Finishing wood handles

K

Killinumsoftly

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Apr 14, 2013
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Hey guys I'm new to knife making and I got some nice wood for some knives I'm doing, I was wondering how you guys put a nice finish on wood. It's just regular wood, not stabilized. I'm staining it and want to then put a nice shine to it. I've thought about polyurethane, and I also have some linseed oil but I was wondering if I could put the linseed oil over the stain. Should I stain the handle then rub the BLO on after or soak the entire handle in the BLO after I stain it? Is there another type of finish I can put over the stain that is something I can buff and really get a shine to it? I've heard people use superglue but I'm not sure how to finish that to a shine either.

I'm going to get some stabilized burl soon and I'm pretty sure with that stuff I can just sand it going threw grits then hit it with a buffing wheel. That is only because the stuff they impregnate the wood with that it gets that nice shine. But with regular wood I just dont know what to do, I love making the wood handles and the wood & stain combos I have look amazing but I really want them to shine like the sun.LOL

Any help from the gurus put there would be much appreciated and I thank you all in advance. If not for my friend Bryan breeden and this site I would not be making knives probably at all & if I was making them they wouldn't be anywhere near as good as some of them are coming out. So again I'd like to thank all the guys out there and especially Bryan who answers question after question of mine and never gets tired of very long emails asking bunches of stuff and attempts to pick his very knowledgeable brain.
 
It really depends on the type of wood. Tru-Oil will work great for walnut, maple and other such woods. With the really oily tropical hardwoods like rosewood family, ironwood, etc, you don't really need any finish coat in many cases, just fine sanding and buffing.
 
Yes, that is true^^^ but if the wood accepts a stain easily it will accept tru-oil. Oily woods typically do not take stains well.

Oh, a note about tru-oil, don't blieve the directions about bein ready in 2 hours, give it a solid 8 or so. I can get a coat on in the evening and another one the following morning, again in the evening after work.


-Xander
 
Boiled linseed oil makes a nice finish, stain first and make sure stain is fully dry, I usually sand to 400 and place some BLO in a plastic sandwich bag, put the handle of the knife in and wrap so that the entire handle gets soaked with the oil. Note this is not much oil just enough to make contact. I will let that soak in for a couple of hours, wipe really good, and wipe some more, buff with a fine tee shirt that has worn nearly through that my wife threw in the trash (no sense of value) let dry a couple hours or more and then do two brush on coats. I use fine 000 steel wool between coats. Really buff good after the final, I will usually put a coat of wood wax on and buff really well. This is not going to be real glossy finish but durable and really brings out the grain in wood.
 
One trick with particularly porous wood like zebra or walnut, apply the first coat of eiher BLO or Tru-Oil with 400# sandpaper making a slurry. Wipe the excess away across the grain filling the pores. Nice thing about both finishes, they can be touched up very easily down the road and imo, look better with more coats applied over the years. I use BLO on all my wood handled yard tools and shop tools. Every few months everything gets a wipe down to keep them from splitting, shrinking and checking.


-Xander
 
"what finish should I use on my wood?"
Ask that question ten makers and get twenty answers.
I've handsanded cocobolo and blackwood to 2500 and was very happy with the result.
I've used CCL-oil on birch and maple with good result.
Even plain hard wax on beech.
I've also used "wooden countertop oil" on oak with good result.
It was good for filling the large pores with the slurry. (I suspect it to be an oil/varnish blend)
 
I like Watco Danish Oil. It takes on average 10 days to get a great finish on it, as each coat takes 24h to set up. As noted above, wet sanding with the oil at 400, 600, then 800 grit (each 24h apart) will give a finish that has a semi gloss sheen with the feel of polished soapstone. I soak the handle for 24h in pure tung oil the first day, or if the wood has relatively closed pores, I will thin the tung oil 50/50 with mineral spirits. A coat or three of beeswax after polishing, and you will get a bit more gloss. Danish oil is a blend of 1/4 tung oil, 1/4 mineral spirits, 1/4 varnish, and 1/4 bees wax, if you can't find the Danish oil premixed. I always mixed my own until I recently found the Watco Danish Oil locally.
 
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Ok your guys have some awesome info and thank you all for what you've put in so far.
Let me first say that I do use some exotic woods and those like you say don't usually need the finish, usually it will be hard local wood that will except stain very well.
When you guys say to buff after applying do you mean buff as like use a wheel on a grinder with some sort of compound, or do you mean just give its good hand buff like I was doing my car hood?
When soaking in the BLO is it ok to submerge the handle, I've heard of people when doing axe handles they just submerge the entire handle.
What out there will give me a shine like polyurethane? I mean I can use the poly but and I have on knives that are for field dressing animals and will always be wet or covers in blood.
So with any finish I want to apply a coat, let dry, sand getting higher grit with each coat, then after final coat I buff and do not sand again? Is that about right?
 
