NeemO's

cavetech

cavetech

Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
760
I have a HI PK and a Sirupate that are both 12" long and have neem handles. Both are strong well made kuk variants. I like em alot.

I always thought neem was a dark wood until I got this PK. It is a villager and not polished up, of course. The neem handle was actually blonde when I got it. To help preserve it, I colored it with leather dye and finished with tung oil. It came out a nice brownish color. This is my favorite knife.

When I got my Sirupate it had a darker finish on the neem handle and was highly polished. The beautiful handle had buffing rouge discoloring both ends of the handle so I set out to clean out the rouge.

I tried Murphy's Wood Oil Soap, Mineral Spirits and Acetone. Nothing worked to my satisfaction. I've had this happen to knives I've made so I understood how it could occur. Then I got out the sandpaper and 0000 steel wool and cleaned up the neem that way. It worked very well. I finished it with Minwax stain sealer that I rubbed on with a rag. It came out a terrific light color and is also protected.

So I thought I'd share some pictures of these really great knives.

Thanks, for looking.
 
Very nice. Wood is friendly stuff. It's easier to do a handle I think than a table top, and you can do it great without being an expert. It responds well to so many approaches.



munk
 
Those are winners Steve. I've found that all that rouge and whatever else they polish the wood with in Nepal (this happens with all brands IMHO) hides the figure of the wood a great deal. I've always seen some drastic change when I refinished my khuks. I would recommend it. The prettier the handle, the more it needs to be refinished. Those look great. Great post.
 
What do they smell like?

Some report no smell from neem wood handles, but mine smell smoky-turpentiny with overtones of a cab ride thrown in.



Mike :confused:
 
Ad Astra said:
What do they smell like?

Some report no smell from neem wood handles, but mine smell smoky-turpentiny with overtones of a cab ride thrown in.



Mike :confused:
Click to expand...

Thanks, All. I think I was trying to make the point that you can finish your kuk handles in many different ways. Or, not at all.

AA
One kuk smells like true neem. It's the PK with dye & tung.

The Sirupate used to smell like neem before I applied the Minwax stain/sealer. Either the Minwax seals the wood and prevents the smell or the Minwax has to cure for a period of time and maybe then the neem smell will be detectable.

Each neem handle that I have has the neem smell and it's hard to describe, but distinctive. I like it.

I like the Minwax finish. Problem is I also like the distinctive minty neem smell.

The kamis seem to use a coating/finish on the handles that let the neem smell come out. The coating is rather smooth feeling, but not like a stain or polyurethane. Anybody know what the product is that the kamis use?
 
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