This is not you average cutting board. This is a great piece of workmanship that needs the same attention to maintain. I followed the directions before use and have followed the maintenance directions after use and so far so good. It is a beautiful board and is wonderful to cut on. The board is very heavy so it's not easy to move around. I gave it 4 stars because my board looks like they put 2 different boards together and is not aesthetically pleasing. To me that's a big disappointment. This would be a board that I would shop for in person to pick out exactly what I wanted. The photos show the board before it seasoned and after.