Preserving Bone Handle Covers

[Boxer .45]

I will say, a lot of times you just gotta use your knife and not worry so much, but...

 

[Peregrin]

Very good post Gary. Tony Bose also recommends Fromby's.

That might be where I heard that, Ed. Thanks.

 

[JB in SC]

Lemon oil.

 

[cjtamu]

That might be where I heard that, Ed. Thanks.

Which Formby's product do you use? Looks like Minwax bought them out, and I don't see anything with Formby's name on it on their site.

 

[Peregrin]

Which Formby's product do you use? Looks like Minwax bought them out, and I don't see anything with Formby's name on it on their site.

Here's a link to Kerry Hampton's old post. Lemon Oil ?

There's also a few others that recommend it, including Tony Bose.

It's "Formby's Lemon Oil Treatment". A Google search will give some results, although I followed a few that lead to out of stock and dead ends.

I'm not sure how Minwax markets it now. I've had a bottle of it for years.

 

[eisman]

Lemon oil tends to yellow. I do like it though. Almond oil is also good for wood and so I expect would be usable with bone. I tend to soak really bad knives in mineral oil to loosen them up and that seems to help the scales. On stuff that's going to be put away for a while (unfortunately more and more as the collection grows) I like to use RenWax. It's cheap and works. And it doesn't leak into the boxes/tubes/pouches/etc...

 

[Will Power]

Heres something interesting. Yes I know it pertains to museum pieces, but it discusses which materials are more durable or susceptible, how to clean, light, temp, etc. Worth looking through.

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservati...titute-notes/care-ivory-bone-horn-antler.html

Extremely interesting link. I concur with them about avoiding wild fluctuations in RH but as they point out, in practice this is very difficult.

I part company with them about horn, they suggest it's an easy material compared to others. Certainly NOT in my experience! Horn is the worst culprit and the most sensitive to RH changes and it's none too keen on sunlight either. Of course, in museums they are likely dealing with very agéd Horn and I find this significant as it often shows little shrink or warp. I once discussed this with Levine, saying it was curious how old Horn seems durable whereas newer stuff can be very temperamental. We suspected that curing techniques were more stringent but also that skills in preparing Horn may have been lost. The other point that there are many types of Horn, Mufflon, Ox, Water Buffalo, Goat etc and this might explain different behaviours and there are certainly different GRADES of horn in terms of quality. Thin pressed horn will shrink and warp with ease, other tip types well cured are robust, notably Mufflon.

A wipe over with mineral-oil is useful, I've been using Coconut Oil over the past year or two with good effects. It imparts a shine and gives a good look to blade patina too, being a lubricant. Waxing is also advisable with horn but the best thing is to a) Keep it out of the sun (applies to most scales though) b) Maintain humidity to 35% minimum, horn doesn't seem to mind levels of 70% as it appears to draw in moisture. Here in Scandinavia (like Canada) the indoor temp is high in winter 22-24 C outdoors anything from -2 to -35C with cold extremely dry air, sometimes I find RH of 11% not only disaster for Horn and Stag but bad news for your eyes and throat, same for pets. I use a humidifier which puts out several litres of water a day but even so it stays very dry. Gary's idea of a humidor is a good one for prized knives.

Stag will return to shape pretty well indeed. If dry, you can feel the liners but once decent RH it goes back to form. Conversely, when wet it can 'bloat' alarmingly. I once left a Forum 14 Stag knife out in the garden at the country place for a week in autumn....I had forgotten it and was horrified to see the scales bloated beyond the liners-not really rusted as it was oiled but a right mess. Slow drying and it returned good as new. Same when I've tea dyed Stag. This suggests great elasticity and porousness and I think it's why Stag cracks and chips less than Bone-a brittle medium.

Horn's behaviour is I argue, due largely to quality. Cheap thin pressed Horn will show warp, shrink from bolsters and noticeable flaking around the pins. Once it warps it's difficult to get it back-unlike Stag as just mentioned. Keeping it in good RH 40% min will help, properly prepared and horn from the tip usually does not show too much shrink or movement and never warps.

Of course, actually using a knife every day may wear the blade (eventually) but it does wonders for the scales, keeps them with lustre and burnished. Use it or lose it

Thanks, Will

 

[Peregrin]

Extremely interesting link. I concur with them about avoiding wild fluctuations in RH but as they point out, in practice this is very difficult.

