Removing Rouge from a Handle

warty

warty

Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
1,416
After trying a number of things to remove the "rouge" that is put onto the wood handles by the kamis, especially the satisal ones, I finally decided to try one from the archives. Posted by ddean in 2003, it seemed to me that it must be good since it wound up in the sticky zone. Here is a direct link to the post in question: ROUGE REMOVAL by DDEAN

I followed them to a tee the first time and it worked just fine but it tool a long time. First one I did this to was my ASTK. I knew though I was wanting to do my tamang as well and for some reason, all of them that I have watched sell seem to have extra rouge on them. Well beyond other ones so I knew I would either have do this for hours or try things to speed it up a little. So I now present to you the way I did mine and have been since.

What you will need to do this are the following things:

Murphy's Oil Soap
Soft Scrub Cleanser (generic is OK), NON BLEACHING FORMULA, Lemon, Orange or "Regular" are all fine as long as they are the non bleach types.
An old toothbrush and a nail brush (like you us to scrub under your nails.
Whatever Blade that you want to clean the handle of...

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For this demonstration, I did my satisal Tamang. Here are the before pictures:
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The first step is done exactly the same way as ddean did it:
1-Rub on Murphy's Oil Soap Original formula. Use it straight with -NO water-. Set aside & let it get as dry as it will get. This protects the wood from water in the next step. When you are done it should look like this…
all oiled up
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soaked in
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2-Here is where I begin to diverge from the old ways. This is also where the two brushes will come into play. Get SoftScrub & squirt it onto the handle
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then grab the tooth brush or the nail brush and start scrubbing but remember, you aren’t trying to remove he wood. Be firm but don’t be too firm. You will notice that the foam will be a pinkish brown…
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Rinse now and then, reapply the Soft Scrub and continue until you get no more color to the foam, just a nice white color:
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The brushes should also allow you to get into the grooves and carvings really well/ Make sure you get all the rouge out of those as well. When you are done and sure you have all of it out, get an old towel and dry the handle really well… it will look a lot like this:
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then just leave it to dry out for a day or two and when you’re sure it s as dry as it can be before moving to the finishing touches...
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next, I put a coat of wax on it, I will put several more on this to get the n ice luster but this is how it is for now...
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Question: why does the Kami put rouge in the first place? Is it purely decorative or for another purpose too?
 
alexs, rouge used use on buffing wheels to help get a better finish on both the wood and the blades. But it tends to work itself very deep into the wood.
 
the good thing about this method is all you have to do is finish sanding. The Murphy's keeps the grain from popping due to the water soaking in. That means you don't need to spend an hour sanding the popped grain back down because it doesn't pop up in the first place. You can proceed directly to putting your finish on the wood once it is all dry. For the Tamang, I used Natural shaded, Danish Oil and then (so far) one coat of Minwax Finishing Wax. I will put several more waxes into the wood as this one dries in until I get the right deep lustrous look I am wanting from the wood.
 
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daim.... that turned out real beautiful warty:)
i realy did not know the satisal wood could look that brigt:)
 
nice info there warty and thanks:thumbup:
one thing tho any body any idea
what the u.k.equevelant to murphys
oil soap is.
thanks mick
 
I always forget the international nature of this place. :o

That is a good question Mick, I hope someone here knows.
Maybe someone in the past knew too so it would be good to check out the link to ddean's post.
 
Hey Warty -- hope your back is feeling better! One question about the rouge on the handles: aside from aesthetics, is there any other reason to remove the rouge from the handles? Call me crazy, but i like the way the rouge makes the handles look dark and matted.
 
nope, I only do it so I can see the grain of the wood. :D

If you have any wish to put a finish like BLO or Tung oils though, you're gonna need to remove the rouge too.
Otherwise the wood won't soak the stuff up. :)
 
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Hmmm, so that tung oil and mineral oil I tried putting on my handles didn't take? Oh man, i feel ripped off! :D Ok, time to follow your tutorial if I manage to get a scrap of time.
 
if you already put Tung oil on it, it may not scrub any more. Tung oil makes a sort of shell that seals than hardens the wood and repels water. I think though I am out of my depth a bit now and hopefully someone who is more wood savvy will chime in too. I am pretty sure though that scrubbing after oiling is likely to not work.

See, SOME of the oil is bound to soak in and it is going to probably take the rouge with it even deeper. Tung oil would then set up and make itself into a patchy (because of uneven uptake in the wood) sort of hardened shell of polymerized wood.
 
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