How do you feel about cracks in the wood

Brock Cutlery

Brock Cutlery

Joined
Jan 10, 2015
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I ask because I use Ironwood and manzanita which both often have naturally occurring cracks.
I'm finishing up a Nakiri with a beautiful piece of ironwood and it has a hairline crack that is not going to interfere with the integrity of the piece ever.
I personally don't mind the crack, I rather think it adds to the character of the wood. But I am curious how it might be received by my buyers.
 
I dont mind cracks. Working with burls so much, small cracks and voids are just unavoidable. As long as they are sealed and finished properly to where they dont threaten the integrity of the handle I leave them. I have never had anyone complain.
 
you could fill it with CA glue sand it and it will disappear . i use a lot of ironwood, some cracks i dont mind but most i fill with CA.
 
you know what I think, I been telling you for the last year ---->>> CA glue :-)

Mark I would suggest this, take a few pieces of ironwood, cracked, fill a sample or two and finish sand it
then stick it outside on your balcony and come back to it in 6 months, then tell us what you learned.

have a look at this - http://www.ochssherworx.com/index_files/Page1482.htm

" Sample L Desert Ironwood: Continuing to gray slowly but in amazing condition. It is apparent why this is one of Wayne Goddard’s favorites, beautiful and naturally durable."
 
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you could fill it with CA glue sand it and it will disappear
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What John says works pretty good. It's amazing how large a crack will just disappear when filled with CA and sanded. It might take a couple or 3 coats with sanding between each coat, then I finish with Tru-Oil. While I know Tru-Oil isn't the best finish by any means if you plan to leave lying on front porch to weather. For normal knife use it seems to hold up nicely. The wife has kitchen knives that are 2 or 3 years old that are in constant use and the Tru-Oil finish is holding nicely.

Later
 
i add the CA at 220 grit. leave the dust from sanding in the crack. dont blow it out. the dust will help wick the liquid into the crack with no air bubbles. then sand and finish as usual.
 
I use super glue like its water. I like the real thin CA and get it from the dollar store in a 2 pack. You would be surprised how much glue you get for a buck. Another trick is to sand the wood and let the dust fill the crack and then soak the crack with superglue.
 
I have the stupidest question of the day, but I am new to working with wood (knife handles) - so if I may ask - What is a CA glue? I will probably need it sooner or later and I will be buying in Germany where it is called differently I suppose.
 
woodster said:
i add the CA at 220 grit. leave the dust from sanding in the crack. dont blow it out. the dust will help wick the liquid into the crack with no air bubbles. then sand and finish as usual.
Click to expand...

sometimes I save the sawdust from sawing and you can use it to fill as required just like John said here
 
Thanks for all the comments and advice. Much appreciated. I'm not even filling this one in, too thin a crack to bother with. And I'm keeping the knife for testing.
 
CA stands for Cyanoacrylate. But like the others said, its the same thing as super glue but the more industrial version.

I have a few types of it. Thin (runs like alcohol) thick(runs like cream) and gel...thick like gel. So if I am filling a grove or hole that aren't very flat at the top I use the gel-It stays where I put it. If I am doing turquoise inlay I often use the thick stuff and if I am trying to get it into a crack I use the thin.

I also have accelerator. Basically something that smells like soap to me in a spray bottle. Put some ca where I want it and give a squirt of accelerator and it is instantly set. Way faster than epoxy.

One thing I notice is that my throat and eyes burn when I sand it, so I use my respirator and goggles. Not sure why but I remember looking it up and seeing that the breathing problems happen to lots of people.

Funny story. My cousin split his eyebrow open when we were way out in the bush. One of our buddies was a dentist. We go through all our supplies and the choices are superglue it shut or stitches with no freezing. So cuz picks super glue. Clean it all up, pinch it mostly together, bead of superglue, pinch it tighter...voila...fingers superglued to eyebrow and wound. A bit of tugging and the fingers are loose and the wound is ripped open again. Second try we put a surgical glove on and it all worked great. Just make sure the wound is clean if you try this one.
 
