Discuss Numerar Birch - or maple butcherblock? on IKEAFANS.com. We're Personalizing the IKEA Experience. Numerar Birch - or maple butcherblock? - Sinks, Faucets, Knobs and Pulls - also coordinating kitchen elements. See also: Kitchen Appliances and Backsplash |Splashback.
Does anyone have a Numerar birch countertop that you use as a cutting surface? How did you finish it? If I got one, I would want to keep it as light as possible, to contrast with the cherry cabinets.
How does the hardness of birch compare with maple? The maple butcherblock at Lumber Liquidators isn't much more than the Numerar at IKEA, at least in the 2' x 8' size. Lumber Liq doesn't have the 6' x 3' size at all.
from what i know maple isn't terribly hard. and something i DO know is that if you get maple wet and it expands it can "freeze" that way, sometimes even twists....
It is in strips, very much like the Numerar. Here's a link. I'm pretty sure the 18" X 22" cutting board I've used for about 20 years is maple. I didn't pay a lot for it - probably got it at WalMart. It has held up very well.
At any rate, I think DH would rather use the 3' wide size from IKEA.
Most cutting boards, I believe are maple. It is a very hard wood. I used it for my countertops because it's pretty water resistant, but I don't cut on them. I believe that maple is very water resistant because if its closed grain. This site is a flooring site, but it does have some info on birch and maple and their hardness as well as their water resistance:
Thanks, kisaacs. That's an interesting website. I was also looking at a custom butcherblock website that lists several woods they will use for countertops. They list "hard maple", which jogged my memory. I think that different species of maple leave wood with different properties. I'm not sure that one can generalize that all maple acts one way or another. But I'm not a woodworker - I just played one in high school, which was so long ago I've already seen the fashions come back in style.
dulci, I think that any wood might act like that, particularly if it were very dry when exposed to moisture.
I asked for a quote on a 1.5" thick countertop in blonde maple, 3' x 5', with a basic edge. The price was $397, and $95 to ship. With a bit of cherry banding, it would be $495
Their lead time right now is about 3 weeks. Ground shipping KY to TX would take 2 days.
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