Ebony scales

M

mfi

Joined
Aug 9, 2012
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Finished up the Ebony scales for the CRKT Crawford Casper, now I just have to put a finish on them. Found a method used by a violin maker for the fret board so it should be durable, Ebony is hard to finish right.

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Also got rid of the black coating on all the exposed parts, left it inside though, still have to polish up the spacer a little more...
 
Looks great! How fine did you go on the sand paper and did you use any finish on it?

I've tinkered with some and it does take a lot of patience to sand it and get a nice finish on it. It's worth the effort.

Ric
 
I went down to 400. I haven't applied the finish yet, its a process that will take more sanding and a couple of coats of raw linseed oil. Seems to be many ways to finish ebony but a lot of them do not work or do not last long. I got this one from a violin maker so it should last. Sanding them down with a Fein tool really worked well and didn't kick ebony dust everywhere, which would suck as the stuff is nasty. Got them down as thin as the originals so I could use the old screws..
 
NICE JOB.
I have been thinking about getting some Ebony...
Any tips or tricks or anything noteworthy that you can share?
 
Give them a real good work over with the 400grit, then a good work over with some 600. It'll make them feel and look really nice.


Ric
 
Try to get a thin piece as sanding it down is murder unless you have a big belt sander. The dust is nasty, wear a mask and try not to get it on you as it can irritate anything it touches. Use very sharp tools, new drill bits, etc, its extremly hard and dense. As far as finishing it I haven't tried out the method I found yet so I don't know how that will go but I do know that some finishes will wreck it, it has a lot of its own oil so it doesn't mix well with some.
 
Cocobolo has it's own oil as well and looks really nice if you sand it to a high grit like Ric said.

I have even sanded my Cocobolo pieces up to 2500. Makes them smooth and shiny.
 
Ebony also has the nasty habit of swelling/shrinking a lot! If you get some be sure to let it acclimate to your area a while. Once finished it is pretty stable.


-Xander
 
I've had it sitting for a week, going to finish it soon. Picked up some linseed oil...
 
Ebony doesn't need linseed oil. Just polish it and then use paste wax.
 
But will it stand up to use. I got the Linseed oil treatment advice off a violin makers site, he uses it to treat the fret board...
 
Be careful when you polish ebony without sealing it first. The polishing compound has a tendency to get embedded in the grain and not come out. Personally, I would sand it down to 800/1200 grit then put a sealing finish on it - polymerized tung oil or something like tru-oil. If you seal the grain, it will have less of a tendency to swell and shrink over time.

Beautiful scales, MFI!

TedP
 
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And now its finally done. I sanded down to 400 and sealed it with linseed oil. Its not a very interesting wood but has its own unique quality. I have some cocobola slabs, need to buy something else, or maybe the same knife as its now 20 bucks, one of the best bargains out there...its funny but they are still making this knife and now are doing wood scales for it...
 
Vewy vewy nice! Ebony is one of my favorite woods. Feels great in the hand too. (I had Esmeralda make me a pair of 1911 grips in Macassar ebony, and they're so comfy I take the gun to bed with me because once I touch it I don't want to let go. Just kidding...but only just.)

My only advice when working with it is be careful. That stuff cracks more readily than a bone dry saltine.
 
Sux that it will now spend its life on a shelf as we can't carry them in NYC and I bought a replacement for it for work...its the main reason i don't buy more knives..can't carry them..
 
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