I think the biggest worry people have about putting a sink in a wood countertop is will it just fall apart. Well, we can assure you that it won’t. From the very beginning we engineer our wood slabs specifically to work hand in hand with water by using highly water resistant wood glues (type 1 for you tech folks out there) then sealed with world class wood sealers to provide that protective moisture barrier. There’s absolutely no reason not to put a sink in one of our butcher block tops. In fact we’re so confident of this that we warranty our tops for a lifetime against glue joint separation.

Let’s go over the wood glue and why it’s so good

We use what’s called a type 1 wood glue which is very water resistant. The testing requirements for it are on the extreme side to say the least. Gene Wengert summed it up in a blog post at Woodworking Network.

Here’s the test:

“They make some birch plywood with three plies using their adhesive for gluing the veneers together. After curing the adhesive fully, for Type 1 testing, the sample of 1 x 3 inches is boiled in water for four hours, then dried at 145F for 20 hours, then boiled for four more hours and then cooled immediately and tested wet for bond strength using a shear test.”(Wengert, 2018, para. 3)

Now that shear test has to be in the 4000 PSI range so ya, pretty darn tough stuff. I doubt most people will be doing that to their countertops but you get the picture.

Now let’s go over our choice of wood sealers

Rubio Monocoat is an oil sealer that soaks into the wood, dries and protects the wood from below the surface. I can’t really say it any better than they can so we’ll just send you to their website for a quick lessen. Bottom line it’s a sealer that looks great, performs beautifully, is easy repair when needed and is food safe.