I part company with them about horn, they suggest it's an easy material compared to others. Certainly NOT in my experience! Horn is the worst culprit and the most sensitive to RH changes and it's none too keen on sunlight either. Of course, in museums they are likely dealing with very agéd Horn and I find this significant as it often shows little shrink or warp. I once discussed this with Levine, saying it was curious how old Horn seems durable whereas newer stuff can be very temperamental. We suspected that curing techniques were more stringent but also that skills in preparing Horn may have been lost. The other point that there are many types of Horn, Mufflon, Ox, Water Buffalo, Goat etc and this might explain different behaviours and there are certainly different GRADES of horn in terms of quality. Thin pressed horn will shrink and warp with ease, other tip types well cured are robust, notably Mufflon.

A wipe over with mineral-oil is useful, I've been using Coconut Oil over the past year or two with good effects. It imparts a shine and gives a good look to blade patina too, being a lubricant. Waxing is also advisable with horn but the best thing is to a) Keep it out of the sun (applies to most scales though) b) Maintain humidity to 35% minimum, horn doesn't seem to mind levels of 70% as it appears to draw in moisture. Here in Scandinavia (like Canada) the indoor temp is high in winter 22-24 C outdoors anything from -2 to -35C with cold extremely dry air, sometimes I find RH of 11% not only disaster for Horn and Stag but bad news for your eyes and throat, same for pets. I use a humidifier which puts out several litres of water a day but even so it stays very dry. Gary's idea of a humidor is a good one for prized knives.

Stag will return to shape pretty well indeed. If dry, you can feel the liners but once decent RH it goes back to form. Conversely, when wet it can 'bloat' alarmingly. I once left a Forum 14 Stag knife out in the garden at the country place for a week in autumn....I had forgotten it and was horrified to see the scales bloated beyond the liners-not really rusted as it was oiled but a right mess. Slow drying and it returned good as new. Same when I've tea dyed Stag. This suggests great elasticity and porousness and I think it's why Stag cracks and chips less than Bone-a brittle medium.

Horn's behaviour is I argue, due largely to quality. Cheap thin pressed Horn will show warp, shrink from bolsters and noticeable flaking around the pins. Once it warps it's difficult to get it back-unlike Stag as just mentioned. Keeping it in good RH 40% min will help, properly prepared and horn from the tip usually does not show too much shrink or movement and never warps.

Of course, actually using a knife every day may wear the blade (eventually) but it does wonders for the scales, keeps them with lustre and burnished. Use it or lose it

Thanks, Will

Great post, Will !

 

[Will Power]

Thank you Gary I hope it wasn't too OT as the OP wanted to know about Bone in particular but Tusk/Tooth Horn/Hair Antler and Bone are all naturals,wood too, and pose challenges for the collector or curator

 

[Boxer .45]

Thank you Gary I hope it wasn't too OT as the OP wanted to know about Bone in particular but Tusk/Tooth Horn/Hair Antler and Bone are all naturals,wood too, and pose challenges for the collector or curator

Yeah I was talking about any natural materials for handle covers. Its all relevant.

 

[Bigfattyt]

I've even had stambar stag crack with. No use, or dropping at all. But I live in a dry climate, and the stag is in my safe, with a dehumidifier in the safe (just a little warming strip inside the safe).

 

[cudgee]

I have been using orange oil to maintain furniture and wooden chopping boards for years. I have tried it on the scales and blades of some of my cheaper knives to see A- if it worked & B- see if there were any adverse effects, before i tried it on my good knives. Works a treat, on wood and bone, plus a wipe on the bladed. Do not know about Horn. The only reason i tried it is, i already had some, so was just trying to keep costs down, rather than going out and purchasing a new product. Hope you all have a good weekend.

 

[Ron Sabbagh]

I've been asking this question for years.

To sum up what I've learned:

"Just use the damn knife"
- Bob Loveless

He was serious. He believed that there was enough natural oil in our hands and in game/blood/fat/skin to "feed" stag & natural covers. To my knowledge he never used any treatment

"Just use the damn knife"
- Jerry Fisk

Jerry agreed with Bob. BUT...he went on to say that knives that are not frequently used will benefit from a treatment of mineral oil or lemon oil once a year. He soaks the handles for a few hours or overnight depending on the damage and just wipes clean. He prefers mineral oil because it's clear and won't stain.

Some people say wax is only a superficial coat and does not sufficiently penetrate natural covers such as stag & bone.

This knowledge is several years old - but I'm not aware of any "newer" products or techniques. I even spoke with the guys at Pecard Leather products - thinking their petroleum based product might work. They agreed with mineral oil over petroleum oils & waxes for bone & stag.

 

[Boxer .45]

I've been asking this question for years.

