How to bring out wood grain/patterns at low grit?

L

Leon Husock

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Jul 17, 2019
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I'm making a camp knife and I've got some pretty figured mango for the handle, which for something like a chef's knife I'd finish to a very high polish just to make the grain pop, since you don't really hold chef's knives by the handle much anyway. But since I want this handle to be nice and grippy I can't do that. Does anyone have good methods of making the grain/patterns in wood really pop at 120-220 grit?
 
Grip is 90% in the shape and only 10% the amount of smoothness.
Sand it to at least 400 grit. Apply a sanding sealer and sand again. I don't like finishes on wood handles, but applying a series of coats of high quality oil finish ( and sanding them away between coats) will leave the wood looking very good without the varnished look. Finish with a last sanding at 800 grit.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Grip is 90% in the shape and only 10% the amount of smoothness.
Sand it to at least 400 grit. Apply a sanding sealer and sand again. I don't like finishes on wood handles, but applying a series of coats of high quality oil finish ( and sanding them away between coats) will leave the wood looking very good without the varnished look. Finish with a last sanding at 800 grit.
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There's no concern about it getting too smooth at 800 grit and being hard to hold onto during vigorous chopping and stuff like that?
 
Like Stacy said, you can make the shape of the handle so that it stays in your hand.
If you get that right it doesn't matter how smooth the handle material is
 
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