My user SFO # 14 Desert Ironwood and my attempts to smooth the scales up

[sceva]

Bought this 14 from a fellow forum member. Liked it's color and the cross graining. It did have a small tight crack that was pointed out by the seller.


One thing I noticed about these is the Ironwood seems to have a certain amount of texture, sort of like a topological map. I wanted to fill the crack and polish it up as a user knife so I decided to try to smooth up the scales too. Super glue was rubbed into the crack and all over the scales then sanded back. The crack filled and sealed up fine. The scales appeared to be smoothing up nicely.

I could have stopped there but it basically had a thin film of super glue as a finish. I polished it down further and it pretty much pulled the superglue back out of the low areas. Apparently there is enough oil in the ironwood that it dos not adhere tightly. It may be this result is from being power buffed at GEC which I hear can cause an orange peel effect but it's beyond my ability at the moment to get it better.

I gave it three coats of Minwax TungOil Finish rubbed in, buffing after drying between coats. Followed by a hand rubbed REN Wax treatment. I also did a forced patina using Vinegar and yellow mustard. All in All, I like this knife. I prefer my weekday users to be in the 2 3/4 to 3 1/4 size and this fits in nicely.







it is now in my pocket. The AG Russell small pouch works well but this one is just big enough that I kind of wish I had one of the KnivesShipFree slips but the AGR one will do.

 

[cbr1000]

Awesome work!

 

[Horsewright]

That topography is a characteristic of some ironwood. Ya drive yourself crazy trying to get rid of it, cause ya won't. It's not power buffing that causes that as I see it sometimes while hand sanding. I hand sand ironwood to 4000 grit before it ever sees a buffer and I see it. More in some pieces than others. It just is. Kinda like Damascus that has been etched properly. Very nice knife and good job fixing that crack. The finish isn't necessary and you were lucky it dried. Lots of times it won't. After hand sanding I buff with pink scratchless lightly and then hit em with 3/4 coats of a carnuba car wax. Works good.

 

[Mikael W]

Cross-Cut Desert Ironwood is beautiful to look at, but it seems to crack more easily than ordinary scales.
I have a fixed in Cross-Cut DI and as Yours it was sold with a crack, too nice to rehandle.
I filled the crack with epoxyglue and polished it. No problems and it's 11 years ago.

A kitchenknife also in Cross-Cut DI was forgotten in the zink and the scales cracked beyond salvation.
It was rescaled in Cocobolo with regular grain orientation and problem solved.

Regards
Mikael

 

[sceva]

That topography is a characteristic of some ironwood. Ya drive yourself crazy trying to get rid of it, cause ya won't.

I definitely found that out. All in all, I am very happy with this knife. The grain is not as visually contoured as the huge photos show. It actually looks pretty darn good The photos below should be smaller / closer to actual size.

 

[Ernie1980]

That looks great, nice work!

 

[waverave]

That turned out pretty cool...looks like a leather handle

 

[JTB_5]

sceva Nicely done! The smaller photos definitely show a better look than the close ups. Although, those close ups look a bit like crocodile leather. I'm glad you are totin' it around, too. I really love ironwood--my favorite wood cover--and I really love clip points--my favorite blade shape, but I just couldn't love the smaller size of this run of 14s, despite how pretty they look. Knowing that it is your ideal carry makes the transfer all the sweeter. Thanks for sharing the modification pictures!