John Boos Chopping Block

Review by T. Knox : AWESOME Chopping Block - USELESS Packaging

THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU BUY THIS CHOPPING BLOCK. ok, so let me be clear... this block is awesome. It's a two foot square, four inch thick, 66 pound block of wood. And it's beautiful. Really. The problem is that Amazon hasn't quite figured out how to ship it yet.

I learned this because I ordered one and it came wrapped in one layer of bubble wrap stuck inside a big fedex envelope. Needless to say it arrived completely battered up, the corners had broken through the packaging entirely. The thing looked like someone had thrown it out of a speeding car. It was terrible. Well, Amazon does have awesome customer service, so they sent a replacement immediately and promised it would be packaged better.

... it was... sort of. This time the block arrived in a single layer of cardboard. No padding, no styrofoam, just some cardboard right over the wood. Overall it was in much better shape, but it still had some really nasty dents in very visible places which were unacceptable. So I called Amazon again and was like "look guys..." and so they sent ANOTHER replacement (seriously, they're awesome).

Well, I figured after messing up TWO that they'd get the third one right... Umm... It arrived broken in half. No, I'm not kidding. It literally was broken into two pieces. A big block of wood, cracked in half. And the thing is, it was packaged JUST like the second - in one layer of cardboard, nothing else.

So at this point, about $800 worth of beautiful chinese chopping block has been poured down the drain and Amazon actually offered to send a THIRD replacement (fedex would have hated me for having to deliver 4 of these things) But at that point I decided that if they hadn't figured it out by now, it wasn't going to happen and I might as well save everyone some time and money and say no. Problem was, I still really wanted the block, so I ended up working it out with them where I kept the least damaged block of the three and will do my best to sand out the dents.

End of the day... go ahead, order it, but be aware that odds are it will arrive in less than mint condition.

Review by jhmr17 "John" : GREAT Block--too bad Amazon (still) can't package correctly

I read the other review, and fully anticipated the strong possibility of my block arriving damaged. True to form, it did. When I saw it sitting out front of my house, I thought to myself, "Wow, that's pretty meager packaging for a 70 lb. chopping block." Still, I had visions of the block somehow surviving the overnight trip from the Amazon warehouse in Indiana, and looking wonderful on our kitchen counter for New Year's Eve. Upon opening the box, what I found was quite a bit different. The board looked like it must have been sitting around in the Amazon warehouse for months--maybe years (it probably hasn't, but it looked that way). The inside of the box was noticeably stained with all of the great 'mystery oil' and 'board creme' that I imagine was once coating the board's wood--the cardboard literally sucked the life out of this board. The best way to describe the block's physical condition was "tired, thirsty, and abused".

When I first opened the box, I immediately thought that I must have been looking at the bottom of the board (and so I began to think that maybe I could live with the block if the top looked o.k.). But then I quickly discovered that I was, indeed, looking at was what supposed to be a beautiful cutting surface--and the bottom just looked that much worse. Seriously. John Boos & Co. should not allow Amazon to sell their merchandise if they can't package and care fot it properly. I don't have a lot of personal experience with Boos boards, other than to understand their legendary reputation...but this experience gives someone like me pause before purchasing another one. In this case, I figured I had little to lose: if the board looked good, then I had immediate gratification and a wonderful chopping block sitting on the counter. On the otherhand, if it arrived damaged, then I would have to place an order through another Boos distributor, and wait 2-4 weeks for the board to arrive.

The best advice I can give to future, potential buyers is to resist the urge to purchase this chopping block from Amazon. I imgine my item was probably one of the damaged boards that the other poster may have sent back...and it will probably go back into the warehouse until someone else purchases it. Otherwise, if Boos is getting all of these boards returned to them, then I can't imagine why the Boos Co. doesn't work with Amazon to identify a remedy for properly caring for and shipping these boards to customers.