Tung Oil or Poylyurethane ???

[TJ Smith]

As usual, I have to be the oddball. Johnson's/beeswax mix with a little turpentine, chicken feet and burnt sock ashes.

I think thats a virgin chicken and 1 burnt used sweat sock ashes. Rub the mix in with the other sock.
TJ

 

[tmickley]

... Balistol/beeswax sound good too. Wish I could find either one locally. But not. ..

Bees wax is carried by Hobby Lobby and Michaels Crafts in the candle making section. Sounds like Balistol will cure warts.

 

[Lynn]

I bought some Carnuba wax to make a formula that someone here recomended. It's just bee's wax, mineral spirits, and linseed oil in roughly equal perporitions. I add a little of the Carnuba to make it a little harder.
I'm intrested in the "burn in" of Carnuba. Can you describe your process?
Lynn

I like teak oil better than tung oil these days. Sand and oil repeated coats until it gets where you want it and then burn in hard (pure) Carnuba wax. It looks a lot better than any plastic varnish and you can still feel the wood.

The teak oil works well on antler, also

 

[Steve Hayden]

I got pure Carnuba wax from WoodWorkers Supply. It came powdered and I made small blocks by putting some in small tupperware and melting it by floating them in a pan of boiling water. Then you pop the block out of the plastic mold and it is very hard.

I use the block to get some wax on a linen buffing wheel and then burn it in with the wheel.

I let it sit for a while to get hard and then do it again. After several coats, it gets to looking like a plastic finish, but warmer. You can buff it back out for quite a while as you use the knife before having to rewax.

 

[Protactical]

I use mineral oil too, but it comes as close to a non-finish as anything I know of. A Non-finish in my definition is a finsih you are never finished with. On a salad bowl where you know it's going into you guts, mineral oil is a good start, and salad oil keeps it going. On a knife handle in the kitchen, I use french polished CA.

 

[RokJok]

The cheapest place I've found for beeswax is Stakich Inc. in Michigan. Their price for 1-lb blocks is about 1/2 the price at Hobby Lobby's website. Stakich offers beeswax quantities up to 40-pound lots at the link below, if you need that much beeswax.
http://www.stakich.com/bfolder/beeswax1.htm

 

[sharpcracker]

I can't remember his whole name (his last name is Hrisoulas, I think) but his book showed how to make a down and dirty vacuum chamber. I didn't follow his directions exactly but the one I made would draw in an epoxy mixture ( thinned down with acetone) into gator jaw and deer antler. It was a messy, time consuming process but the results were good. what was once a porous soft material ended up hard and workable and took a fine polish. If I remember correctly he used a a slow curing super glue (cryanalayte?) which would soak into the material when you drew out all the air in a vacuum. Theory is if you replace all the dead air space with an inert ingredient (plastic) your wood can never decay. Unfortunately I lent the book to my Dad (who is also a knifemaker) so I can't give you the specifics.
Any of the oldtimers should be able to tell you who it is I'm talking about. The Man sure knows alot more about making knives than I do.
Gotta go the old lady says supper is ready

Dwight

 

[Lynn]

Thanks much for the advice. I'll give it a try today!
Lynn

I got pure Carnuba wax from WoodWorkers Supply. It came powdered and I made small blocks by putting some in small tupperware and melting it by floating them in a pan of boiling water. Then you pop the block out of the plastic mold and it is very hard.

I use the block to get some wax on a linen buffing wheel and then burn it in with the wheel.

I let it sit for a while to get hard and then do it again. After several coats, it gets to looking like a plastic finish, but warmer. You can buff it back out for quite a while as you use the knife before having to rewax.