new one last week. This block and a hoe handle needed to be sanded and a good coat of poly applied.

I knocked off most of the grunge and shaped it a little with 120 grit. I came back with 220 grit. It’s nice and smooth now. After I wipe on a couple of coats of poly it’ll be good to go for another 30 years. (haven't figured out a way to clean out the slots though)...

Knife Block a (1)a.JPG
Knife Block a (2)a.JPG
Knife Block a (3)a.JPG
 
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Peanut said:
My kitchen knife block is 30 years old+. It was seriously showing its age. Most of the original polyurethane coating was gone. It had water stains, especially on the bottom edges. It was made from 15 pieces of cheap pine, sawed, then glued together. It had also warped a little over time.

My old 1/4 sheet sander died last year. I finally got a new one last week. This block and a hoe handle needed to be sanded and a good coat of poly applied.

I knocked off most of the grunge and shaped it a little with 120 grit. I came back with 220 grit. It’s nice and smooth now. After I wipe on a couple of coats of poly it’ll be good to go for another 30 years. (haven't figured out a way to clean out the slots though)...

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Would one of those skinny bottle brushes fir cleaning straws work?
 
I have a skinny brush but it came with my camel pak water bottle that's carried on the back like a little backpack. The brush is made for cleaning the tubing.

I'm hesitant to use it since the camel pak is in my bug out gear. A clean water system in my bug out gear is more important than a knife block. Don't want to ruin it. I'll come up with something.
 
Me either, I knew the slots were grungy looking using a pen light. I had considered bleach/water mix but my block is 30yrold pine and dry. I was afraid water would cause it to swell and crack.

Now that I know what else might be growing in those slots it might be worth the risk. If it cracks it cracks...

I gave my uncle a walnut log last year to use in his cabinet shop. While searching finishes for knife blocks I saw a couple made from walnut that were beautiful. Even if my uncle has used all the walnut I know he keeps maple in stock for special jobs.

It might be time for a new block.

Edit... I have a nice pecan log over at the old barn that is well seasoned. It's been drying for 2 years. I intended to use it for smoking meat on the grill. Wonder what it would look like milled and planed... It's only about 6ft so it'd be easy to handle.
 
I went with one of these knife blocks recently (below). I got rid of our old traditional wood one because: (1) It took up too much counter space, and (2) You can't clean the things.

This one I got has a much smaller footprint on the countertop and comes apart easily for cleaning. I never routinely cleaned the innards of our knife blocks (well, you really can't easily with the wooden ones). But if some nimrod spills their milkshake on the thing then you have to try to clean it out. The top pops off of this one and you just hose it out in the sink. 15 seconds - done.

I bought it locally, but it looks identical to the one below at Amazon (minus the "OOU" logo). The biggest limitation on how many knives it will hold is the width of your knife handles (how close you can get them side-to-side). Our knives have thinner handles, so we can get a crap-ton of them into this device. Stagger them up/down and side/side. If you need more room, just buy another one because they take up so little counter space compared to the angled wood ones.

(The URL below won't display in my post unless I add a space in "amazon". So manually change "a mazon" to "amazon" by deleting that extra space if you try to cut/paste the URL.)

https://www.a mazon.com/Universal-OOU-Without-Detachable-Cleaning/dp/B07N1M2717/ref=sr_1_188?dchild=1&keywords=kitchen+knife+block&qid=1622956100&sr=8-188

Screenshot at 2021-06-05 23-17-21.png
 
I saw another design today that was interesting. It was a round plastic cylinder about 10" tall, about 4" in diameter, had a bottom. Someone had put enough wooden skewers inside the cylinder to almost fill it.

The idea was to simply drop your knives into the wooden skewers. They would catch the handles keeping them above the skewers and easy to grasp.

The only drawback I saw was that it'd be top heavy unless the bottom could be weighted in some manner. Unless you pull the knife straight up it might tip over.
 
Ha! I went into the tool rm this morning... first thing I noticed was a hacksaw, sooo.

I used a hacksaw blade and taped over the end with little pieces of electrical tape. I then used gun cleaning patches soaked in bleach over the tip of my new tool.

It cleaned the slots in the knife block nicely.
 
So I'm going to through one out there. I may try to pressure wash it. Sounds extreme i know but if you have wood that has stains or oxidization. A pressure washer will clean off a bit of wood. On the right wood such as that pine it could give a very unique texture when done. It will take a week or so to dry good.
Just something different is all.
May i suggest that after you have sanded it. If you haven't applied your topcoat yet. Use a woodworking scraper on it. A small blade with a burr on the back side of the edge. If you have a 1" putty knife, use a file to sharpen one edge. It will leave a burr on the back. And work fine. Used to remove a slight bit of wood, a little shaving. This cuts the end grains of the wood off nice n square. Acting like the refractions on a reflector. When the sunlight or any light hits it it will reflect back differently . I call this luster. Especially if you use a poly.
I learned this from an ol sweedish woodworker.
Good luck n have fun
 
It only took 4 and 1/2 months to stop raining. I currently have a couple dozen summer projects that all need a few days of dry weather to complete. Some projects have to get bumped until next year. I haven't had 3 days of dry weather since spring. In August it even rained 11 straight days at one point. Grumble, Grumble!

At least I finally finished this project
1. Cleaned knife slots with hacksaw blade and gun cleaning patches.
2. Sand block with new hand sander 05jun
3. 3 coats of poly and 3 days drying time. 18oct.

30 years old and ready for another 30!

Knife Block 1a .JPG
Knife Block 2a .JPG
 
I like that a lot. I have a collection of homemade or unique knives that would look great in that. And I just like wood. You make it so it will last n that's cool. And it looks great tooooo
 
Aklogcabin said:
I like that a lot. I have a collection of homemade or unique knives that would look great in that. And I just like wood. You make it so it will last n that's cool. And it looks great tooooo
Click to expand...

It's just made from scrap pine. Looks like pieces left over from other projects. In the post at the top of this thread... its made from 15 pieces of pine, looks like they were shaped on a table saw, slots cut... then glued together. Simple.
 
I agree air pressure is best. I have stainless steal straws that have little cleaning brush, but they would take forever.
 
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