Hi,
I have seen a few threads on parts of this but didn't want to steal any of them, hope you don't mind another one.
I have started making new handles for a few kitchen knives (e.g. those http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1030045oe6.jpg) , and I am still puzzled by the options for finishing the wood. Here is what I have done:
- I have used stabilized woods as well as some unstabilized ones (ebony, ironwood, rosewoods, koa, and others)
- As finishes I have used oil-based polyurethane, salad bowl finish, and tung oil so far.
- I just bought some white compound and a buffing wheel which I hope to use on my drill press.
I understand that for the stabilized woods and the oilier dense woods one or two coats of tung oil to bring out the figure and then buffing it with white compound may be a good way to go. Would I then still use wax (carnuba?) after that on a kitchen knife? Doesn't that get sticky in the kitchen?
What do I do after applying a number of coats of tung oil to denser unstabilized woods (like thuya, denser burl woods, ironwood) - would I buff it with compound/wax after that or just leave it as it is?
I had started with the polyurethane on unstabilized woods because I heard it gives the best protection for wood in the kitchen environment. That seems to work and they come out nice enough (especially the koa), but I'm not really crazy about the glossy stuff I have used (pure and thinned), I like the salad bowl finish as an alternative much better, generally doing about 4 coats with steel wool in between. Does it make any sense to buff with compound and/or wax after applying any of these finishes?
Are there any rules of thumb, lists, threads, books etc. out there that tell me which finish works best for which wood - or is this all trial and error?
I am using a nice Madagaskar rosewood. I applied one coat of polyurethane but the wood is so oily that this did not work well. I rubbed it down with steel wool and very lightly cleaned it with acetone. That made it really nice and smooth, but when I cleaned it , the wood color really bled out and stained the rag. Now I'm wondering how to finish it - will buffing be enough to keep it from staining in the moist kitchen environment?
Finally, the white compound I got (from Jantz) seems very hard and I don't see the buffing wheel taking up anything when I run it over the compound block. Do I need to do something to make this work better?
Sorry for all the naive questions, but I'm really totally new to this and haven't found a good tutorial or anything like that online. Thanks for your help,
Aloha,
Stefan
I have seen a few threads on parts of this but didn't want to steal any of them, hope you don't mind another one.
I have started making new handles for a few kitchen knives (e.g. those http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1030045oe6.jpg) , and I am still puzzled by the options for finishing the wood. Here is what I have done:
- I have used stabilized woods as well as some unstabilized ones (ebony, ironwood, rosewoods, koa, and others)
- As finishes I have used oil-based polyurethane, salad bowl finish, and tung oil so far.
- I just bought some white compound and a buffing wheel which I hope to use on my drill press.
I understand that for the stabilized woods and the oilier dense woods one or two coats of tung oil to bring out the figure and then buffing it with white compound may be a good way to go. Would I then still use wax (carnuba?) after that on a kitchen knife? Doesn't that get sticky in the kitchen?
What do I do after applying a number of coats of tung oil to denser unstabilized woods (like thuya, denser burl woods, ironwood) - would I buff it with compound/wax after that or just leave it as it is?
I had started with the polyurethane on unstabilized woods because I heard it gives the best protection for wood in the kitchen environment. That seems to work and they come out nice enough (especially the koa), but I'm not really crazy about the glossy stuff I have used (pure and thinned), I like the salad bowl finish as an alternative much better, generally doing about 4 coats with steel wool in between. Does it make any sense to buff with compound and/or wax after applying any of these finishes?
Are there any rules of thumb, lists, threads, books etc. out there that tell me which finish works best for which wood - or is this all trial and error?
I am using a nice Madagaskar rosewood. I applied one coat of polyurethane but the wood is so oily that this did not work well. I rubbed it down with steel wool and very lightly cleaned it with acetone. That made it really nice and smooth, but when I cleaned it , the wood color really bled out and stained the rag. Now I'm wondering how to finish it - will buffing be enough to keep it from staining in the moist kitchen environment?
Finally, the white compound I got (from Jantz) seems very hard and I don't see the buffing wheel taking up anything when I run it over the compound block. Do I need to do something to make this work better?
Sorry for all the naive questions, but I'm really totally new to this and haven't found a good tutorial or anything like that online. Thanks for your help,
Aloha,
Stefan
