Finishing a maple burl slipjoint

T

Taximanny

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Jul 27, 2015
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I'm using dyed maple burl on a slipjoint handle for the first time and got a few questions....

I'm finishing it to 400 grit before peening it together. After that I'll go to 1200 grit than if I use tung oil or Danish oil on the scales will it effect the spring?
Meaning if it gets in between the scales and spring will it lock it up?

What is the best method on a knife where it has to be completely finished before applying such a finish.
Everything I have found on the subject is that they are finishing a fixed blade.

Thanks
 
I'd finish the scales before peening. Then you will either dome your pins or grind'em without marring the finish...eventually you would correct any imperfection afterward.
Another trick you should know is flooding the inside of the slipjoint with wd40 and blowing clean with air compressed....it comes handy in the last steps of the build for removing unwanted grit, but it would uneven your oil finish.

Of course you could tape the perimeter of the handle and work on the scales, but oil sometimes will leak under the tape...be careful
 
I will be sanding the pins flush....
So your saying finish to finish the scales and assemble the knife than do any patch work afterwards.
Sounds like the only plan to go with right now.

So WD-40 will react to the finish ?
 
If you are very careful you should be able to grind the pins almost flush without touching the scales, assuming the scales are a bit convexed; anyway if you grind them actually flush you should be recovering minimal scale scuffs around the pins.
My point is, better to blend a bit of scuff and recover the oil finish away from the perimeter of the scale (if necessary) than trying to oil finish from start with the knife assembled.

That's how i do, but your question is interesting and i would like to know how other maker's do in that regard!!!

The wd40 may dissolve the oil finish and create dullness to it or work against curing, but you should be able to wd40 the inside and blow it clean without letting it contact the scale material long enough to create damage to the finish, but the finish should be already well cured.
 
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Try this experiment on a scrap piece of steel. Tape the knife the best you can with masking tape. Apply the Danish oil. Use acetone and a q-tip to clean up any dried danish oil on the steel. I have done this before and it worked for me but I made sure to not get the Danish oil in the spring.
 
I finish my slipjoints to 95% before I hammer them together. All you should have to do after assembly is finish off the pins. Put in sacrificial pins and finish the knife to almost final, take it apart and clean thoroughly and then hammer together and finish off the pins. You can touch up the finish on the wood around the pins with a q tip.
 
With the amount of times a slipjoint is assembled and taken apart this shoud'nt even be an issue.
You have the assembly pins you were using to build the knife, the only time you're using the final
pins is when you're ready for the hammer and like Stan said at that point the touch up should be
very minimal.
The air idea works too, hold the knife trough up with the blade open, either an eyedropper full of
acetone or lacquer thinner and blow it thru with an air compressor. I do a fair amount of "super-
glue" finishes and even then you can touch the handle up.
Ken.
 
Thanks for all the advise...
I put two coats of tung oil on 12 hours apart and finally peened them together tonight.
Yes there's a little touch up to do. I had a little trouble peening on the Birdseye pivot but finally got it secure.
These slipjoints are confusing and addicting.
 
Congratulations!
I am late, but want to share my way to avoid freezing everything when peening the pivot. Many uses shims, but i simply use the parent blade stock, dressed a bit to fill the spaces around the tang in between the scales. Since my tang has been sanded and polished, my parent stock is just a bit thicker, avoiding pinching as i spread the pivot well to fill all the hole taper...then i remove the scrap stock and tap out any play very carefully. I peen in half stop position
 
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