New Scales for my Mamba

[joh]

My Blackjack Mamba had Kraton scales that had turned gummy. I had been agonising for a while about attempting to make new scales and managed to pick up a piece of nice looking timber from out of the waste bin at the local timber supplies. Nobody could tell me what it was, a hardwood of some description. Anyway I stripped off the old scales and cleaned up the ss liners and carved a new set of liners. Glued them on with Loctite 406 and polished the wood with 1200 grit wet & dry paper. All I have to do now is polish up the scratches I put on the bolsters.
Should I varnish or clear laquer the scales? I like the look now but am worried that it might stain. What do others think?

 

[Theodoric]

Tung oil or varnish. They'll look like the wood is wet. Nice job. I like the looks of the knife.

 

[joh]

Thanks Theodoric, I think I will use the varnish. The handles turned out better than I expected, it always has been my favourite knife - even with the crappy scales. I picked it up in a pawn shop for $19 years ago, it was in amongst a bundle of crap Chinese knives.