Simple handle finish ?

[ricaga]

I am making woodcarving knives from straight razors. I bought some Walnut for the handles and the supplier recommended mineral oil. I tried and the results were just dull, dull. I would probably go the varnish route as the walnut has nice figure but now it is not evident. Some others makers use satin General finishes water based top coat. I assume I have to sand off and get back to bare wood. Any help out there ? THX

 

[FredyCro]

Use forum search for wood finishing. Sometimes Google search works better if you just put in your terms and add bladeforum. You will want to sandback starting with 120 and sand up to 400+. Some finish even higher. Standard procedure would be to start wet sanding at 320 with your finishing oil. Leave the slury to dry for a minute or two and wipe off the excess. Sand to as high as you like, lower grit is grippier, higher grit is shinier. Build couple of coats on top with oil leaving to dry inbetween and wiping off the excess. Tru oil and Watco oil are recommended products. You can use any daenish oil, or if you want to go fully natural use tung oil but it will need to dry longer between the coats. You can hand or machine buff if you want it to be shiny. You can finish with a coat of wax.

Many things to do, it's just one of the things that everyone develops his one approach and process. The above will give good results.

Mineral oil was a shitty advice as it is a non drying oil. I don't even like it on my cutting boards, much less on knife handles.

 

[Lorien]

I've used the minwax tung oil finish which isn't pure, it has solvents, and it's pretty straight forward and easy

 

[ricaga]

Use forum search for wood finishing. Sometimes Google search works better if you just put in your terms and add bladeforum. You will want to sandback starting with 120 and sand up to 400+. Some finish even higher. Standard procedure would be to start wet sanding at 320 with your finishing oil. Leave the slury to dry for a minute or two and wipe off the excess. Sand to as high as you like, lower grit is grippier, higher grit is shinier. Build couple of coats on top with oil leaving to dry inbetween and wiping off the excess. Tru oil and Watco oil are recommended products. You can use any daenish oil, or if you want to go fully natural use tung oil but it will need to dry longer between the coats. You can hand or machine buff if you want it to be shiny. You can finish with a coat of wax.

Many things to do, it's just one of the things that everyone develops his one approach and process. The above will give good results.

Mineral oil was a shitty advice as it is a non drying oil. I don't even like it on my cutting boards, much less on knife handles.

I was surprised at the MO recommendation, the guy I bought the wood from uses it his cutting boards--live and learn thx

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

The biggest trick is to wet-sand trhe finish into the wood. This works the finishing resins into the wood pores and grain.
Prior to doing the handle finishing, tape up the blade well with blue painter's tape.

1) Apply the finish liberally (Tung, Minwax, Wattco, Brownell's, or whatever hard finish you choose). Rub it well into the wood with a piece of an old tee-shirt, or a paper towel.
Dispose of the rags properly to avoid a spontaneous ignition fire. They are best placed in a bucket of soapy water.
2) Wait a few minutes, then sand the still wet finish with 400 grit paper. If the finish becomes too gummy in the first minute or so, apply a few more drops of finish to work into the wood. Wipe off the excess finish after a few minutes of sanding and let dry. Let dry fully for at least 24 hours.
3) Sand smooth to the wood, removing all finish off the surface.
4) Repeat steps 1 and 2 several more times (3-5 repeats is good).
5) On the final cycle, once fully dry sand the surface down with 800 grit paper and buff with a soft cloth. It should look amazing.

The finish will be IN the wood, not ON it.