Various Handle Finishes?

Stark Knives

Stark Knives

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Mar 19, 2010
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I'm about to do the handles on my knives and was wondering about finishing them. What are your opinions on finishing each type of wood?

Cocobolo

Bocote

Bolivian Rosewood

Unstabilized birdseye maple

Olive wood

I like a shiny but not glass like polish. I don't have a buffer so if I could polish by hand that would be great. What type of sandpaper do you recommend for sanding the handles?
 
Surprised nobody has responded on this yet.

I've used each of those species and will say first that the chosen finish should support the intended use.

On field-grade knives, they can all be treated similarly; just carefully sand up through the grits, say from 220 to 600 or higher then buff by hand with soft clean cotton. Use pressure to build heat and add a drop or two of boiled linseed oil to the rag as you get close. Low shine, high luster finish that looks good and is easy for users to maintain without special effort/materials. As you probably know, the tropicals have enough oil in them that most commercial finishes balk at behaving according to manufacturers directions.

On finer-grade handle work, all bets are off and nobody's telling their secrets:confused:. Seriously though, I often just do the same thing through 1200x and with extra care. You can try BWC Tru-oil but it will leave the glassy slick finish by default.

Handle finishing is all about practice and time spent. Exact products and processes take a back seat IME.

Best to you.
 
Erdbeereis said:
I'm about to do the handles on my knives and was wondering about finishing them. What are your opinions on finishing each type of wood?

Cocobolo (Oily and heavy, can be finished with just sanding and polish. Comes out shiny and can be highly figured)

Bocote (dense and heavy, can be finshed with sanding and tung oil and hand polish. Fancy)

Bolivian Rosewood (dense, dry and heavy. Can be finshed with sanding and tung oil rubbed hard. One of the nicest)

Unstabilized birdseye maple (maple is lighter in density, takes finish well, from tung oil to poly. Can be treated to bring out detail. Needs sealer for best finish)

Olive wood (heavy and dense, takes finish well and shines right up)

I like a shiny but not glass like polish. I don't have a buffer so if I could polish by hand that would be great. What type of sandpaper do you recommend for sanding the handles?
Click to expand...

I use 100 for cutting to size. 220 for removing scratches. 320 for cutting back tung oil coats to wood for filling, and 600 for final polishing prior to wax protection.

You can get finishes in both gloss and satin, or just polish with Johnsons Paste Wax for that semi gloss dry feel. I use Formbys Gloss Tung Oil for filling. Brsuhed or rubbed in with a cloth.

Larry
Tinkerer
 
Thanks!

Would sanding up to about 1000 grit then buffing in beeswax by hand be a good finish for most of those woods? How about olive?
 
Surprised no one has mentioned CA. Not a lot of fans here it seems. I've done a number of things with CA lately and I'm struggling to find something that I like more.

HF sells a big-ish bottle that should have more than enough to do one or more sets. It's cheaper (on sale) to buy the small tubes of super glue, but there's the convenience factor. I'd especially consider it for the birds eye.
 
Is it the small bottles for like $1-3?

If not, could you send me a link?
 
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You may want to get rid of the link. I believe that it's okay for me to say what I did, but as I understand it, a live link is a no-no. ;)

Yes, I bought several of those tubes. They also stock a big bottle at my local store. I read the ingredients when I bought them (you never know) and it is in fact Cyanoacrylate. There are a couple of associated products that people sometimes use with CA. Debonder, to soften the glue if you get problem areas, and quick setting spray. I might try the spray as the layers seem to dry slower as you apply them. If you're a smoker, the smoke does a decent job of doing the same thing.

Pen turners use CA very frequently. A youtube search for "CA pen turning" will get you a few good videos.

Good luck!
 
Thanks, I saw some people use a polishing compound like turtle wax to finish the handles. Do you use anything like that? Would green compound like the type that you put on a strop work? Do you have any pics of a finished CA finish?

Thanks for your help! :)
 
Green ChromOx would be pretty abrasive. I use white compound on a microfiber towel. The white compound is usually for plastics. Since the CA finish is (more or less) an acrylic layer, the compound works well.

I don't have any good pics on my phone, but here are a couple so-so shots.

IMAG1534_zps8c78c011.jpg


IMAG1537_zpsa3c4f6ab.jpg
 
All those woods will look good sanded to 2500 grit and buffed by hand with a soft cotton cloth - you can charge the cloth with white compound if you want, but hard rubbing with soft cotton will make it shine just right.
If you get a pack of the 3M polishing papers, you will discover that work superbly for handles. The pack is six color coded sheets from 400 grit to 8000 grit. No buffing will be needed after the white sheet. They are reusable. I buy the packs a dozen at a time.

Maple looks best with a little oil worked into the wood. Tru-oil or another quality oil finish is good. Don't use much, and sand/rub it all off. You want it In the wood, not On it. I hate a knife handle that looks like a high gloss varnish gun stock.

Stabilizing maple and non-oily woods will make the handles have a great look when hand sanded.
 
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