Ironwood questions

Buffalohump

Buffalohump

Joined
Sep 7, 2006
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Ironwood is a popular choice for knife handles as we all know. I have one knife with an ironwood handle and would like to get more. However, I have noticed that the wood had darkened quite a bit since I got the knife and a lot of the detail it once had is now obscured.

Is this due to a chemical reaction from my hands/sweat/oil or is it something that just happens with ironwood as it ages.

Anybody have similar experiences with it? Is there something that can be applied to the handle when the knife is still new to prevent this?

TIA.
 
Mark it is a reality of the material that it darkens on its own as time goes buy. That is why I always try and buy light colored Ironwood for all my projects. I have a Hitchmough boot knife now over 20 years old that had beautiful Ironwood on it, now it is almost a black brown.

I have not found anything that helps. If you do please let me know..............Steven
 
Thanks Steve, I feared it might have been some toxic discharge from my sweat glands resulting from a chemical imbalance caused by years of fast food and alcohol abuse... :D

Alfaholic said:
Mark it is a reality of the material that it darkens on its own as time goes buy. That is why I always try and buy light colored Ironwood for all my projects. I have a Hitchmough boot knife now over 20 years old that had beautiful Ironwood on it, now it is almost a black brown.

I have not found anything that helps. If you do please let me know..............Steven
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Most woods will discolour with age, due to exposure to UV and to reactions with sweat and dirt on your hands. Get some UV resistant varnish onto it, that should retard the process by quite a bit.
Apparently stabilising the wood will help too, but ironwood isn't that easy to stabilise.
 
Alfaholic said:
Mark it is a reality of the material that it darkens on its own as time goes buy. That is why I always try and buy light colored Ironwood for all my projects. I have a Hitchmough boot knife now over 20 years old that had beautiful Ironwood on it, now it is almost a black brown.

I have not found anything that helps. If you do please let me know..............Steven
Click to expand...

I've seen that happen quite a bit myself with ironwood. I was looking over the collection of a fellow forumite not that long ago and picked up a beautiful MS bowie with what I thought was an African Blackwood handle, only to be told that it was ironwood - and used to have very attractive coulour, figure and contrast. This knife had not been used it just darkened with age.

I haven't noticed other woods darken as readily. The walnut handled knives I have that were oil-finished look the same as the day they were new - and some of those are a good many years old.

Roger
 
Thanks Roger... I will bear that in mind for all future projects.

Just out of interest, how do you rank the types of woods that are usually used? I believe Ironwood and Ebony are up there in terms of hardness. Is Walnut equally dense?

RogerP said:
I've seen that happen quite a bit myself with ironwood. I was looking over the collection of a fellow forumite not that long ago and picked up a beautiful MS bowie with what I thought was an African Blackwood handle, only to be told that it was ironwood - and used to have very attractive coulour, figure and contrast. This knife had not been used it just darkened with age.

I haven't noticed other woods darken as readily. The walnut handled knives I have that were oil-finished look the same as the day they were new - and some of those are a good many years old.

Roger
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I'm not sure what the ranking is in terms of hardness. Ebony is very hard, but can also be very brittle. In terms of density, I believe Lignum Vitae, Ironwwood, Ringed Gidgee, African Blackwood are all up there. In terms of stability over the long term, I've had very good luck with all of them.

Walnut is probably my favourite wood of all. I have become a real believer in using an oil finish on this wood - both from the standpoints of aesthetics and durability.

Roger
 
Cool... how about maple burl, I seem to see a lot of that around.

RogerP said:
I'm not sure what the ranking is in terms of hardness. Ebony is very hard, but can also be very brittle. In terms of density, I believe Lignum Vitae, Ironwwood, Ringed Gidgee, African Blackwood are all up there. In terms of stability over the long term, I've had very good luck with all of them.

Walnut is probably my favourite wood of all. I have become a real believer in using an oil finish on this wood - both from the standpoints of aesthetics and durability.

Roger
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For maple burl I would likely go stabilized. As I would do for most Koa as well.

But just to be clear - I don't hold myself out as any kind of a wood expert - I'm just going by my experience over the years in primarily collecting, and to a lesser extent making and using, custom knives with wood handles.

Roger
 
Nothing beats experience Roger, I'm pretty sure you know what you're talking about. ;)

RogerP said:
For maple burl I would likely go stabilized. As I would do for most Koa as well.

But just to be clear - I don't hold myself out as any kind of a wood expert - I'm just going by my experience over the years in primarily collecting, and to a lesser extent making and using, custom knives with wood handles.

Roger
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This is why, when I buy ironwood now, I try to buy the stuff that is two toned, stripey in color. At least, this way, when it does darken, it might not be so noticeable.
 
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