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Old 09-30-2014, 03:53 PM
Jestlow Jestlow is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 13
Two finished puukkos and some questions... (PICS)

I have make two scandi knives before these and have run into some issues making the finished knife look the way I want. I will explain how I have been doing them and hope that someone has some pointers for me.

I shape on a belt sander and some handle tools where nessisary. I sand with the grain from 120 or 180 to 800 or 1000. At that point I use wood hardener (or sanding sealer) to seal the pores. Once dried I sand to 2000 and hit with a buffing wheel and various compounds to polish the wood and brass. I wipe the piece down between grits and compounds to keep the the mess to a minimum. After that I apply danish oil and in a day hit again with a clean buffing wheel.

The problems I am getting is that after awhile brass flecks seems to embed themselves in the pores. Maybe I need multiple coats of sealer or maybe I should use danish oil first and then buff the brass parts? Not only is there brass flecks in the pores, but some of the "swarth" or wood and metal mess darkens some light woods. I want to do some birch bark handles, but have no idea how to get a good polished finish without totally darkening the porous bark. This is especially noticeable on the end grain at the butt of the smaller knife. Maybe I shouldn't be sanding with the grain but rather shoeshine fashion to keep the brass mess from spreading to the wood? Maybe I should tape off the handle when I buff the brass? There has to be some secret method or simple step I am missing. I have seen some wonderfully finished puukkos out there from makers like joonas kallioniemi and I can't wrap my head around how they do it. I appreciate any help some veterans here can give me.




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