Finishing Ipe??

P. McKinley

P. McKinley

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Jan 27, 2008
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I'm in the end stages of a knife build using Ipe for the handle. This is my first go using this hard, heavy wood and I'm stymied as to how to finish this stuff.

I've hand sanded to 800 grit, then buffed with white diamond, wiped clean and buffed again on a clean wheel. I was expecting to achieve much better results. The wood is waxy, and as soon as I handle the wood the shine disappears and the finish is cloudy. I've worked with a variety of exotic woods over the years and have never encountered this problem.... to this extent.

Oil finish of some sort? Paste wax? Shellac?

Does anyone have suggestions??

Much appreciated,

-Peter
 
I used ipe once....once...then took it off and replaced it with something that works better for knife handles.

In my opinion, it is great for decks, and poor for knife handles. The only solution ( besides changing it) is to sand smooth and seal/coat with repeated layers of teak oil or similar finish. Put on a thin layer and let it dry. Sand it down with 400 grit and repeat. It will take a good number of repetitions , but you can get it all sealed up and shiny eventually. Don't know how long the finish will last, though.
 
Thank you Stacy.

However, this sculpted, pinned spacer, 8 hour job of a handle ain't coming off!!
I'll just have to make it work.

-Peter
 
I had a piece of Ipe that I tried making into scales once. Fortunately, I had read about it and set it up as a knockdown with no epoxy. Glad I did - I never got a finish I liked and ended up moving on. Chewed up a couple of coping saw blades trying to trim the stuff...

However, the closest to a usable finish came was using Tru-Oil and putting on a lot of very thin coats. The first couple of coats, I sanded it wet with 800 grit and wiped it down before it cured. Then I finished normally with another 10+ coats of Tru-Oil (not sanded wet), wiping excess off and buffing with 000 synthetic steel wool between coats. Topped it with Ren wax. I haven't done any wear testing on them because I haven't re-mounted them, but they still look in pretty good shape sitting on my shelf...

TedP
 
Thank you Ted.

I have three test pieces going at the moment - Tung oil, Danish oil and Teak oil. I've sanded the test pieces to 800 and applied a light coat of oil, let sit for 30 min, then wiped clean to let dry. I think I'll do a wet sand with oil on another piece to see if that makes a difference.

I'll also pick up some Tru-oil later today and see how that goes.

I appreciate you advice.

-Peter
 
It seems to have a lot of natural oils in it, so I'd avoid any sort of hardening oil.
It's kind of a plain wood, but I'd sure like to hear why Stacy thinks it's bad for handles.
I've done a few hunting and kitchen knives with it, really all it needs is a little wax, though I did try the tung oil treatment on the hunting knives and got a quite satisfactory matte finish with a little wax. Seems fine so far.

No finish is probably the ideal finish for Ipe- kind of like cocobolo.
 
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Peter, Ipe can be a very difficult wood to finish, but it can be done. One of the primary issues is what you have already mentioned: the wood secretes or releases an oily substance. The fix is usually pretty simple. Get it to where you're ready to finish, i.e. all sanding is done and you're ready to go. Then, wipe it down several times with a clean, fast-drying solvent, preferably something like lacquer thinner or acetone. Do not use any sort of petroleum distillate, such as mineral spirits, naptha, or benzene, as they are too oily.

As you wipe it 2 or 3 times, make sure you turn the rag or paper towel to a new surface constantly, so that you are not just smearing the oil around. After you feel you've got it clean, take a fresh rag or paper towel, and do it one last time. Then immediately (within minutes, not hours) take a rag or brush and put on a thin coat of dewaxed shellac. If you can't find dewaxed shellac, you can take regular shellac and let it sit for a couple of days and the wax will settle, and you can pour off the shellac from the top of the container.

Let the shellac dry, preferably overnight, lightly scuff it with a scotch-brite pad or whatever (the only important thing is that you don't break through the finish), and then finish it with the material of your choice. Hope that helps, and let us know how it goes. Thanks,

Sam
 
I didn't like the feel or the look. I know that there seems to be different types of ipe, but the stuff I have had given to me was all rather plain. Dealing with the oils and resins did not seem worth the low quality look. Kitchen handles,....I don't know..... Just seems like the wrong wood for that. Just my 2 cents worth. YMMV
 
True dat.
I've watched what seems like a hundred people pick up the Ipe handled knife and put it down, then pick up and buy a similar one with a colorful paracord handle.
Practical, maybe. Boring, certainly :)
 
I have played around with Ipe a little bit.
I lost interest before finishing a project with it but the waxy feel made me think paste wax would be the best way to go.
 
Thanks for the help folks.

Last night I took Sam's(Carbon1) advice and did the shellac thing. After a thorough 800 grit sanding and de-oiling with acetone, I applied two, thin coats of de-waxed shellac(2 lb cut, blond), with light leveling in between, making sure I had completely coated the wood. Once dry, I lightly scuffed the finish with a scotchbrite pad and applied three light coats of Tung oil. Today I'll give this a very light 1000 grit leveling and finally one or two more coats of Tung....maybe a buffing to finish.

So far, so good. This piece of Ipe looks surprisingly similar to Desert Ironwood.

-Peter
 
One thing with ipe is that the name is rather loosely used by the big wood exporters from South America, and not all ipe sold is actually ipe. There are a group of related woods sold as "Ipe Lumber", "Ipe Wood", or "Ipe Flooring". Some of these are curamu and jarrah, which make OK knife handles. These woods are even mixed together in flooring lots to get some variation of color and pattern. The ipe I have seen, and what I have read, says most looks sort of like teak. The heart wood has stripes.
 
I have never made knife scales with ipe (Brazilian walnut), but I have made a few BBI (bamboo backed ipe) longbows. The shellac advice is right on. I usually use Zinsser shellac in a rattle can or Deft in a rattle can, a couple coats then fine sand and then finish with whatever you want. In my experience wiping it down with solvent just seems to pull the oil out faster. Hope this helps.
 
Is there are reason you are stopping your grit at only 800. I find most wood doesn't even really "pop" until at the very least 1000. For A really nice finish I go to about 2000.

I have used Ipe before and finished with teak oil, it seemed to work fairly well. Real Ipe has a very strong, spicy smell to it.
 
You will have to update us with some pics, Peter. I look forward to seeing it.

Ben, in general, if you are going to put a film finish such as shellac, varnish, or a curing oil on the wood, most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference between wood that has been sanded to 800 vs. 1000 or 2000 grit, or so. Once you apply the film finish, it will fill a lot of those micro scratches, and give the wood a much smoother appearance. That has been my experience, anyway. But there are as many different methods to finish as there are finishers. Thanks,

Sam
 
Odd coincidence- I was grumbling earlier in this thread about how boring people seemed to find a particular Ipe handled knife I had made....so today at the market three people wanted it badly, and I sold it to the one who had cash in his hand...go figure. It's been sitting on my table for at least six weeks and not getting much love, and then bam.
The moon must be in Jupiter or something, no other explanation. :)
 
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That came out great! To be honest I have some ipe and didn't think it would come out that nice. I was sure wrong!
 
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