Unstabilized Zebrawood for Kitchen Knife?

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AlaskanHunter

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Nov 23, 2013
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I'm working on my KITH knife, and I think I'm going to attempt a Wa style handle. As I consider my available woods, I'm wondering about the suitability of unstabilized zebrawood and purple heart for a kitchen knife. Is it a good idea or bad idea? Is pairing either of these with stabilized wood ok?
 
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I wouldnt recommend it. Both of those woods have a very open grain, which means you are going to get all sorts of bits of junk and food and liquids stuck in it.

Stabilized is an option, i also carry bulk cocobolo, kingwood and blackwood on my site, all of which are perfect for a kitchen knife for a really low price.
 
I've used both unstabilized for kitchen knives. Make sure the zebrawood is done moving before you use it. It can shift quite a bit as it cures.
 
Ok, It sounds like I might be able to get away with it on a knife for myself, but considering that this is a KITH knife, I'd better not take the risk.
Butch, does a wet sanded tru-oil finish work for that type of grain sealing? It seems to work well for open grained walnut, but I'm not sure about this one.
 
AlaskanHunter said:
Ok, It sounds like I might be able to get away with it on a knife for myself, but considering that this is a KITH knife, I'd better not take the risk.
Butch, does a wet sanded tru-oil finish work for that type of grain sealing? It seems to work well for open grained walnut, but I'm not sure about this one.
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Yes, wet sanding Danish oil or true oil will work. Make sure you give yourself 10-14 days to properly apply the finish and buff it every day/2nd day.
 
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There's a wooden spoon guy at our farmers market who gets good results with that, but he repeatedly wets it and resands it in order to get the grain to settle down. If you don't do that it's rougher than a cob...which might be ok for a hunting knife but won't fly in the kitchen.
He uses water, but prefers naphtha for the wetting.
 
Steel wool works well as it shears the wood, rather than abrading it.
 
Does the truoil raise the grain when wet sanding? If not, raising the grain could take a couple of extra days of handle finishing (a few hours to actually do the work, then a day or two to dry sufficiently to apply the first coat of truoil).
 
AlaskanHunter said:
Does the truoil raise the grain when wet sanding? If not, raising the grain could take a couple of extra days of handle finishing (a few hours to actually do the work, then a day or two to dry sufficiently to apply the first coat of truoil).
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Usually just after the first or second coats. After that, no problem. Use xxxx steel wool to shear the raised fibres, especially the end grain at the but.
 
Are there any issues with gluing bloodwood or purple heart to a lighter wood like zebrawood? Both would be unstabilized. Specifically, I'm wondering if the darker wood will "bleed" color into the lighter wood over time?
 
AlaskanHunter said:
Are there any issues with gluing bloodwood or purple heart to a lighter wood like zebrawood? Both would be unstabilized. Specifically, I'm wondering if the darker wood will "bleed" color into the lighter wood over time?
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I've not had an issue, when using ebony and brazilluan tigerwood, but I couldn't guarantee it. If you're worried, use a g-10 1/32" spacer, or possibly epoxy glue which would minimize bleeding of oils from one piece to another.
 
Wipe the woods down with acetone until oils stop bleeding out as color on the cloth, and epoxy together. I've never had an issue. Regular wood glue (tightbond, ect) doesn't always work too well on oily exotics
 
Geoff Flato said:
Wipe the woods down with acetone until oils stop bleeding out as color on the cloth, and epoxy together. I've never had an issue. Regular wood glue (tightbond, ect) doesn't always work too well on oily exotics
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West Systems G-Flex is what I usually use. That should be fine for this as well, especially with a few hidden pins, right?
 
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