Keeping wooden handles looking pristine.

B

Bladeguy31

Joined
May 23, 2015
Messages
2
Hey Everyone,

I've been making fixed blade and lock blade knives for a few years now and I'm still having trouble keeping the handles looking pristine after a few months of use. I use tung oil with a wood polish finish but eventually the wood starts to look dull and a little "gray". I want to venture out into selling these knives but I'm worried about the handles loosing their luster. Can anyone help?
 
Tung oil works fine for me (reapply every few months if necessary) but there are some excellent waxes that should work as well.
 
The only thing I know of, that comes anywhere close to keeping the 'handles looking pristine after a few months of use', would be something that completely seals and/or hardcoats the wood. A polyurethane finish, or stabilized wood to begin with, are the only ones I can think of that won't go 'gray' or dull somewhat in finish after any handling at all, much less with any significant use.

I'd tried some Danish oil in the past, on an Opinel's walnut handle. It does a nice job protecting the wood from moisture, etc. But it tended to dull or 'dirty up' a bit with any handling at all, and didn't buff or polish very well (it's too soft). It left the walnut looking pretty bland; it deserves better than that. I've since reshaped and refinished the handle on that one with some polyurethane (I used polyurethane glue, actually). I did that knife along with two other Opinels, in similar fashion. It maintains a harder, glossier finish (used three very light coats) that also brings out the color better in the wood, and is much less prone to collecting & holding dirt from handling.
 
Thanks, David. I was worried that might be the case. I haven't gotten into the sales realm yet, but the handle finish is one of my concerns. I obviously don't want to tell the customer that they have to refinish the handle as part of the maintenance. I'll give your polyurethane method a try and see how that works.
 
Bladeguy31 said:
Thanks, David. I was worried that might be the case. I haven't gotten into the sales realm yet, but the handle finish is one of my concerns. I obviously don't want to tell the customer that they have to refinish the handle as part of the maintenance. I'll give your polyurethane method a try and see how that works.
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With the polyurethane glue (I used Gorilla Glue), I applied it very thinly with just an old cotton tee-shirt wrapped around my fingertip, after sanding up through 600-800 grit at least (bare wood starts to show some 'gloss' around that mark). On the Opinel-sized handles, a drop of glue about the size of a BB is enough per each side of the handle, for each coat. Give it a few hours at least, or up to a day or so, to dry/cure between coats. I strongly suggest trying it on some scrap pieces first, sanded as such, so you can see how it's going to work. I was feeling my way through it, myself, when I did mine. And it seems to work pretty well.

IMPORTANT:
Used as GLUE to attach things, the Gorilla glue is designed to be 'cured' by moisture applied to the wood. DON'T use it with moisture for finishing; just apply the glue by itself. It'll still 'cure' with ambient moisture in the air or the wood, but without all the foaming/bubbling that happens when adding extra moisture to the mix, for gluing things together. It all sounds very strange, using it this way, but it actually works pretty well.
 
woodysone said:
Maybe an old dog can learn new tricks? Thanks David
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:thumbsup:
I'd seen this use of polyurethane glue demo'd on an episode of 'Ask this Old House' on PBS, a while back. It caught my eye, because I happened to have a little bottle of it on hand, and the demo made it look just too easy (and it is).
 
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