Old butcher block tells local story

When Toni Robinson, local a real estate broker, saw the butcher block table sitting in the basement of John Ackerman’s farm, she knew she wanted it.

“Butcher block is something I’ve always been attracted to,” she said, in her Puget Island kitchen, proudly displaying the newly refurbished butcher block table.

“My father hunted. That’s what we ate. He took deer and elk to be cut and wrapped by Mel Coates at his meat cutting plant and cold storage on Broadway in Cathlamet. This is the table that was used to butcher that meat,” she said.

The table legs were growing soft from dampness in the basement. After doing research on a fair price and taking her husband to see it, Robinson bought it.

John Ackermann said she could have it if she could move it. Ackermann had gotten it from Wayne Holloway.

Four men moved the table, which is 36 inches square, with an 11-inch thick top of end-cut maple. After searching the Internet, Robinson decided tables this size aren’t made any more; the longest butcher block she could find was 30 inches square.

The table is silky smooth with tongue and groove joints visible in thick end cut maple.

“It is a beautiful piece of furniture now,” Robinson said. She will apply a finish of mineral oil and paraffin and intends to use it in her kitchen.

“It weighs a ton, maybe 500-700 pounds,” she said. “It took a forklift to get it off my truck.”

Petr Kalinin of Selix Cabinets in Longview refinished the table, building a new maple base for it. He added rosettes to the sides to cover the holes where bolts had been threaded. The cross-section of a knife blade is visible in one side.

Even after taking 1½ inches off the top, an indentation remains from years of use.

Robinson loves the local history of the table. She remembered going behind the meat counter in George Doumit’s grocery store with her mother, where a similar table stood.

“I’d like to know if anyone has information about this, or pictures of it being used,” Robinson said.