- Joined
- Sep 20, 2004
- Messages
- 573
Hi Everyone,
It has taken me two years to finally get around to mixing the recipe for the handle preservative that I found on the forums or the Internet about two years ago! I thought it sounded pretty good at the time, and I'm not saying that it is bad! I have used it on every JK knife I have now, except for one, and that was my JK Early Style Hunter! First of all, I had John put a very pretty Tiger Maple handle on it for me! I asked him to scorch it lightly for me but, he was skeptical because of the plastic liner I had him add to it, and I understood that, and I had not given that any thought at the time myself either! I thought about it very seriously for several weeks after I left the "Gathering" with the knife! Then, I finally, when we had that week of record high temperatures up here, I decided to just go for it but, I tried to be kind of careful how much heat I gave it at one time! I think it turned out perfect my self, but you know how it is, what appeals to one, doesn't always appeal to the next guy! After I scorched it, I did four coats of Birchwood Casey's Tru-Oil on it, after each coat I let it dry at least 24 hours, and then took 0000 steel wool to it, and rubbed it down! Then I wiped all the steel wool debris off of it, and put the next coat of Tru-Oil on her! After I put the last coat of Tru-Oil on it, I took Birchwood Casey's Gun Stock Wax to the knife handle, the knife metal and the sheath that it goes into! Man, that is good stuff but, so is the Tru-Oil! Anyway, I put two coats of the wax on the knife over about a three day period! It really looks great, and I'm sure the scan photos that I will put up here for you to look at, will surely not do it justice but, Im very proud of it, and proud to own it!
I'm convinced that the recipe, one part linseed Oil, one part varnish, spar varnish or spar urethane, you can use any of these, and then two parts mineral spirits or turpentine! I guess it just depends on where you are located in the country as to what your hardware store or paint store carries! If you are down in the, what we call the country, in the south, they carry a lot of different older kinds of finishes than they do in the north, or the city! In the north, when you walk in the store, and say varinsh, they say, WHAT? They have no clue! Anyway, I've decided that I think that mixture is a very good conditioner for your knife handles! It is a very thin solution, and I worked mine with one of those throw away sponge brushes, their kind of shaped to a long point at the application end! They work pretty well! I started at the hilt of the handle, and worked my way down! You don't want to get too much on that brush at one time because you have to keep working that solution back and forth up and down the length of the handle! It will go to dripping and streaking up or down, whichever way you are holding the knife at the time! I worked it, and let it soak in on the handles ten to fifteen minutes, then wiped of the excess solution with a paper towel! I know that's not the best of things to use but, it does work! Your really need to find a cloth that is as lint free as you can find! I am planning if everything works out for me, to try and put three to four coats of that conditioner on each of my knives, then put about four coats of the Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil on each, and then a couple of coats of Birchwood Casey's Gun Stock Oil!
You really want to treat your knife handles the same way you would an heirloom piece of nice furniture, that has been pasted down to you five or six generations, that you just absolutely cherish, and you have to refinish it! You want to cut your varnish, one part varnish to three parts mineral spirits, or whatever youre cutting it with! You may want to put two or three coats of this one solution on it to start out with to condition it but, after each time you put this stuff on it, you have to let it dry totally, so it needs at least 24 hours of drying time, and it has to be in as dust free of an environment as you can find without putting anything on the furniture itself! After the drying time, you have to rub it down thoroughly with 000 or 0000 steel wool, and you will find that it is a pain in the butt and tedious! But, you will be so happy with yourself when it is absolutely finished! After you do that, then you want to put one part of varnish to two parts of spirits, and little by little you want to put more of a varnish solution onto the furniture than you are mineral spirits! Once you get up to putting heavy varnish on it, you want to rub it in, instead of brushing it on, because that will make it streak, and will just mean that you have to do that much more rubbing with the 000 or 0000 steel wool! The smoother you rub, and the more coats you put on the furniture, you will start to see the furniture, start to looking like you are looking through a piece of glass on top of the wood! This is exactly what you want to do to your knife handles to keep them nice and protect them! It is work but, it is rewarding work!
I guess that is about all I have to say about that, and my Momma always said, Life is like a bowl of chocolates, you never know what youre going to get! LOL! So here are some photos of the knife that I scorched and finished!
These first two are of the knife the way I got it from John but, the size you have to cut them down too, takes half the picture away and distorts the photos!
These two are after I scorched the handle, I think!
These two are after the first rub down after the scorch, I think!
These are after the first coat of Tru-Oil, and the rub down!
Second coat, and so on, and so on!
Third coat!
Forth coat!
These last five are of my finished product! I really like this knife! I just wish I was headed for the woods to use it right now!
Hope I didn't bore you all too much! Hope you enjoyed the photos, and hope you all will give some thought to trying at least one project like this one! It's a learning experience, and you never want to stop learning!
