Knife Handle Finishing

[jolson]

I just completed my first file knife and used a very blonde olive wood for the handle. I am not familiar with what knife handle finishes go best with which woods yet. Any suggestions as to what type of finish would look good on it?

 

[JTknives]

Did you buy it or cut it up your self? Olive wood can be very temperamental. Most people that use it let it set and age for years then send it our for stabilisation. Be cautious of using non stabilised wood for handle material as it can crack when it shrinks and swells with the tempature and humidity changes. There are woods that don’t need stabilisation but I would not chance it with olive.

But for handle finishing just finish it like you would any other wood. A quick search will give you a weeks worth of reading about handle finishing. Also let’s see the the knife your talking about

 

[bluebutcherbird]

Typically, I really love wood with dark or rich earth colors. With lighter woods, I find it benefits greatly from light oil finishes, like tung oil or linseed.

 

[joedhiggins]

Did you buy it or cut it up your self? Olive wood can be very temperamental. Most people that use it let it set and age for years then send it our for stabilisation. Be cautious of using non stabilised wood for handle material as it can crack when it shrinks and swells with the tempature and humidity changes. There are woods that don’t need stabilisation but I would not chance it with olive.

But for handle finishing just finish it like you would any other wood. A quick search will give you a weeks worth of reading about handle finishing. Also let’s see the the knife your talking about

Second JT here. There are a ton of woods that are strong, stable, and not prone to cracking that require no stabilization. Olive is not one of those woods. It likes to crack. A lot.

That being said, just roll with it, unless this is a a hard use knife, it won't be a big problem.

I would use a penetrating oil to finish, with a top coat of hard wax if the knife is gonna see heavy use or a build finish if it will see light use. If you are going to use a build finish, use something like Danish oil underneath so that you don't have to wait a month before applying your top coats. If you are using wax, BLO would be fine.

In either case, I would soak the whole handle (presuming the epoxy is fully set) in said oil for a couple of hours. the oil won't stabilize the olive in a traditional sense, but it will slow and even out the rate of moisture change, lessening the likelihood of checking.

 

[Maineiac1]

I use a lot of dried domestic woods and love the look and finish of Tung oil. I'm unsure or your wood but ive only had issues with BOCOTE wood. When I finished the knife a month later the wood seems to shrink and I could catch my fingernail in the tang.. Sanded it again so it was flat then a few weeks later same thing again... I know this was a naturally oily wood so I shaped as normal and buffed it and that was all..

 

[joedhiggins]

I use a lot of dried domestic woods and love the look and finish of Tung oil. I'm unsure or your wood but ive only had issues with BOCOTE wood. When I finished the knife a month later the wood seems to shrink and I could catch my fingernail in the tang.. Sanded it again so it was flat then a few weeks later same thing again... I know this was a naturally oily wood so I shaped as normal and buffed it and that was all..

The wood was still at a higher than equilibrium moisture content. What you saw was natural shrinkage as it dried. Pure tung oil cures, but only barely. Now there are a ton of tung/varnish mixes that will cure, but on its own, without even japan dry, you are looking at a 30+ day cure for pure tung. It is also extremely soft, so applying any build finish on top of Tung can be a bit spotty.