Anybody use wenge wood?-How do you finish it?

raylaconico

raylaconico

Joined
Jan 30, 2004
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I was just wondering what's a good way to finish unstabililzed wenge wood. My concern is that in this two tone wood, the lighter colored parts are soft and the dark parts are very hard. Is there any way to make the soft parts hard? I just put a wenge handle on a bowie and I think I'll have to change it if I can't figure out a way to get it hard. This is the first time I've used this wood and I didn't realize it was "half soft" until after I made the handle and put it on the blade. I tried thinned epoxy, super glue, and Tru Oil and I can still gouge it with my fingernail. I'm hoping there's a way cause the wood looks good on this handle. Thanks
-Ray
 
I bought a chunk of this and plan to use it in the next month or so. I was going to simply oil it like I do all my woods.

Build up a nice oil finish over time is the way to go for me.

As for the soft/hard parts I wouldnt stress that so much. One of my favorite knives got its micarta dinged when I dropped it and thats harder than wood :)
 
I used a satin polyurethane on mine - took nearly 30 coats, but has a nice satin finish to it now. Seems quite durable...not soft at all.
 
I don't think I can deal with it! I just don't like being able to dent is so easily. I'm not worried about the durability but more about the way it looks with dents. I thought about it last night and I think the best thing to do for me is to go with another wood on this knife. It wouldn't be the first time I had to redo a handle! Thanks for the advice.
 
I had good results with heated tung oil, it goes a lot deeper into the wood when its warm. After it soaked in really well I'd buff it with a clean pad. looked good and the softer areas didnt seem as soft
 
Wenge has a very unique trait. Here's a trick I learned years ago, and was quite the hit at shows. If you have a soft buff lying around, put the course, grease less compound on it, or the newer brush on compound. Let it set up. Now buff the wood length wise. Once this is completed, buff at high speed with a fairly hard wheel loaded with black, then white grease based compound. I'll swear, If the grain is wide enough, It will look like black, or chocolate.Stag. A lot of customers couldn't believe it was wood. It takes on a fantastic texture. A light bead blast will work in much the same way, but use very low pressure. Mike http://www.lovettknives.com/
 
mlovett, that sounds interesting. I'll try it sometime. Anyway, I changed the handle to bocote and it looks pretty good. There's a picture of the finished bowie in the knifemakers' gallery forum
 
I saw a knife on Larry Fuegen's table at a show a few years back with a Wenge handle, where he had brushed out the soft wood with a wire wheel brush. It gave the handle great texture, and what was left was pretty hard. I believe I saw something similar on a Fogg bowie once too, but I could be mistaken...
 
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