To sum up what I've learned:

"Just use the damn knife"
- Bob Loveless

He was serious. He believed that there was enough natural oil in our hands and in game/blood/fat/skin to "feed" stag & natural covers. To my knowledge he never used any treatment

"Just use the damn knife"
- Jerry Fisk

Jerry agreed with Bob. BUT...he went on to say that knives that are not frequently used will benefit from a treatment of mineral oil or lemon oil once a year. He soaks the handles for a few hours or overnight depending on the damage and just wipes clean. He prefers mineral oil because it's clear and won't stain.

Some people say wax is only a superficial coat and does not sufficiently penetrate natural covers such as stag & bone.

This knowledge is several years old - but I'm not aware of any "newer" products or techniques. I even spoke with the guys at Pecard Leather products - thinking their petroleum based product might work. They agreed with mineral oil over petroleum oils & waxes for bone & stag.

Earlier I said....

I will say, a lot of times you just gotta use your knife and not worry so much, but...

But that doesn't mean there isn't something you can do to maintain or protect it when you are already doing maintenance. I mean surely you wipe the blade, clean out the lint and crud, and oil the joint. I'm not suggesting you wipe it down with some protectant every few days or anything. If you look at vintage knives, even those with little use, they show wear. I know, they've been used and thats fine, but maybe if they had tried something on them they might be in slightly better condition today. Thats all I'm saying.

 

[cudgee]

Earlier I said....


But that doesn't mean there isn't something you can do to maintain or protect it when you are already doing maintenance. I mean surely you wipe the blade, clean out the lint and crud, and oil the joint. I'm not suggesting you wipe it down with some protectant every few days or anything. If you look at vintage knives, even those with little use, they show wear. I know, they've been used and thats fine, but maybe if they had tried something on them they might be in slightly better condition today. Thats all I'm saying.

I know what you are saying and i totally agree. It is like servicing your car, you don't do it every week, but once to twice a year, depending on the miles you travel and what sort of miles e.g. - hard work or going to the shops.

 

[cjtamu]

So, it's essentially the same as everything else related to knife maintenance. There are a variety of opinions and everyone has to find what works for them ha ha. Someone mentioned swelling of stag and wood from mineral oil. The stag knife is the only time I've ever left the Howard's on for an extended period of time. I generally use it on wood, and leave on for about 10 minutes then wipe off.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I've yet to see a reason to deliberately apply anything at all to my bone-covered knife handles for the sake of protecting them.

I bought most of my knives when living in central Texas (fairly humid). Moved back to New Mexico (much drier) after 20 years in TX, and my bone handles haven't even noticed the change in climate. No cracks, no shrinkage, nothing. Of all the natural handle materials I have (wood, bone, stag), the bone has been the most care-free of the lot. I've sometimes polished a few with something like Flitz paste, simply to shine up some scuffed or dulled ones. But that's usually been a one-off sort of thing, when I've wanted to shine them up a bit. Others have gotten some oil on the bone when I've been sharpening on oil stones; I've just wiped them down with a clean rag afterwards, or sometimes washed them completely in dish soap & water, with nothing else applied afterward to the bone.

Next to my synthetic-covered knives (Delrin, G10, etc), the bone-covered ones have been the easiest to live with. With bone, I still believe most cracks or chips happen as a result of droppage or abuse, or from improper or poorly-executed drilling of pin holes through them, not leaving enough 'relief' for pins to move within the hole. OR, drilling pin holes too close to the cover's edge, leaving it weakened and prone to cracking. I see a lot of bone cracked at the anchor pin for the backspring, because it places too much stress there as the pin moves from opening/closing. With a little more room for the pin to move within the hole, and leaving enough boundary material at the outside edge, I think a lot of that could be prevented.

 

[brownshoe]

The AmericanMilitary Edge Weapon museum in Intercourse PA uses wax, Butchers Bowling Lane wax. I asked about 15 years ago since they have lots of swords and knives that are very well taken care of. Wax seems to be what museums use. Ren Wax works for me. I have some 70-100 yo bone, wood and stag knives that never saw any protection until 15 years ago and they were just fine.

 

[jakemex]

Barehead bone knives badly designed with pin placement too close to the edges cause cracking. (Hello Mr. Obvious...) I finally got to visit AG Russell’s establishment in Rogers, AR. Bought two knives. One I had my eyes on to replace after giving it to my grandson. The other was a “WOW, look at the great color and jigging!!” buy. I gave it a look over and handled several of the pattern and finally selected the one that visually appealed the most to me. The danger in that is that after looking at several, I forgot to scrutinize the knife for imperfections in manufacture. “Stupid me” the cover pins had been placed too close to the edge and when installed had cracked the bone.

I noticed this a week later when the newness wore off. Then I dropped it. Out came a chunk of bone. Grrrrr... looks like I’ll be filling that in with some epoxy and use it for a beater. So much for shiny polished jigged bone scales on a modernized traditional knife.