Polishing wooden handle

M

Mizar

Joined
Jan 28, 2004
Messages
9
Hi!! My question is: How can I get a permanent satin finish on a wooden handle? After I hand-rubed it (with a 1000 sand-paper) I, usually, cover it (!? - paint it - I'm not good with English) with linseed oil to get the pattern out and to add some water resistance. After that I rubed it with wool cloth which gives the handle nice satin look, but it is temporary - after I touch it it's all gone......What should I do!!!!! I don't like to use any type of varnish, so is there any other way to make it? :confused: :confused:
 
keep rubbing in the linseed oil till it won't take anymore.Finish with beeswax

I like Watco danish oil stain.
 
Then,beleive it or not,give it a good hand rubbing. You can get a decent finish by the final hand rub if you don't go with the wax. I would suggest the wax,too.you are using BOILED linseed oil,aren't you?If not,maybe that is some of your problem. Boiled linseed oil makes a good finish for hard wood.
 
A GOOD linseed oil finish takes months. About twice a week, get it out and rub in another coat. I don't wipe it with a rag. I just rub until it is in the wood and put the thing away to dry a couple more days. A periodic rub with a Scotchbrite pad does wonders for the sheen.
Make certain you use boiled linseed oil.
 
A number of the woodturning supply companies make systems that start with regular raw, heat treated, tung oil. After applying enough of this stuff, you buff it with different hardnesses of cotton buffs, and using polishing compounds. Sound familiar? Tung oil is generaly more water resitant and otherwise durable than linseed, and it usualy dries faster, though I suppose you can add driers to either one. Oneway Manufacturing is one maker, and I think Beal is another.

Some rosewoods, ebonies, that kind of thing can be buffed without any finish, or just enough finish, usualy cyo, to fill the nasty bits. They will certainly satin gloss without any finish. The same goes with the fully impregnated diamondwoods, and similarly stabilized woods.
 
I have been using stabilized wood as of late,and really like the stuff. I have some of my own cut wood to send and have stabilized soon. It really nice stuff to work,too.Back to the linseed oil, remember to get rid of any rags,etc,that has the linseed oil on them, AND RIGHT AWAY,NOT AN HOUR OR TWO,OR TOMORROW! The rags will burst into flames,or smolder and catch fire,all by themselves, because of a chemical reaction. That's what I call it,anyhow. If you leave a rag with linseed oil on it and go to bed,your shop and maybe you and your house will be ashes by morning. Weird stuff. I used a boiled linseed oil finish on a customer's Osage handle,per his request. It made a pretty good hand rubbed finish. I also gave him a sealed bottle of the oil to apply once a year,if he was inclined to do a yearly treatment,even though I really doubt it would ever need any futher treatment.
 
Thanks to everybody for the advises. I do use boiled linseed oil - it's a Bulgarian one and it's too cheap, but I like it - smels and feels just like natural stuff. I do know about this rag-problem, but 3-4 years ago, when I did not know that, I threw the rags in my garbage bucket and never had any problems - so is this mean that my linseed oil is not realy a linseed oil? And some other thing - what exactly is stabilized wood - here in BG is realy hard to find some good wood (not to mention the exotic types of wood - mahogany, curly birch...) but my friends and I don't give up. So is this stabilized wood treated with some special chemicals, or you can treat it in your home?
 
Hi,

I am new at knife making, but I have used different materials, including exotic hard woods in jewelry. I find that finishing the wood to a fine girt sanding and then buffing with a medium grit buffing compound like Zam puts a high shine on the wood. (Use a soft linen buff wheel). The final finish is with a clean soft towel or other material. Just rub any trace of the Zam off. The effect of the Zam at a moderate speed seems to meld the surface of the wood. The result= Beautiful

Harry
 
Mizar and all,
I've used the boiled linseed oil for knives that I use, and mususe, in my kitchen. I put them in a plastic bag with the oil covering the handle and leave them there for as long as I can stand not taking it out to play with. At least a few days. They come out with a satin finish and stay looking OK.
Someone suggested using tung oil because it's thinner and soaks in better. I intend to try that next time.
Lynn
 
This thing with the plastic bag sounds interesting, but I also like to play with my knifes and 2-3 days... I just can't stand so long. Right now I'm working on a handle the way all of you told me - rubing with fingers until the end of the world and then - beeswax. Please, explain me about the tung oil, because I can't find this word in the dictionary.
So, nwindian, what is Zap? I guess it must be some sort of polishing paste - which company makes it and would Zap do the job with walnut?
 
:D Ops! I have been doing silversmithing and lapidary so long I used a term only recognized by "USen's"

Zam is a trademark product. It is a crocus base compound for high polish on silver, gold and chrome. Also polishes stones, epoxies and other soft metal materials. Formulated especially for silver and tourquoise jewelry. Will not scratch soft stones. Imparts a high luster without residue. In goldsmnithing, zam may be used rather than rouge as a final finish. (So the manufacturer quotes)

although it doesn't say anything about wood, it's one of those things that just seem to get in the way of logic when you need a high luster on something that the product wasn't intended for. One day I just happened to have a piece of wood in one of my projects and the zam didn't know the difference between it and a piece of turquoise - so it just went ahead and polished the wood too. Darn - that was a good thing. (I never passed that on to the manufacturer of Zam).

You can get it at any jewelry or lapidary outlet. try www.thunderbirdsupply.com. There are lots of others, but these are nice people.

Hope this helps. E-mail me with any other questions. Glad to help.

Harry:D

PS - it would work on anything you want to shine - almost.

H
 
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