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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 07-19-2012, 08:42 AM
GauGe1722 GauGe1722 is offline
 
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Good finishes for wood handles??

I recently started making exotic wood handles for knife blanks and I am not sure what to use as a good finish on these woods. Some are fairly oily and I would like to bring out the naturally rich colors of the wood without sacrificing durability or my bank account! Any info would be helpful!

Thanks

Last edited by GauGe1722; 07-19-2012 at 10:24 AM.
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Old 07-19-2012, 05:18 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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It is going to depend on the wood. Some like lignum vitae, both old and new world, are so oily it is rather pointless to put anything on them. I'd say the same for African Blackwood. I've had some Rosewood, don't remember which variety, hold several coats of boiled linseed oil. Osage Orange, which is actually domestic, is pretty hard and stable as it is, though it can absorb a few coats of boiled linseed oil. Some of the hard, dense, oily woods all you have to do is sand out to 1600-2000 grit and maybe buff lightly and they'll shine like they were stabilized or had a deep hand rubbed finish even though they have nothing on them, not even a coat of wax.

Doug


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Old 07-19-2012, 09:26 PM
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teejay1980 teejay1980 is offline
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I'm new to knifemaking also but have a good bit of gunsmithing experience and have used tru oil for years on gunstocks with great results. It will work for a lot of your domestic woods and other woods that aren't really dense or oily and a bottle will last you forever on knife handles plus its not real expensive. Get the liquid not the aerosol and rub it on with a clean rag sand and reapply a couple more coats as it dries. Hope this helps.
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Old 07-20-2012, 10:59 PM
EdStreet EdStreet is offline
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Honestly? the best thing for wood when it comes to knife handles is stabilizing. places like WSSI etc.


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Old 07-21-2012, 12:57 AM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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I'll have to differ on stabilization, at least to a degree. It will reduce shrinkage, warping and checking but it will not eliminate them. There are some woods, like lignum vitae that you cannot stabilize. They are too dense and oily for the resin to penetrate. Some woods would be useless for knife handle without the treatment. Some are changed too much cosmetically and the effect looks bad. If you want to have to treatment done write to WSSI or K&G and see what they will take and won't take.

Then there is the issue of the handle material becoming too plastic in feel and there are people who don't like it. Like with steel selection, heat treatment, blade geometry, and just about anything else that has to do with knife making, when it comes to handle material there is no one-size-fits-all solution. I think that it's amazing that attitude that wood must be stabilized to work as knife handle material when it has passed the test of time for thousands of years but now it has to be pumped full of resin to be usable. It's like you have to have stainless steel to work around salt water even though carbon blades have been used around salt water since the iron age. It's the hubris of modern technology. Newer is not always better.

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Old 07-21-2012, 04:56 AM
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Amen Doug!


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  #7  
Old 07-21-2012, 08:55 AM
GauGe1722 GauGe1722 is offline
 
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I have seen stabilized wood handles and some of it looks really interesting but it all seems to lose the natural look of wood. I have not used it nor have I even held it before so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I really like the inherent properties of wood as it is but I will have to try stabilized wood at some point, if only to say that I did.



John
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Old 07-21-2012, 09:40 AM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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There is no reason not to use stabilized wood, if you so choose, it's just that there is no reason that you have to use stabilized wood. I have some spalted wood in my basement that I keep meaning to send out for stabilization, when I have the money, and will probably do so. It wouldn't be usable as handle material without stabilization. However, I also have woods in my stash that do not need, and some that cannot be, stabilized.

Doug


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Old 07-28-2012, 06:58 AM
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Longshot Longshot is offline
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One technique that I have found works good for exotic hardwoods if you like the oil finishes, is to use danish oil stain applied with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Once your handle is in the basic shape of what you will want, apply the stain with the sandpaper by wiping it in the same direction as the grain. Once you have done about 3 or 4 coats, then wipe it down with a cloth to get rid of any excess dust/stain. Then put just a little oil on your palm and rub it in so that it feels hot on your hand. Doing this brings out a lot of color in the wood and it feels great in the hand afterwards. It will not last as long as stabilized woods, but the little extra effort in the maintenance is almost always worth it!
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