A popular find at antique stores and estate sales, many of the old butcher blocks, similar to that of our Monarch Block series, have been around since the early 1900s. Full of character, and timeless in their functionality, these old blocks often do have an age or date of manufacture.
To tell the age of an old butcher block, look on the bottom of the block itself. If the unit was manufactured by the Wood Welded Companies, there will be a date stamp indicating the month and year the block was manufactured. For example, a date stamp of 10/16 indicates the block was built in October of 1916.
Monarch Blocks with the “double dovetail” were manufactured between 1911 and 2020. All were manufactured on the same 2 machines during that period. Without the date stamp it is impossible for us to know when in that time frame your block was made. Often there is branded label on the block, but no records were kept as to when labels came in and out of use so there is little value in knowing which label adorns your block.
Many 1000s of these block were made over the years and no unique identifiers where put on the block nor records kept. So, if there is no date stamp, even if the original customer’s name tag is still on it, it probably was not manufactured by the Wood Welded Companies and is impossible for us to tell when the block was manufactured.
If you are restoring a vintage butcher block unit, you should decide what level of restoration is appropriate both for your taste and what is feasible given the condition of the block.Sometime a block is too far gone to restored to a usable condition. In those cases the block still may hold interest and value as a non functioning block.
As we do not restore butcher blocks we do not have much experience in what you may need to to restore a butcher block. A quick search of the internet and sites like YouTube may be a good resource for you. Other people have restored blocks and some have documented the process. seek them out. At the very least, in the best circumstances you may simply be able to sand the block lightly and follow it with an application of Emmet’s Elixir. This will bring back some of the wood’s original luster.
Filling gaps, re-gluing laminations, flattening the top surface and removing years of build-up is a job for a professional re-finisher or woodworker, or a well motivated and educated maturer.
