My first knife of 2009

Justin.Mercier

Justin.Mercier

Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
1,652
I finished one ! Sometimes I work so slow that I swear my work must be going backwards... This is my 9th finished knife to date.

This is some of Aldo Bruno's nice 1084 forged sometime last fall, but not finished until now.

7 inch overall length, rosewood handle, which unfortunately darkened up a whole lot with finishing so doesn't show the great figure of the wood any longer.
The sheath was made by Chris Kravitt of Treestump Leather

9thknife.jpg

9thknife2.jpg

9thknife3.jpg


This pre-finished photo shows the figure, but it didn't finish that light, but much darker.
blade.jpg
 
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man that is nice work and extra sharp lines, love the rosewood and the sheath is awesome as well. love the thickness of the steel!
 
That's a sweet little blade and nice sheath as well! That's strange that the handle went dark like that...do you know what caused it?
 
400 grit sandpaper... and the natural oils in the rosewood *shrug* there's no actual finish on the handle, this wood was so dense and oily that I'm not sure any finish like linseed oil or anything would even take. All i can think is that the wood oxidizes dark like that. The block of wood was almost black when i found it in my shelf, when i cut it in half it was that gorgeous swirly red-brown with streaks of black, and it was that color the whole time when i was shaping it, but now that it's finished and sanded fine... well *shrug* you can see it's almost black again.
 
Have you tried wiping it down with acetone or rubbing alcohol? Maybe a true wood expert will join in on this.
 
Justin.Mercier said:
400 grit sandpaper... and the natural oils in the rosewood *shrug* there's no actual finish on the handle, this wood was so dense and oily that I'm not sure any finish like linseed oil or anything would even take. All i can think is that the wood oxidizes dark like that. The block of wood was almost black when i found it in my shelf, when i cut it in half it was that gorgeous swirly red-brown with streaks of black, and it was that color the whole time when i was shaping it, but now that it's finished and sanded fine... well *shrug* you can see it's almost black again.
Click to expand...

Nice work, sir. African blackwood is a member of the rosewood extended family and it definitely darkens after a bit of exposure to air even when finished with linseed oil. I have a few 1.5 x1.5 pool cue turning squares of 40 yr old real Brazilian rosewood, but I haven't used any for handles yet.
 
Justin,
I have had good luck controlling oxidation with a sanding sealer. Apply at about 220 grit and finish from there. Deft is the brand I use from Lowes. Your other alternative is to bleach the wood prior to finishing with wood bleach. It's a two part system you can get it from Shewrin Williams. The oxidaton is why many experienced makers won't use Cocobolo either...
Matt Doyle
 
Nice work Justin. Its got really pretty lines, and that sheath is just plain old FANTASTIC!
 
I must say that you sir are one of the fastest improving beginning knifemakers that I've seen. I'm talking about fastest in the actual improvement from knife to knife. To put something like this out on only your 9th knife is truly an incredible achievement. The basic beginner mistakes of trying to hard to embellish an early knife or make something complicated are definitely pitfalls that you've avoided. This knife is simple, clean and straight forward, in a well thought out design. My hats off to you!
 
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