Bark River Handle problem

S

scotsmanspride

Joined
Jan 6, 2009
Messages
639
Ok,
Well my wife purchased a Mini-canadian with purple heart handles for me. I have been using the thing like crazy but finally used it on dressing some small game and had to clean it after that. I used luke warm water with very little detergent and a soft sponge. I didn't scrub so much as wiped it down. Well when it dried the wood was dry as a bone. I tried mineral oil on it and now when i put it into the leather sheath the contact areas come out dry. Should i continue to use mineral oil on this or should i use something like a tung oil product similar to a gun stock. Any help would be appreciated. I have finished plenty of rifle stocks. I will be using this knife heavily and also again for dressing game so a protectant against blood type exposure is a plus also.
 
Try olive oil. It might darken the wood a little bit, but I have found that is works very well. If that does not work try tung oil.
 
After a penetrating oil, add a coat of UV-protective armorall followed by a coat of wax. Purpleheart is very light sensitive, and with time will turn gray-brown unless steps are taken to protect it.
 
ok. well i soaked the handle in mineral oil for about 2 hours, wiped it down and let is sit for about 30 min. I pt it in the sheath and about an hour later pulled it out and the spots touching the sheath again were totally dry.
 
Let the handle sit overnight to fully absorb the oil.
You might also consider treating the sheath with something like sno-seal.
That way it will stop absorbing liquids.

Just my .02.
 
scotsmanspride said:
ok. well i soaked the handle in mineral oil for about 2 hours, wiped it down and let is sit for about 30 min. I pt it in the sheath and about an hour later pulled it out and the spots touching the sheath again were totally dry.
Click to expand...
Not surprising, like Mike L. said it may take quite a while longer for the wood to be fully penetrated by the oil. Different woods vary a lot on how they act when oiled, too -- I've seen some that will always do what you describe, but then you let them sit untouched for a while and oil within migrates back to the surface, evening the color out again.
 
Knives Ship Free carries a beeswax-based leather treatment that they (and Sharpshooter Sheaths) recommend for treating the sheaths. I've heard it also works well on the handles, but haven't tried it for that.

You can also ask over at the other forum, or just send the knife back to BRKT if you have any worries. I'm sure they'd fix you up. :thumbup:
 
I had the same problem recently with the grips on my 1911. After cleaning my pistol it looked like the wood had soaked up some powder residue. When I finished cleaning the grips they were pretty dry, so I oiled them up. I don't want to go through this again, so I figured I should treat the grips with something to make them waterproof and oil resistant. I put some Tru-Oil on the grips, and I think that should be more than enough.
 
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