Repairing poorly(?) stabilized wood handle

[dsmegst]

Greetings, gentlemen.

I've recently purchased 2 Spyderco Bushcraft 2nds and trying my hand at repairing the cracked wood scales.

For those not familiar with these knives, the story is that Spyderco acquired large quantity of spalted maple burl that was supposedly stabilized. The wood was shipped over to Taiwan where they were used as handles for the Bushcraft knife. When the finished knives were shipped over to Golden, CO, 95% of the finished knife handles started to shrink and crack.

Anyway, here's what I've done to repair one of them. I let it sit for a few days to let the wood acclimate. Then I filled the cracks with low viscosity CA glue until the gaps were filled. I wet sanded the wood using several grits of boiled linseed oil soaked sandpaper.

And in hopes of sealing the wood and preventing further damage, I did 3 iterations of hand rubbing boiled linseed oil into the handles, followed by wet sanding, and drying for 24 hours. Then I did 3 more days of additional oiling and drying. After the 6th day, the oil dried on the surface, leaving a tacky film behind. I figured the wood was well sealed and could not take another coat of oil so I stopped. I plan on doing a few weekly applications followed by 10 additional monthly applications.

This was done according to what I've read on wood working sites on the internet but I have no prior experience with oil finishes. I know there are more modern alternatives to sealing wood scales and I'm going to try something different with my 2nd knife.

I would like some recommendations on what I should try on the next project. And some critique on what I've already done would also be appreciated. I saw a product called "Minwax Wipe-On Poly" at Lowes and I was thinking of giving that a try.

Thanks for reading my long-winded post.

 

[J. Doyle]

I think what you've already done is more than enough. Although extremely time consuming. Sounds like you did things right.

How about for the next one, removing that spalted stuff and putting something else on it and be done within one day? I've never seen spalted end-grain maple that didn't cause headaches. Seems even properly stabilized it's more prone to problems than other wood.

I'd just fill the cracks with CA use some sort of oil sealer then use it till it cracks off and replace it or just replace it from the start.:thumbup:

 

[Burl Source]

I've never seen spalted maple that didn't cause headaches. Seems even properly stabilized it's more prone to problems than other wood.:thumbup:

I would almost agree if you had said "spalted end grain". A lot of people cut the spalted maple to show end grain and more black lines. This sort of cut makes the wood weaker than any other way of cutting. To illustrate what I am talking about try cutting a piece with the grain then another across the grain. Then try to break it with your hands. You'll see what I mean.

Normal spalted woods cut flat or quarter sawn with the grain will stabilize very nicely without the problems you can see with cross cut, end grain pieces.

 

[J. Doyle]

I would almost agree if you had said "spalted end grain".

That makes perfect sense and you're right. I will edit my post to reflect that. The end grain cuts are the ones I won't use anymore. Just not worth it to me personally. :thumbup:

 

[rwn2000]

I let mine acclimate for a week, then used ZAP thin CA to fill the cracks. After the cracks were filled, I lightly scuffed the rest of the scales with 800 grit, applied 2 thin coats of the thin CA to the entire scales, wet sanded smooth with 800 grit, then 1500 grit, and hand polished with Meguiar's Scratch-X.
results below:

Before

After

I've applied BLO and can't tell much difference. I think the wood was probably treated or stablized somehow because it is VERY hard. Either way, I think the CA and BLO treatment should have sealed them completely. I plan on usung the $hit out of mine

 

[dsmegst]

rwn, looks like you got a good one. I like the pattern a lot and the crack seems to have closed up pretty well. How did you apply an entire coat of CA w/o having it dry out on you? Did you use a brush?

My 2nd one has a similar crack to what I see in your first photo. I hope it turns out as nice as yours did. Nice work.

 

[rwn2000]

use a rubber glove, put 2 drops in the middle of the scale, spread it with one finger really quickly and let it dry 10 minutes. Do that 2 or 3 times to get a little build up. It will NOT be smooth at this point. Then sand with 800 grit or higher until smooth. re-apply CA to any low spots and repeat. Once it's smooth at 800, sand with 1000 and buff. I was out of 1000 so used 1500.

Do this in a WELL VENTILATED area. and practice on a piece of scrap first. It's not hard but it is a little tricky