persimmon wood

O

oljoe

Joined
Jul 29, 2004
Messages
83
First of all I have been following this forum for quite some time and it is very informative (and humorous at times). Now to the question. Has anyone used persimmon wood for knife handles? I had a persimmon tree that fell during the storms this spring and thought I might try it. Thanks in advance.

Joe Foster
 
It should make good handles after drying.Send me a Big piece and I will dry it and have it stabilized and sent you back a couple of blocks.
 
That's a very kind offer from bladsmth. Persimmon must be pretty hard, as it was used for golf club heads before the invention of modern metal-woods, and it was the wood of choice of my great-grandfather for the mallet to hammer the froe when making shingles. I have no idea what it looks like, but it must be pretty durable.

Todd
 
Its also used for drumsticks. Pretty hard stuff, but the grain isn't all that exciting from what I've seen. I guess it would be a good candidate for dying different colors. Its a little like maple.
 
Stabilizing does funny things to the color and grain pattern of wood.It darkens the wood (sometimes changes the color),and the grain just pops out in 3D.I have done persimmon and it is attractive.Of course it could be dyed to any color.I'm serious about doing some.Email me.
 
That persimmon wood is beautiful! A fella at work gave me a very old persimmon wood golf club to fix. The wood finally cracked after many years of use and abuse. Some pins and some of my 'Glas should do the trick. I can't recall ever seeing persimmon wood until I saw that club of his. Now, I am going to keep my eyes open for some.
 
I've been lurking here for a while, my son has been learning how to make knives. I'm a full-time woodworker.

Persimmon is a native American wood that is related to ebony. The black heartwood area is usually pretty small, but all the wood is heavy, hard and dense.

I've re-handled a few of my own kitchen tools. Bocote is tough stuff. I used it on a spatula, and it's looking fine, despite repeated trips thru the dishwasher.....
 
Oljoe,

I have used it in the past and it worked up beautifully...no problems. Polishes up very nicely! Give it a go and see what happens. Best of luck
 
Thanks for the info. I cut this tree up and found it to have several holes bored into it. :( There are what appears too be worms boring holes throughout the wood. There should be some that will be usable for some scales. I will have it sawed into smaller pieces to see what I come up with.

Thanks Joe
 
Joe, believe it or not, that wormy wood would make fantastic handles. I made some kitchen knives using wormy Osage orange, and they realy came out nice, not bragging. The wood was beautiful. The wood came from a 100 year old fence post.
 
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