Need advice about ziricote

[zhyla]

Working on a paring knife for my wife's birthday. Ripped a piece of ziricote down the middle to find it is beautifully figured on the inside. Unfortunately ziricote seems to darken when you put finish on it and the figuring is hard to see. I put some paste wax on a test piece and that seemed to not darken it much. Is there anything I can put on as a base finish that won't ruin the grain beauty?

I searched on this but didn't find a satisfactory option. The best I've found so far is light shellac. I've got some dark shellac but I'm on a bit of a deadline (where did May go???).

 

[Greenberg Woods]

A good buff. Sand it to about 1000 grit then go through buffing it several times, then clean it off with an acetone soaked rag and rewax. This is what I find to be the best way to deal with Ziricote.

 

[Horsewright]

Second on hellspawn's advice. I've made numerous knives (kitchen and not) with ziricote. I finish as he advises. I buff with pink scratchless. For wax I just use Mother's car wax with carnuba.

 

[zhyla]

Ok... I don't have a buffing wheel yet. Can I buff by hand? And am I waxing it prior to buffing, then again after buffing?

Thanks a ton!

 

[elementfe]

I've only gotten my hands on enough to make a half dozen knives, but it's one of my favorite woods.
Like Cocobolo, Ironwood, Ebony, it doesn't really need any added finish, just sand it as smooth as you want it, buff and wax.
It's already saturated with natural oils.

 

[zhyla]

Ok, well I sanded it to 1500 and applied Johnson's paste wax. I was worried about it leaving white wax residue in the pores so I applied it as thin as I could but when I buffed it the pores filled up with wax. Is there a trick to remove the wax in the pores? Or reduce how visible it is? I thought about grain filling with CA but did a test piece with wax and was happy enough with how it looked.

It looks better than the photo shows (the lighting is to harsh) but I sort of wish I had left it unwaxed.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

You can wipe it down with acetone or denatured alcohol and get rid of the wax.

Some questions/comments:
What is holding the front bolster ( blackwood?) on the knife? If it is just glued on it may come off easily with use and time.

Always check your mosaic rivets and "clock" them when installing. The tip of the star should be at 12:00 on every one. It will stick out like a big mole on a pretty woman's nose if they are even a little off.



To deal with porous woods, fill the pores. This is done with sanding sealer and repeated sanding or with thin CA glue and repeated sanding. A proper CA finish can shine like glass. The simplified instructions are - coat with sealer/CA, let dry, sand smooth with a little solvent applied, repeat many times until the pores are completely smooth with the surface. It takes time and elbow grease, but the final result can be stunning. Bruce Bump had a great tutorial on doing a CA finish.

This works extremely well on softer woods, like buckeye burl. Here is Bruce Bump's tutorial on doing a knife with a CA finish:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/659442-A-couple-tips-on-hidden-tang-construction

Woods that have oils, like cocobolo, ebony, ziracote, etc. need the oils stripped away from the surface to get a good fill/seal. Use acetone and a rag and wipe down with a good amount of solvent. Wipe down, sand, wipe down sand,....continuing up the grits to 1500 grit or higher, and finish with a hard wax , like carnuba. Power buff or hand buff with lots of friction.

 

[zhyla]

What is holding the front bolster ( blackwood?) on the knife? If it is just glued on it may come off easily with use and time.

Ebony. There are holes in the blade underneath which should give the epoxy a little more to grab onto, but yeah just glued on. It's not leaving the house so I'm not too worried about it.

Always check your mosaic rivets and "clock" them when installing. The tip of the star should be at 12:00 on every one. It will stick out like a big mole on a pretty woman's nose if they are even a little off.

Yeah. I didn't care about the orientation until I saw what it looked like when I sanded it down. Rookie mistake.

Going to have to perfect my pore filling technique. I want to get that glass look. I tried CA filling on a previous knife and wasn't happy with it. I have some very thin glue. I wonder if a medium CA would work better? Not sure why people recommend the thin stuff. As long as it wicks into the pores it's fine, right?

 

[Burl Source]

I use Minwax brand Paste Finishing Wax on my boxes and other woodworking projects.
It does not turn white when it dries.

 

[Rhinoknives1]

Working on a paring knife for my wife's birthday. Ripped a piece of ziricote down the middle to find it is beautifully figured on the inside. Unfortunately ziricote seems to darken when you put finish on it and the figuring is hard to see. I put some paste wax on a test piece and that seemed to not darken it much. Is there anything I can put on as a base finish that won't ruin the grain beauty?

I searched on this but didn't find a satisfactory option. The best I've found so far is light shellac. I've got some dark shellac but I'm on a bit of a deadline (where did May go???).

All of these woods will darken over time. Stabilization seems to delay that some, still with our oils from our skin and UV light along with good ole air. They all darken some over time. I do what has been described here and put Miniwax or car wax on as the final coats.