Knife handles made of old pine??

E

Eriksen

Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
181
Dear knifemakers!
I´m planning to start up with knife making and want to know if pine is used as knife handle wood. I have been offered to buy a lot of old pine that has been c-14 dated to 7000 years old. It was found in a dried sump.

The colour of it is very dark, almost like oak.

Do you think it can be used as knife handles?
 
Hi , Eriksen

I've used old pine from stumps & roots called lightwood in the Southern states. It is very dense & smells like turpentine. It makes a serviceable handle but is very difficult to work because it loads up the sanding paper almost instantaniously . It is relatively soft but will take a polish on the buffer like new money. Not my favorite handle but it is unique. Try a piece !

Joe
 
I have used old pine on knives too.

But the pine you are talking about sounds rather old. Is it brittle in any way? Can it be drilled?

Probably a dumb question, but is it petrified?


I agree with the part about pine loading up the belts/tools. It's rather waxy. But is still workable.
 
If I had some of that I would try to soak it in acetone for a few days, let dry thoroughly for a few days, then soak in Minwax wood hardener for a few days. When finishing, I would use a CA glue finish. Would probably be fairly nice then.
 
I hate to be the one to first state it but there is a lot better wood than pine, and it isn't too very expensive either.

Craig
 
How about some ancient kauri? I picked up a chunk recently....it's an evergreen type softwood tree from New Zealand. This stuff is supposed to be some 50,000 years old and is dug from ancient bogs turned into farmland today. Not alot of figure in what I got but it would make some nice boxes.
 
I don't see anything wrong with Pine. The piece I have is LongLeaf Pine and was used for structural beams in 19th century homes on the East Coast. And with this kind of figure...


DamaPine01.jpg



...it was worth it.






A quick google search on "kauri" brought up some very interesting stuff!

Found this sculpture:

http://www.spiritwrestler.com/exhibitions/images/k_thompson/kt_04.jpg


and this website:

http://www.ancientwood.com/ancientwood_photos.htm
(especially the bench....:eek: )



Pretty neat stuff. Wonder how it carves? Apparently there are quite a few folks working the "ancient" stuff....has it stabilized by now?
 
Mr. Koster, THAT is a pretty handle material! I have some very old yellow pine that I saved - trees downed by hurricane Ivan. That photo just inspired me to use it.
 
C L Wilkins said:
I hate to be the one to first state it but there is a lot better wood than pine, and it isn't too very expensive either.

Craig
Click to expand...

Put enough stabilizer in it, and you could use balsa if you wanted, Craig. :D If you ever get a chance to get some poplar that comes from the trunk right down by the stump, get it. Poplar has a funky-wide grain. When cut on an angle, the grains really stretch out. I have done a couple knives with it and it looks pretty decent. Poplar is fairly useless for knives otherwise. :)
 
Poplar is, from what I have read, very similar to the Japanese ho wood. Ho wood is used quite often for basic knife handles (at least for kitchen cutlery).
 
IMHO, there are MUCH better choices in wood handles. Pine is too soft. Again, this is only my opinion.
 
You can't press your thumbnail into the pine in the pic above. It is quite hard...a gentle tap is all that would be needed to raise a knot on one's head....:D

Nowadays pine is soft...the pine of yesteryear (heart pine, longleaf pine, etc.) was very hard and was used for furniture, columns, beams, etc.

It was in such demand that it was almost completely deforested and no longer exists (commercially) today. Shame....:(
 
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