I like tru-oil for the high gloss shine with no buffing. Usually I cut the shine back to a satin finish with #0000 steel wool.

This is tru-oil with no buffing after finishing, and about 15 coats. It can be accelerated with ArmorAll as a catalyst, but you should learn how to best use it normally first. With the catalyst I can apply 8-10 coats a day.

2013-01-30142430_zpsb0e9d527.jpg




-Xander
 
For buffing,I use the little cotton pads you can get at the pharmacy- typically used for removing makeup. You can use compound, or just rub the old fashioned way. If the wood is porous, the compound can get stuck in the pores. Some people like the look from a buffing wheel, but I find it smooths the definition in the grain just slightly. Neither is better. They are just different ways to do things. Finishing wood is something you just figure out as you go. You will find a recipe you like, and you will stick to it.

I have a question about the tru oil. Does it soak into the wood like tung and danish oil, or is it a surface finish like poly? For some pieces, I would like the gloss finish, and you never get a true gloss from danish oil.
 
Second that. I've found that just about each different wood I finish a little differently and specifically for that wood. Walnut one way, Olive another, Rosewood (well heck even here we diverge cause I do EI Rosewood different, than Blackwood, different than Cocobolo etc), Ironwood another way, Bocote different yet. I've just kept experimenting till I really like what I'm getting for each wood. I use Tru Oil, Danish Oil, Hut Shellac, car wax and buffed with pink scracthless.
 
Tru-Oil soaks in for the first few coats and builds from there. Its basically a modified varnish. A light rough-up between coats really helps.


-xander
 
I like to use Tru-Oil or better still, Waterlox Tung oil finish. Easy to apply, tougher than rock, and easy to touch up
if needed.:thumbup:
 
fast14riot said:
I like tru-oil for the high gloss shine with no buffing. Usually I cut the shine back to a satin finish with #0000 steel wool.

This is tru-oil with no buffing after finishing, and about 15 coats. It can be accelerated with ArmorAll as a catalyst, but you should learn how to best use it normally first. With the catalyst I can apply 8-10 coats a day.


2013-01-30142430_zpsb0e9d527.jpg




-Xander
Click to expand...

You said earlier that I should wait 8 hours between each coat, how do you get so many coats in so quickly?
What's the best way to apply the try-oil? Should I brush it on or rub it with a rag?
 
Using Tru-Oil per the standad directions, you should wait 8 hours between coats. I use Armorall (yes, the car shine stuff) as a catalyst to speed up curing. I do recommend becomming familiar with how Tru-Oil behaves normally before attempting to use a catalyst, so you have an idea how it behaves based on temperature, humidity and such.

I apply Tru-Oil with my fingers, it doesn't take much. I pour a small amount into a condiment cup, maybe a tablespoon or so, and use it from there so the bottle doesn't dry out and get a film on the surface. Dip your finger in and rub it in until it soaks up and your finger begins to drag or squeak on the surface. Don't try to cover th whole handle at one shot, it will soak in pretty quick, just work in small areas until the whole thing is covered in one coat. Wipe off any excess. Acetone on a Q-tip will work well to take it off of any pins or the tang.

For an excellent write-up on how to use ArmorAll as a catalyst, do a web search for "Woodstocks amazing stock finish" you should find it.


-Xander
 
So I just ordered some tru-oil and also some Danish oil I'm going to give both a try but I really like that pic of the handle done by tru-oil. I also ordered some pink scratchless rouge to buff with so I can try hand buffing and also wheel buffing with compound. I guess like people have said I just will try some different stuff and see what works the best for me.

I just finished the 2nd coat of BLO on a maple handle with a real dark KOA color stain and it's looking good. The first coat I let soak in then rubbed it down and let it dry, the 2nd coat I put on with a piece of 400 grit then wiped it down across the grain, now it's drying and when it's done I'll do a 3rd coat with 600 grit. I'm hoping it'll come out real nice.
I was wondering can I buff BLO when I'm done the last coat after its dry? Like would I be able to hit it with a wheel to shine it up a bit more then the satin type finish it has.
This dark stain looks amazing already with the BLO on it and I'm not even done. I can't wait to get my order of burl in and see what I can do with the non-stabilized stuff. The stabilized stuff I'm just gona sand down with higher grits and then buff to a serious shine.
What do you guys think about teak oil? I watched a video of this guy finishing a handle with teak oil, it wasn't teak wood he was using it on but it seemed to look ok, he didn't explain the steps he went threw or anything so I'm not sure what I would do with teak oil. Anyone ever use that stuff?
If anyone out there has any other tips or tricks or anything they like to use pleas let me know
 
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