I dropped the first kukri I ever made and like an idiot tried to catch it. Well I caught it, edge down on my middle finger and it rolled around my finger just below the first knuckle crease. Severed the artery on the right side and almost to the bone. I wrapped it with pressure until it quit bleeding, cleaned it, pressure a bit longer then glued it right up. Reapplied the glue 2 or 3 times over the next few days and now I barely have a scar. I love the stuff.
 
if you take a tiny piece of thin cloth, or paper towel and wet it with superglue, you can apply it over a cut and seal it from splitting open. once its dry, put another drop on it and smear it around with a finger. it will harden and leave a nice shiny protective shell. i had to do that for 2 weeks when i slit my fingertip open.
 
Hi Brock,
hairline cracks will eventually open down the road, so better stopping them. The CA will wick up to the very crack tips easily.
For larger cracks and voids should be considered if it's worth the hassle since the outer finish might differ and show the CA "plug" against i.e. the oil finish like a sore thumb.
There is always the possibility to have a full CA finish for the whole handle....Bruce Bump has showed his way to do this
 
I flood almost every wood or ivory handle I do with thin CA when it is almost done sanding at the 400 grit step. Put on the CA, wait about 1-2 minutes, and sand. The sanding dust combines with the uncured CA in the cracks and fills it with plasticised wood. I sand smooth and re-flood, then sand smooth again. I closely inspect it for any cracks, pits, etc. and if they are all gone, finish the sanding. If still there, I keep repeating the process until the surface is completely sealed and smooth. I leave no CA on the surface, just in the wood/ivory.

I buy the thin CA in larger bottles, and fill little 1/2oz squeeze bottles with the resin (the small bottles cost about $.50 each when you buy a dozen or two). CA is amazingly cheap in 16 ounce bottles compared to the 2 gram tubes you buy. A 2 gram tube has .07 oz. At 2 tubes for a buck that is $7 and ounce. In 1/2oz bottles it is about $6/oz, 1oz bottles are $4/oz, and in 2oz bottles it is $3.50/oz. Get 8oz or 16oz and it is down to about $2/oz. When I was fooling around with stabilizing bone and ivory, I bought a gallon for $50.

This will work with woods as full of cracks and holes as Buckeye burl. When done, all the holes and cracks become lines and eyes. Even with just hand sanding, the wood takes on a beautiful sheen, and polishes very well with only hand buffing.

This is the only method I have ever found to keep snakewood and gabon ebony from crazing/cracking later on (besides keeping them cool while grinding).

Bruce Bump uses a modification of this method on his show winning handles.
 
Of course, Stacy is dead in the money. Woods like snakewood CRACK! while it can be minimized by an extremely long and labor intensive process, the only people who do it I know of are alpha knife. It must be worked with lots of super glue.

On that note, Stacy, where do you find large bottles of CA glue?
 
Industrial suppliers ... and eBay.

IIRC, one eBay supplier sells it in five gallon buckets at about $1 an ounce.
 
I use a lot of Cyano in my Pen making business, and on knife handles sometimes--this is a great source: http://www.e-zbond.com/Product.htm#Accessories
Google Stick Fast for another great quality Cyano manufacturer, the best No Odor CA is from Bob Smith: https://www.amazon.com/Super-gold-t...6310212&sr=8-23&keywords=bob+smith+super+glue A little pricey here, but you can shop around and find larger bottles for better pricing.
Look on Amazon for 'super glue' or 'cyanoacrylate glue' and you'll find a bunch to try out: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=a9_sc_...rds=cyanoacrylate+glue&ie=UTF8&qid=1476310458 I like Stick Fast stuff a lot, and EZ Bond and also if wanting low odor, I buy the Bob Smith stuff occasionally. I use the thick a fair amount, and like others have mentioned if wanting to incorporate dust into a crack, I like to use the thin on top of packing dust into a crack--it really is pretty amazing stuff.

Another go to supplier for me is Exotic Blanks: http://www.exoticblanks.com/Glues-and-Epoxies/ the proprietor Ed is a great guy, and very helpful.
 
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