Desert Ironwood - To seal or not to seal; that is my question!

S

Sgt John

Joined
Mar 24, 2013
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I just finished up a knife with Desert Ironwood scales and I'm in a bit of a quandary. After hours and hours of research about Desert Ironwood, I still find conflicting information on whether or not to seal this oily wood. I have sanded up to 2000 grit and hit it with a soft buffing wheel with white rouge. The handle looks nice right now, but I'm worried about the dulling that natural hand oils/dirt will have on the handle. So my question is, what have you done in the past and what works best for you with Desert Ironwood? I am thinking of using Tru Oil Gunstock Finish, but I'm also thinking of just leaving as is with a monthly cleaning. Any experience with this specific oil? All advice is much appreciated. Thanks everyone!
 
After going to 1200 grit by hand I have just buffed it. It does have a very close grain. I don't think they accept it for stabilizing, do they? Frank
 
Mark Farley recommended to me to use Minwax Paste Finishing Wax. I have used it on quite a few handles and really like the glossy finish after sanding to only 1000. I do not have any long term experience with it though.
 
Carnuba car wax is all I finish it in. Works great. Doubt Tru Oil would work on ironwood anyway. I use a lot of ironwood and just sand it to a high grit, buff (I use pink scracthless, but doubt there is much difference between it and your white rouge), then car wax and buff with a clean buff when the wax is dry.
 
There is a huge difference between pink scratchless and the white compound. It may not show as much on the very hard dessert iron wood but for many other materials the finish is very obvious. Frank
 
Thanks a lot guys. I didn't think the Tru Oil would work with the oily nature of this wood. I'll probably go with a finishing wax. Thanks again for your comments.
 
I use a 50:50 carnauba/bees wax. Rub on, buff off. The dulling from hand oils still happens but a quick buff with a polishing cloth sorts it out. The wax also gives lots of grip.
 
It doesn't matter what you put on it, with handling it will significantly darken. I have some that looked great when new, now they are almost black. I could hit them with 2000 grit, but it would just happen again. It's just the nature of this wood.
 
Probably about 25% of my knives get DI. I too had heard that you couldn't use TruOil on DI. But I decided to see for myself on the last Ironwood handle I finished. I applied 8 coats. Probably way more than what was practical but I liked the looks of it. I used my finger to rub the oil on and rubbed vigorously. I was trying to get the thinnest coat possible. I'd let it dry 4 to 8 hours than come back with fine steel wool and rub it until smooth and apply another coat. If you put a thick coat on, it's only going to get gummy and you'll spend extra time getting the excess off. Thin is in!

In the past, I've used all the methods mentioned above. RenWax, Mothers Carnuba wax and Pink scratchless on a buffer. All looked good when done, but none gave a finish like TruOil!

I wish my camera could have caught (blaming the camera here, not the operator ;) )how deep the grain on this one went. It really came alive in the sunlight!!! I think it's my best Ironwood handle yet.

IMG_1379.jpgIMG_1381.jpg
 
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Thanks a lot everyone. I truly appreciate all of your input and value it immensely.

@Don - I am going to apply TruOil and see how it goes. Your pictures do capture the beauty of the finish. Now, do you just use the fine steel wool, or do you sand with fine grit, buff, or do any other finishing after application of the thin coats of oil?
 
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I only used steel wool between coats on that knife. I gently rub the handle until all the "sticky" feel is gone from the previous coat and then reapply another THIN coat and let it dry for a day or overnight. 4 to 8 hours at a minimum.
 
I don't like a power buffed finish on ironwood.
One of the suppliers that I have bought ironwood blocks from sends them out with buffed faces.
1st think I do is sand off the buffed surface. The buffed surface looks blurred and muddy.
When sanded, waxed and hand buffed with a soft cloth the colors are brighter, flash that still moves with the figure and the grain more defined.
I am not saying someone that is good at buffing can't make ironwood look good.
 
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