Gransfors bruks handle treatment..Deep rich color?

I was under the impression that the heartwood (desirable) was the white wood, and the reddish brown wood (less desirable) is the sapwood?
 
heartwood is the center of the tree, also graded as "red hickory" by the industry. white hickory is the sapwood, which has traditionally been more desirable for handle making. i tend to go for sapwood handles, but have used both and have never had a failure of red heartwood.
 
the handle in the OP is most likely heartwood hickory.

if you would like to color your handles, i would suggest using one of the many colored variations of "danish oil" instead of staining then oiling over top.
 
Twoinch said:
heartwood is the center of the tree, also graded as "red hickory" by the industry. white hickory is the sapwood, which has traditionally been more desirable for handle making. i tend to go for sapwood handles, but have used both and have never had a failure of red heartwood.
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Right you are. Sapwood is usually light coloured and heartwood is often dark due to accumulated minerals. Nothing wrong with either strength-wise but ordinary folks tend to avoid dark or bi-colour handles. If colour is something you really want (other than that aged varnish golden colour look) than poke around in Lee Valley Tools catalogue; they market 'vivid-colour' water-based aniline stains that can really make a handle stand out from the crowd.
 
newsasquatch said:
So does danish oil "set" likr BLO?
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yes, it actually sets up a tad "harder" than straight BLO, which is why it is considered more weather resistant. you can actually build up a finish with danish oil if used in a certain manner. but when soaked and wiped off, you would be hard pressed to notice a difference between the two, especially if you use natural/non-colored danish oil

you can get it in very small half pint containers i believe, for a few bucks, i suggest anyone that likes the darker grain/lighter wood or weathered look to handles, to give it a try.
 
I was creepin on John Neeman tools facebook page, and I saw him putting trewax on an american felling axe. It's a colored wax that hardens unlike straight beeswax. I think thats what they use to give their axes the nice brown color.
 
Perhaps we should step back. If colour of wood is what defines a good axe from a bad one then something is wrong with this picture. Get a chunk of Black Walnut or Black Cherry, entirely disregard advice on orientation of grain, and go to town with shaping it to fit. Guaranteed it'll look like a million bucks!
 
Colour definitely does not define a good axe but I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to play with coloring the handle. Just a fun thing to do.
BTW, I ended up buying some aniline dye, and so far it's looking very cool.
 
I didn't like that light wood. So I'm taking up some space in my bathroom and putting a stain followed by some tung oil in a day or two.

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@ The Cow, I really like your stain job! I just finished my axe handle and hung it. I used Cherry Rosewood aniline dye over a dark brown leather antique gel. I had to use the brown antique gel because I realized that the cherry rosewood is pink when applied on hickory.

Here you can really see that deep rich color, while still being able to see wood grain.
 
i will admit that those look good.

i personally dont want mine to look like they have been "colored" or stained. i want just enough to add depth and warmth without looking done up.

i will advise anyone rehabbing an old dried out haft, to NOT use colored danish oil. it will soak up like a sponge and cause it to be SUPER dark. i have an old octagonal kelly perfect michigan that i let the ol lady oil up... she chose dark walnut danish oil, and it turned that handle DARK dark. i will post a pic of it, next to a new handle treated with the same exact oil for comparison when i can snap a pic.
 
Thanks! I think it would have looked a bit more natural if I used wood grain filler. You can see the unstained part of the wood grain. That's the only thing that bugs me.
 
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