Anybody ever stain their wood handles?

Bamboo

Bamboo

Joined
Dec 16, 2004
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I was looking at the handles on Ferguson's knives on the Raffle thread, and man are they ever beautiful.

Wondering if anybody ever stains their handles??

Maybe a red mahogany? or cherry? Who knows. Ebony?

Or does everyone take the tung oil/tru-oil route?

Cheers,

~ B
 
khukuri handles are usually coated in red rouge - so you would have to remove that first.

I've had the best results doing this:

1 - Remove rouge with a rag soaked in mineral spirits (wear latex gloves)
2 - Remove finish & smooth sand with 180 grit 1" strip sandpaper (shoe-shine motion, khukuri in a vise)
3 - Continue smooth sanding 220 to 800
4 - (this is where you could apply stain)
5 - steel wool prep for final finish
6 - start layering oil, varnish, whatever works for you
7 - steel wool 0000 inbetween the last few coats - let dry overnight each time
8 - final buff by hand with wax

I've done minor staining, mostly as repair work. I haven't had the need to stain any handles on H.I. khukuris....yet. They seem to have pretty good color to them already. It's personal preference, I guess....I would rather see the raw wood in it's natural colors....and then enhance those colors with the finish, etc.
 
Thanks Dan!!

That's great advice.

I'm in the mood to get a little color into one of my handles. I'll try your process and see how it comes out.

Thanks again

~ B
 
I once almost cut myself between the legs (a very unsafe attempt at wood splitting). Needless to say, there was a rather unique stain from a totally frightened but at least intact part of my "nether anatomy".

While it improved the grip somewhat, it didn't last very long..... :D
 
Somebody here did a green(!) stain on their khuk a few months ago -- it looks quite a bit better than I would have thought. :cool:
 
If you use Tru-oil as a finish, it has a slightly amber color to it. Seems to get a little deeper with age.

Steve
 
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