Not all it's cracked up to be

J

Jason Fry

Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Messages
3,224
Just need to vent a little to some folks who understand. I just got a call from a very important customer. The knife that I sent out in perfect shape arrived with a crack in the handle material back by the thong tube. He noticed the crack when he took it out of the box, and it got even bigger while the knife was sitting on the table. I checked my photos from before I sent it out, and there was no crack.

The wood was stabilized spalted pecan, but it was crosscut. Pretty, but high risk for cracking. I also put it together during an ice storm, because that's when I had time to work. Convenient, but humid. Then I sent it to Wisconsin from Texas. Nice to do a deal out of state, but that means a big climate and humidity change.

Fortunately the customer was quite understanding. Scared the bejeezus out of me though, and makes me not want to use the rest of that wood block for anything but firewood. Pretty wood is great, but if it splits in transit, stabilized or not, I'm not interested.
 
Jason, did you flare the tube? That would cause stress on the wood.

I like the looks of wood but you just can't beat the durability of synthetics. Sorry about the crack.
 
Nope, no flaring, just straight 3/16 tube. Center knife in this pic.
100_6200.jpg
 
Jason Fry said:
Just need to vent a little to some folks who understand. I just got a call from a very important customer. The knife that I sent out in perfect shape arrived with a crack in the handle material back by the thong tube. He noticed the crack when he took it out of the box, and it got even bigger while the knife was sitting on the table. I checked my photos from before I sent it out, and there was no crack.

The wood was stabilized spalted pecan, but it was crosscut. Pretty, but high risk for cracking. I also put it together during an ice storm, because that's when I had time to work. Convenient, but humid. Then I sent it to Wisconsin from Texas. Nice to do a deal out of state, but that means a big climate and humidity change.

Fortunately the customer was quite understanding. Scared the bejeezus out of me though, and makes me not want to use the rest of that wood block for anything but firewood. Pretty wood is great, but if it splits in transit, stabilized or not, I'm not interested.
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I've had this happen more often than I'd like with cross cut wood regardless of how it was processed. One of the things you have to watch for is excessive heat during shaping and finishing and remember to put a coat of hard finish on it to prevent violent changes in moisture. On my knives, I seal them with flake shellac, sand them down and do a CA finish on them when dealing with crosscut of otherwise finicky wood.
 
Sorry to here that Jason, I don't think I would use the shells its good stuff but the thin ca will penetrate deeper.

Jim
 
There's no good reason to use cross-cut wood, that's just begging for trouble. Roughly 5000 years of carpenters and cabinet/furniture makers will tell you that ;)
 
Hi Jason. Merry Christmas bro. I never use cross grain stuff. It has been tempting, especially with how pretty cross cut palm can be. In addition to this though, your sleek handles don't leave much wood on the backside of the tube. Its a tendril of wood back there after shaping. Push the tube in a bit to give it more meat and you won't have as much of this. For micarta and g10 I don't worry about that as much, but for wood, I leave a bit more material there. It is going to move. Stabilizing doesn't stop this completely. Especially with temp.
 
So as a non maker and nothing real to add to the technical discussion. Is it safe to say, Pretty wood is like a woman. The better they look the crazier they are?

Either way I like the look of them both and these are great looking blades.
 
With what has already been mentioned about crosscut wood, I will 2nd it.
With that being said and esp. at this time of year I would think Wis. is way
more humid than Texas which more relates to swelling not shrinking. I mean
nearly the whole state is now under snow. Frozen desert? I don't think so.
We do however pour heat into our houses which could cause cracks.
Ken.
 
james terrio said:
There's no good reason to use cross-cut wood, that's just begging for trouble. Roughly 5000 years of carpenters and cabinet/furniture makers will tell you that ;)
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You are not kidding!

That crack was always going to come....no matter what
 
RWT said:
So as a non maker and nothing real to add to the technical discussion. Is it safe to say, Pretty wood is like a woman. The better they look the crazier they are?

Either way I like the look of them both and these are great looking blades.
Click to expand...

Yes. Knifemakers tend to go for woods that are unhealthy, scarred up, rotted, and insect damaged.
 
that is the funniest thing I've read tonight!
Strigamort said:
Er... Hopefully their women are in slightly better shape. :eek:
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Jason, I feel your pain. Its happened to me before with wood and ivory too. Its just like taking a match to $100 bills. It doesn't pay to use lanyard holes with wood or ivory scales.
 
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