Blems and bargain for 7/2

[George Azar]

The Bura Hanshee came with a long hairline crack that I filled with epoxy. Since I had to sand down the epoxy anyway, I decided to refinish the handle. First I leveled off the excess epoxy with a fine file. Then I did the whole handle with sandpaper: 100 grit, 180 grit, 360 grit. Finally I rubbed in three coats of lathe polish, which produces a very nice finish and dries almost instantly. The whole process took about an hour, most of which I did while watching Wimbledon tennis, "round of sixteen."

The original clear finish seemed a bit crude (more so than most HI wood handles), but it sanded off easily. I suspected that the tiger stripes in the original handle were not part of the wood, but had been added with some kind of stain, and this proved to be the case. Most of the dark stain sanded right off, and the resulting color is quite nice, in my opinion. Here is a picture of the original, followed by three pictures of my refinished handle.

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I looks beautiful David