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Instead of using palm sander, try a cabinet scraper. Carpenters have used them for centuries to smooth flat surfaces. They have some serious advantages over sandpaper. A palm sander you will create a fine dust that will coat the entire kitchen and fill the pores of the wood, thus blocking the finish you are trying to apply.

Advantages of a scraper:
1. No dust.
2. Re-usalbe unlike sandpaper.
3. Pack of (3) scrapers = $26, Bosch palm sander $66 plus the sand paper.
4. Sand paper will leave bits of aluminum oxide on your cooking surface and when you are done with it, the aluminum oxide goes right in a landfill. Bad for the environment, including the home.

Typical Scraper Set:
www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=54.474&dept_id=13093

In the top image you can see a cutting board in the background, so it is safe to say that this butcher block is used more as a counter, not as an actual cutting surface. If that is the case, use a product like U-30 by Industrial Finishing. It is an oil finish that full polymerizes, aka hardens to a durable finish. Instead of having to refinish the top every 3 months with bees wax U-30 will give you 1-2 years before needing refinishing.

Industrial Finishing: www.industrialfinishings.com/