Flamed handles

[tiguy7]

View attachment 1002223 You need a CNC’d Titanium “Flame” handle to match your Hot Rod.

 

[FLINT77]

How's the durability of a Tung Oil finish? I've only used it on furniture, and not something that gets heavy (possibly sweaty) use.

Seems great, I've always liked tung oil. The tung will dry fine, but its not super fast. seems like one to three coats will retain the wood feel, but more coats and eventually it will form a hard finish - it doesn't seem to be totally slick/slippery like varnish, and stays kind of grippy (not sticky), but it forms a definite finish.

I use pure tung oil (not the fake "tung" finish stuff), mixed 50/50 with citrus solvent. I think last time I bought the real milk paint stuff. its not super cheap, but a pint of each yields a quart, and I've only used half of that over about a year and I've done several handles with several coats each, so its not too bad.

tung oil on some woods like walnut and red cedar is just beautiful. all white hickory is kind of boring. I think next time I might try the walnut shell thing that Jack Ryan suggested before I put on the Tung.

 

[jackal_727]

Here's a couple I torched and wrapped last winter.

 

[Square_peg]

How's the durability of a Tung Oil finish? I've only used it on furniture, and not something that gets heavy (possibly sweaty) use.

Durability is OK. Not as good as varnish. I recently spent 5 days and 4 nights camping in very wet weather. My tung-finished axe was essentially out in the weather the whole time. Mostly the finish held up. But the grain did rise a bit in places. Like a BLO finish you will need to re-coat your handle at least annually and after any very hard use.

I find the tung oil finish to have a noticeably better grip than a BLO finish. But the tung doesn't soak in as well. So I always give a new handle at least 2 coats of BLO before I apply a tung oil finish. (usually 4 coats).

 

[junkenstien]

That flint edge handle is lovely but I can see why they flamed it with that run out it is a lower quality handle,have one on a tommy axe that’s the same way love how it looks but it’s a horrible piece of wood

 

[Moonw]

I don't hate torched wood per-se, I just don't like it on axe handles. I think it has its place.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Anyone else like to take a torch to those glossy varnished new handles? It seems to be the easiest way to get rid of that plasticky varnish feel, while adding some cool looks at the same time.

Before

After

I don't go for patterns or anything but it is a real fast way to get the varnish off of a long handle, for hammers I just take my knife and scrape it off in no time.
I do happen to like the dark charred look, but I don't take a torch to every single handle of mine.

 

[Jasper33]

I sometimes like the flamed look.

I have done it to two handles. Both hardware store link handles. The first which is on my plumb jersey, I scraped and sanded the factory finish off, but I couldn't get the finish completely out of some of the grain in the wood, so it just looked a little streaky and crappy. So after a couple coats of tung, one evening on a whim, I hit it with the torch. I tried to avoid any big dark spots and tried to for the most part, it just made the grain pop out, which looks way better than the handle did before. also, I don't know if it had something to do with the tung already on it, but it gave a distinctly raised feel to the grain, so the handle has a pronounced texture now which I kind of like.

The second, was another hardware store link handle that I messed up the swell on trying to shape it and also banged it up pretty good after several head fittings. I figured I wouldn't be out anything with the handle so I got curious how it would look if I really cooked it with the torch. So this one is really dark. and with this one, I put the tung on right after flaming it, the handle was very hot, and the tung seemed to either really soak in or cure quickly or both, as I put several coats in within just minutes and they seemed to just bake right in. I might experiment with this further - handle heating, even with out the flame part maybe.


Finally, here is a Flint Edge CT that I got from JB, with a factory "flame hardened" handle, that I absolutely love. I think it looks great, and the shape is amazing. I don't see where this is a lower quality handle.

I’m not a fan of quick burn jobs done with a small torch, the ones that look kind of leopardish when they are done if you know what I mean.
But I really like your second one, nice and dark all over and I think it looks great. That must have taken some time and effort!