curly HICKORY hawk haft staining/finishing suggestions?

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davisj1206

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Apr 4, 2014
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yep from what I can find curly hickory handles are not very common but I have one on its way to me that is unique and excellent grade ive heard it is hard to stain a curly hickory but I have seen pics of it done beautifully and wonderfully. the pics on his website of beaver bills of his encounter hawk is a perfect example!! I would like mine to look pretty much exactly like that. im not interested in engraving just staining/dying/finishing it. I have a bottle of the chromium trioxide for maple but don't know if it will work on hickory. but I would like the curls in mine pretty dark and the rest a brown to light brown. this is my first handle I will be doing myself and I did buy an extra to practice on. I have a couple of nice traditional hawks with standard type handles but I just bought a craig barr Damascus hammer poll and I feel it deserves far more than a plain ole handle..
thanks!!
 
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I've used my own mix of aqua fortis as well as aqua fortis from Track of the Wolf with good results. Both worked well, but the production stuff from TOTW was much less finicky. With ideal grain orientation, the chatoyance is minimized, but strength is needed more than beauty in a tool handle.

FWIW, curly hickory is fairly common. It's finding a piece that has good grain orientation in a thickness that's useful for axe handles that's hard. It seems there's just about zero demand for it and most hardwood suppliers will be scratching their heads if you ask for it.
 
Ok, thank you! I ordered it from dunlap and was promised it was premium grain with unique and excellent curls so im hoping it is. If I wanted to use a normal stain or dye do you have any reccomendations? Ive read about leather dye alot as well as colored gunstock stains but not sure which would be better or if there is a better in my case. Ive seen quite a few handles done with aquafotis some I likef alot and some not as much.. so im nervous about it but can you you put a stain or dye on after it has been used? Or is it a one stop shop??
 
I've had good success using the alcohol based leather dyes by Feibings on wood. My best contrast on curly woods have been with the aqua fortis though. You can use the leather dye after the aqua fortis to change the tone as well. Contrast staining is a dark art and I'd suggest doing a few test pieces first. It can be as complicated a process as you can dream up and every piece of wood is different so experimentation and experience are the only ways to learn what works for you. Your wood prep and sanding procedures are as important as stain choice. For a "redder" shade like on many gunstocks, use only the aqua fortis. For a more even brown, you might try the Feibing's light brown alcohol based stain only. Use a combination of the two with light sanding with 600-1000 grit sandpaper in between coats with the aqua fortis followed by a light coat of the leather dye for a combination between the two. You'll need a heat gun to set off the aqua fortis and to raise the grain with water a few times before any staining. Do some reading on contrast staining procedures for tobacco pipes and google Tom Eltang for some inspiration. I won't complicate things any further for you, but it is definitely a rabbit hole you can fall in to. Maybe I'll do a WIP sometime with my full technique to be of some help to others that are chasing that perfect contrast with deep reds and browns.
 
thank you I just ordered a few different colors of leather dye from fiebling along with some aquafortis and tru-oil from track. now just have to get my sanding material. ive read a quite a bit now and feel pretty confident in my plan of approach ive took lots of notes and have started trying to write down step by step what I need to do. hoping to get started next weekend. so thank you for your info and suggestions! they were greatly helpful! after I am done I will post pics.
thanks again!
 
Well I would hate to show step by step how I ruined a perfectly good handle haha. Ya considering its gonna be a slow process I think I might do that be good to have in case it does go wrong at least then I will be able to get some pointers about individual steps. Im gonna be doing two a curly hickory and a curly maple. Im really not worried to much about the maple though theres tons of reading and guidelines on that so im gonna start with the hickory. I hope to get started by this time next week if UPS/USPS/FEDEX live up to there word and I recieve all my materials by then. So if you want to check back next saturday/sunday hopefully I will have something to show!
 
craig barr Damascus hammer pole, curly hickory handle... just finished the leather work today now starting on a sheath.
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I used potassium permanganate to highlight the grain on this handle
 
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looks good! I was very fortunate to find a great piece of wood from dunlap woodcraft. I used chromium trioxide on it sever times and always wiped down with vinegar/water mix after each stain.
 
what did you use around the top of the hawk head. just starting to play around with hawks and it looks nice.
 
Thanks, I wrapped it with natural colored artificial sinew and then rubbed a liitle brown leather dye over it to give it an aged look.
 
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