Grippy wood handle finish

J

Josh Wilson

Joined
Aug 3, 2000
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232
I am a long time woodworker however this is my first knife related project. I bought a blade from Ragnar and made the handle and sheath. The handle is maple, sanded to 300 grit and finished in a red danish oil. It looks really nice but I find that if my hands are wet I can't grip the handle very well.

Aside from going to a lower grit, are there other finishes I could try to get a better grip but still keep the nice wood look?
 
Hi, finish-wise I'm not to sure, however you might want to think about
checkering or stippling a portion of it. A few well placed gooves might work also.
Regards, Greg
 
I don't get it, I've done a lot of oil finishes,
sand to 300 grit
coat with oil and alow th dry
a good coat of paste wax

It should repel water and catch in your hand.

you didn't spray it with pledge did you?
(or some other silicon wax or lube)

ok, I just checked an ebony handle with an oil finish. it does get a little slick, but the shape fits my hand well enough that I couldn't get it to slide any. one hand was greasy from eating a cookie and was realy slippery, but the shape still held.

try refining handle conture and or adding grip lines or checkering.
 
It takes a lot of practice to get this to work... but try this:

Mask off any bolsters and the blade with tape. Spray with Deft Semi-Gloss clear wood finish (the little aerosol blue and white can). Make sure you hold the can a foot and a half or more away, or you'll get a bubbly messed up finish. Takes a lot of practice to get the coat nice and even. Looks bright and shiny too. You can ultra-fine steel wool it and then buff to a mirror finish if you get it uneven, but it might not be as grippy then. Or do as I do... take some old jeans and rub the finish REALLY hard with em. Keeps it shiny and keeps the grippy texture, and it can fix uneven Defting.
 
Josh et al --

This thread is a bit old but just in case someone comes back...

My son & I are working on some similar projects -- got a few Helle & Karesuando blades from Ragnar, & are mounting them in hardwood handles for basic utility-type knives for camping, fishing, leatherwork etc. I have some pictures of the first one (Helle "Turmann" 80mm blade & hard maple handle) at
<http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~bonami...ible edge. Hope this is helpful, Andrew
 
I'd have to agree with andrewb about the Helle blades. I have one of their knives and have bought 2 of their blades. I gave one away and used one in a knife. It is one of my favorite knives. Even though it's stainless, it sharpens easy and holds an edge great. (maybe because it's laminated). I really like it. It's 'Helle Polar' blade, the top knife in the picture. I got it from Ragnar, and I think I paid $11 or $12 for it. I will definitely be buying a couple more of those.

2and3.jpg


I use Danish Oil also, and like it. I havent had trouble with knives being slippery, but I dont use them wet all that much (especially the carbon steel bladed ones). I need to try the wax coating.

--Matt
 
Matt, those look great!

Question about the one showing two different woods (walnut & maple?) -- do you join them with epoxy when you mount the blade, or build it in stages, or?? I really like the contrast in this design & am thinking of walnut+myrtlewood, padouk+Bois d'Arc (osage orange), etc.

Thanks for any tips!

Andrew
 
Try this. After all your oil has dried use a mixture of equal parts of Beeswax, Johnsons paste wax, Linseed oil and a half ration of turpentine. add a couple of teaspoons of japan drier. I change this recipe for all kinds of finishes on metal and wood. That formula will give you a finish that feels slightly sticky but won't collect grit or dust. Feels a little like neopreme.

Change your solvent for steel or aluminumm. Use acetone and ti gives a beadblasted surface an even smooth grey finish that flat will not rust and does not scuff very quickly.
 
Hey andrewb,
the bottom one is curly birch and walnut with a birchbark spacer. I sorta screwed up my birch and ended up missing most of the nice looking grain. It was the first piece I tried and I used one of the poorer ones first to make sure I wouldnt screw up a nicer piece of wood. Anyway, what I did was make the hole through each piece like I wanted it and made sure it fit well together. I made a clamping jig that allowed me to clamp from end to end without putting pressure on the blade itself (the blade sticks down into a slot) I masked everything off good to keep the epoxy off the places it wasnt supposed to go and then put epoxy in the holes and on the tang and slid on each piece. Be sure to coat the touching surfaces between the sections too. I peened the tang and then stuck the whole thing in a bar clamp and tightened it down and left it overnight. It actually ended up being pretty easy.

The first one I tried I screwed up when I was trying to peen the tang. I split my walnut piece. Maybe the tangs of the blades I am using are hardened or something. It's DERN hard for me to peen the tang.

Good luck!!

--Matt
 
Matt -- great tips! I have some more questions & comments about construction, etc. so will move it off-list with an e-mail Thanks again & best wishes,

Andrew
 
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