All of you take care and stay safe!
ft
It has taken me two years to finally get around to mixing the recipe for the handle preservative that I found on the forums or the Internet about two years ago! I thought it sounded pretty good at the time, and I'm not saying that it is bad! I have used it on every JK knife I have now, except for one, and that was my JK Early Style Hunter! First of all, I had John put a very pretty Tiger Maple handle on it for me! I asked him to scorch it lightly for me but, he was skeptical because of the plastic liner I had him add to it, and I understood that, and I had not given that any thought at the time myself either! I thought about it very seriously for several weeks after I left the "Gathering" with the knife! Then, I finally, when we had that week of record high temperatures up here, I decided to just go for it but, I tried to be kind of careful how much heat I gave it at one time! I think it turned out perfect my self, but you know how it is, what appeals to one, doesn't always appeal to the next guy! After I scorched it, I did four coats of Birchwood Casey's Tru-Oil on it, after each coat I let it dry at least 24 hours, and then took 0000 steel wool to it, and rubbed it down! Then I wiped all the steel wool debris off of it, and put the next coat of Tru-Oil on her! After I put the last coat of Tru-Oil on it, I took Birchwood Casey's Gun Stock Wax to the knife handle, the knife metal and the sheath that it goes into! Man, that is good stuff but, so is the Tru-Oil! Anyway, I put two coats of the wax on the knife over about a three day period! It really looks great, and I'm sure the scan photos that I will put up here for you to look at, will surely not do it justice but, Im very proud of it, and proud to own it!
I'm convinced that the recipe, one part linseed Oil, one part varnish, spar varnish or spar urethane, you can use any of these, and then two parts mineral spirits or turpentine! I guess it just depends on where you are located in the country as to what your hardware store or paint store carries! If you are down in the, what we call the country, in the south, they carry a lot of different older kinds of finishes than they do in the north, or the city! In the north, when you walk in the store, and say varinsh, they say, WHAT? They have no clue! Anyway, I've decided that I think that mixture is a very good conditioner for your knife handles! It is a very thin solution, and I worked mine with one of those throw away sponge brushes, their kind of shaped to a long point at the application end! They work pretty well! I started at the hilt of the handle, and worked my way down! You don't want to get too much on that brush at one time because you have to keep working that solution back and forth up and down the length of the handle! It will go to dripping and streaking up or down, whichever way you are holding the knife at the time! I worked it, and let it soak in on the handles ten to fifteen minutes, then wiped of the excess solution with a paper towel! I know that's not the best of things to use but, it does work! Your really need to find a cloth that is as lint free as you can find! I am planning if everything works out for me, to try and put three to four coats of that conditioner on each of my knives, then put about four coats of the Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil on each, and then a couple of coats of Birchwood Casey's Gun Stock Oil!
You really want to treat your knife handles the same way you would an heirloom piece of nice furniture, that has been pasted down to you five or six generations, that you just absolutely cherish, and you have to refinish it! You want to cut your varnish, one part varnish to three parts mineral spirits, or whatever youre cutting it with! You may want to put two or three coats of this one solution on it to start out with to condition it but, after each time you put this stuff on it, you have to let it dry totally, so it needs at least 24 hours of drying time, and it has to be in as dust free of an environment as you can find without putting anything on the furniture itself! After the drying time, you have to rub it down thoroughly with 000 or 0000 steel wool, and you will find that it is a pain in the butt and tedious! But, you will be so happy with yourself when it is absolutely finished! After you do that, then you want to put one part of varnish to two parts of spirits, and little by little you want to put more of a varnish solution onto the furniture than you are mineral spirits! Once you get up to putting heavy varnish on it, you want to rub it in, instead of brushing it on, because that will make it streak, and will just mean that you have to do that much more rubbing with the 000 or 0000 steel wool! The smoother you rub, and the more coats you put on the furniture, you will start to see the furniture, start to looking like you are looking through a piece of glass on top of the wood! This is exactly what you want to do to your knife handles to keep them nice and protect them! It is work but, it is rewarding work!
I guess that is about all I have to say about that, and my Momma always said, Life is like a bowl of chocolates, you never know what youre going to get! LOL! So here are some photos of the knife that I scorched and finished!
These first two are of the knife the way I got it from John but, the size you have to cut them down too, takes half the picture away and distorts the photos!
These two are after I scorched the handle, I think!
These two are after the first rub down after the scorch, I think!
These are after the first coat of Tru-Oil, and the rub down!
Second coat, and so on, and so on!
Third coat!
Forth coat!
These last five are of my finished product! I really like this knife! I just wish I was headed for the woods to use it right now!
Hope I didn't bore you all too much! Hope you enjoyed the photos, and hope you all will give some thought to trying at least one project like this one! It's a learning experience, and you never want to stop learning!
All of you take care and stay safe!
ft
