Spyderco Bushcraft - spalted maple burl

[GundaManiac]

I recently had a chance to pick up a Spyderco Bushcraft with the spalted maple burl handles. This is my first non-kitchen fixed blade; I've been into knives for a few years, but I've always preferred folders. I've been eyeing the Bushcraft for a while for a nice general purpose outdoors fixed blade and because of all the praise it has gotten for its super comfortable handle. I came across pictures of the original versions of the knife with the maple and knew that was the version I had to have. It took a bit of looking around, but I scored a nicely used fairly affordable Bushcraft with the maple handles.

One of the things I read was common in the original version of the Bushcraft was the cracked handles, which was why Spyderco switched to G10 for the current version of the Bushcraft. As expected, my handle has some pretty decently sized cracks all over the left scale. I found the original description on Spyderco's website, which stated that wood fillers could be used to fill in the cracks; I also recall having read about people filling in the cracks with super glue.

Has anyone reading this who has one of the original maple handled Bushcrafts tried filling in the cracks? If so, what did you use (wood filer, super glue, etc?) and how successful was it? Pictures of your handywork would be greatly appreciated!

 

[T Schloz]

I have one of the Maple Burl models. I used super glue and it worked well. Super glue comes in different thicknesses, from thin to gel. If the cracks are very narrow, use the super thin, it will flow into the wood better and form a good bond. Regular super glue worked well for most of the cracks.

Fill in the cracks using multiple coats and sand in between.

Tom

 

[T Schloz]

Here's a couple of pictures after the cracks were fixed. Sorry about the glare.

Tom

 

[GundaManiac]

That looks great. I can't even see where the cracks were. Unfortunately, I don't think that will be the case after filling in the cracks in my knife- the cracks are quite large. Here are pics from the seller I purchased from:

I polished up the brass and some of the stains from the blade. The edge came chipped; I put a slight bevel on it with my Spyderco UF stone to remove the chip. Only thing left to do to restore it is to fill in the cracks in the handle. I'm really digging this knife. It's almost too pretty to use...I may pick up a G10 Bushcraft to use and keep this one for display, especially given its seeming rarity now. Decisions, decisions...

By the way, since this is my first fixed blade...Does anyone have any tips for cleaning out the interior of the sheath? There's seems to be some residue inside like glue or sap or something...

 

[T Schloz]

My knife didn't have as many cracks, but I did have one large one about the size of the cracks pictured. I was able to fill it with superglue with many applications, over many months. The crack now just looks like a natural line in the wood.

I will have to say that you have your work cut out for you. Thats a lot of cracks.

Tom

 

[T Schloz]

Here are before and after pictures.

Tom

 

[GundaManiac]

That looks nice. I think my cracks will be more noticeable due to the sheer number of large cracks. Gonna give it a shot some time tomorrow probably.

 

[Joe58]

Just a suggestion might be to check in the services forum for a maker to help you out, or at least suggest the best way to go about it. I'd screw up up if we're mine. Lol.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Use thin cyano glue, like Zap-CA, but build it up in thin layers, letting it set in between. Don't use accelerator, don't slosh on so much that you get drips and runs. Cracks taper, so even wide ones are very thin down deep. The thicker (never gel) glues take longer to set, and their viscosity may stop them getting all the way down the crack. Also, cracks often extend beyond what is easy to see, the thin stuff will spread down hair line faults and seal those too.

Hope it goes well and you like the knife.

Chris

 

[GundaManiac]

Hi Chris, thanks for the advice! I really dig the handle ergonomics. I would have preferred a slightly more prominent point at the front of the handle to serve as a handguard of sorts, but I understand that a handguard is not conducive to bushcrafting. Great job with the design of the knife...or at least the handle, since I haven't done anything other than clean, polish, fill in cracks, and sharpen the knife yet. Speaking of which, this is my first scandi grind, and it was quite fun to sharpen. I freehanded it, so I'm sure it's a touch convex now, but the grind and the O-1 steel made for quite an enjoyable sharpening experience.

I've patched up the cracks with superglue and sanded the superglue flush. I'd take pictures, but I can't seem to capture how it actually looks in person - it looks like the cracks are still there when viewed through the camera (it just sees straight through the superglue), but in person it looks quite neat with slightly reflective/transparent (depending on the viewing angle) streaks were the cracks were, and the cracks are definitely less noticeable.

I like the knife enough that I picked up a store-return G10 Bushcraft too. I don't need two of the same knife...oh who am I kidding . I'm going to keep the burl handled knife as a display piece and use the G10 knife. I'm a little worried about how stable the wood handles are, and I'm too lazy to coat the entire handle in cyano to try and help weatherproof it a little (filling in the cracks was enough for me). I thought I read that Spyderco treated the handles with boiled linseed oil after realizing they didn't get the stabilized wood they requested. Has anyone just used their burl handled Bushcrafts without further treating the handles, and if so how have they held up?