Ironwood and leather reaction? Anybody else?

E.Carlson

E.Carlson

Joined
Mar 28, 2016
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So, I can't seem to pinpoint what is causing this issue. Whenever I make a knife with an ironwood handle (no finish, just sanded to 1500 or so) and make a leather sheath, the ironwood gets sticky around where the sheath touches the handle. I used to burnish the edges with sno seal, and figured it was caused by the solvent they use. I switched to using gum tragacanth and still getting the same thing.
There is no visible residue, just a stickiness that rubs off easy enough but returns after spending more time in the sheath. This only happens with ironwood. Anyone else run into this?
 
Do you wet sand or dry?
If you wet sand (with SiC), do you notice any shedding of grit?

I sand dry, and I have not noticed this myself while using sno-seal and ironwood brought to 5k then buffed.

I will run some at a lower grits and make some sno-sealed swatches and report back.
 
NJBillK said:
Do you wet sand or dry?
If you wet sand (with SiC), do you notice any shedding of grit?

I sand dry, and I have not noticed this myself while using sno-seal and ironwood brought to 5k then buffed.

I will run some at a lower grits and make some sno-sealed swatches and report back.
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Dry sand to 1500, lightly buff with pink scratchless. I'm at a loss.
 
I've made many, many an ironwood knife and leather sheath. I've never had that problem. I hand sand to about 2,000 and then buff with pink scratchless. I then give the wood a couple of coats of car wax.

I did have it happen on one of my own personal knives but that was thuya burl. So I do know what you are talking about but have not seen it with ironwood.
 
Horsewright said:
I've made many, many an ironwood knife and leather sheath. I've never had that problem. I hand sand to about 2,000 and then buff with pink scratchless. I then give the wood a couple of coats of car wax.
QUOTE]
That was one of the things I eliminated first. I used to finish with a coat of pure carnauba wax. I figured the solvent that kept the bees wax soft in the sno seal was making the carnauba wax tacky, so that's when I started using pink compound instead. (I use a new buffing wheel too so its not cross contamination).
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Veg tan bellies from tandy. I'm starting to suspect the dye I've been getting from hobby lobby.
 
i was going to ask about the dye.... seems highly suspect :thumbsup: . i have never encountered that, ironwood is a favorite i use all the time. i use fiebings dye.
 
E.Carlson said:
Veg tan bellies from tandy. I'm starting to suspect the dye I've been getting from hobby lobby.
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What brand is the dye?

I have one drying with feibings that I will treat with sno-seal, one that I treated with sno-seal without dye and one that will be Just dye, no sno-seal. Once ready, I will set them up with a 3lb weight or a few old files stacked and pressing on them, to simulate some pressure from a sheath.

Before I head out to work tomorrow, I will grab the pieces and see how they faired. If there is anything to show, it will probably be while I am on lunch.


Edited for grammatical reasonings and clarity.
 
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NJBillK said:
What brand is the dye?

I have one drying with feibings that I will treat with feibings, one that I treated with sno-seal without dye and one that will be Just dye, no sno-seal. Once the Feibings is dried and got to sit for a little bit, I will set them up with a 3lb weight or a few old files stacked and pressing on them, to simulate some pressure from a sheath.

Before I head out to work tomorrow, I will grab the pieces and see how they faired. If there is anything to show, it will probably be while i am on lunch.
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Feibings here too. I always use the dark brown low voc with ironwood.
Great test setup!
 
I might suspect the leather too.That'll be an import and some of the imports are notorious for not getting all the tanning soloutions out of the leather.

HermanOak and Wickett and Craig are expensive but worth it. Both USA tanneries. I dislike dyeing leather immensly. Last sheath I dyed cost the guy a bottle of Laphroig as well as the cost of the sheath but he wanted a black sheath really badly.

I know bellies are relatively inexpensive but they are about the worst piece off of the whole cow to make a sheath out of.
 
I am not sure what your handle issue is, but it might be something to do with ironwood having a sort of sap. It isn't apparent, but there is something like sap to them.
This first pic shows a block I am working with now with some alcohol on it. You can sort of see what the alcohol brings out of the wood. It's sticky and dark colored.

ironwoodsap1.jpg


This is after drying, you can still see where the 'sap' came out of the wood. It also stains the paper...

ironwoodsap2.jpg


Could be your dye, or something else in the leather bringing it out.
I usually wipe my finish sanded handles (ironwood) lightly to moderately with alcohol, then buff. It might help.
Test it as it might affect your desired finish.
 
So, I hit the inside of both sheaths with a heat gun. My thinking was any residual chemicals would evaporate.
It worked! Both knives sat in their sheaths all night and no sticky handles this morning. I'm convinced it was they dye, since I hit the leather with a heat gun after wet forming before it is dyed, any leather chemicals would probably already have been taken care of. NJBillK NJBillK sill interest to see your results!
 
E.Carlson said:
So, I hit the inside of both sheaths with a heat gun. My thinking was any residual chemicals would evaporate.
It worked! Both knives sat in their sheaths all night and no sticky handles this morning. I'm convinced it was they dye, since I hit the leather with a heat gun after wet forming before it is dyed, any leather chemicals would probably already have been taken care of. NJBillK NJBillK sill interest to see your results!
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Glad to see you were able to find a culprit and possible workaround.

As for the tests, nothing to note as of this morning, so I would assume it would be the same after work. Worthy of note is that I used Herman Oak from Springfield Leather, and this was done in a humidity controlled environment, so either may lead to the difference in findings.

While I was in my shop, I located some unused Tandy belly (I use it to pad my vise jaws). So I will try the same tests today with the Tandy stuff to see if there is a difference.
 
Not if the ones from here on out are treated accordingly, for future ones at least.
 
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Just a light coat of warm, pure (not the compound) neatsfoot oil and then a light coat of BagKote later after the oil has set. Nothing to get on your ironwood.

n3rN3Za.jpg


This ironwood handle knife shipped to the engraver (to and from) in its sheath and was in it there the whole time. Gone 3 to 4 weeks. No residue. Wickett and Craig leather.

e46QLjE.jpg
 
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