Walnut stabilization.

D

Dmitry.M

Joined
Jun 13, 2006
Messages
1,008
I need to stabilize/saturate walnut handle with something. First to make it waterpfoof. Second to fill the pores. Third to polish.
Could I use linseed oil for deep saturation? If after oil I will try to seal pores with cyanoacrilate will it work or it would not fill the pores.?
Or may be I shall just saturate the wood with epoxy in vacuum and let it polimerize and then finish.
Usually I used linseed oil and beeswax on a top. Now I would try carnauba. May be instead of linseed use teak oil? It says that it hardens ho hard substance.
By the way, I rarely see any walnut on knives here. Any serious reason for that?:confused:
 
There are a number of makers who use walnut for handles. I know that any of the specialists in stabilization can stabilize walnut just as well as any wood - presumably they are using an acrylic product under pressure/vacuum. K&G does this.

http://www.knifeandgun.com/index.htm

and I'm sure you could do it yourself after a bit of experimenting. I like walnut handles myself - going to do a handle in walnut burl soon.

Rgds,
Allgonquin
 
I've been stabilizing my own wood for a while now and it's really very easy with excellent results. I'm using Minwax Wood Hardner for the medium and let the wood sit for 2-3 days under vacuum of about 20 - 25 inches of mercury. The wood comes out well saturated and almost completely dry in minutes. I made a stupid mistake a few days ago. I decided to cut the medium a bit with acetone. The medium immediately soaked up the dark color of the wood and now takes a couple days to dry. O well. Time to change the medium.
 
I've been working with black walnut some recently. Having had to redo a handle I cut the old one which had 5 coats of raw linseed oil. I found the oil did not penetrate very deeply at all. I now consider linseed oil more of a surface treatment than a penetrating one.

Of course I find that 4 or more coats will waterproof well and polish well. The more coats the better it will polish if you want a shiny handle.

The other treatment I use is straight beeswax. That has not given me any problems either.

ron
 
When I want a great finish on wood I heat the linseed oil in a double boiler to almost boiling. It also helps if you can heat the wood. Soak the wood in the hot oil for a few hours. Let it dry and repeat a few times.

It is not as good as a vacuum treatment, but much better than coating with room temp oil.

Lots of wooden pen/pencil makers are using super glue for a finish. I haven't tried it yet, but I have seen some very nice results.
 
do i need to treat my cocoboto wood with anything. in the past i have just sanded and buffed and called it good. but i read some where that some people could have problems with cocobolo wood tuching there skin, is this true?
 
Cocobolo is naturally rich in oils, so it is no use to treat it with anything. This wood simply does not accept any treatment. I am not sure if it will accept even carnauba on a top...

Ok. as far as I have linseed oil i'll do my traditional way. Boil handle in it for some time a let cool down in the oil. Then will let it cure for a week or two. Then we'll see...
By the way, does anybody sand or polish handles AFTER linseed iol or it will only kill the surface?
 
Send the walnut to Mike Ludemann at WSSI, or Ken McFall at K&G. They both do a great job with stabilization.
 
Diggerdog said:
I've been stabilizing my own wood for a while now and it's really very easy with excellent results. I'm using Minwax Wood Hardner for the medium and let the wood sit for 2-3 days under vacuum of about 20 - 25 inches of mercury. The wood comes out well saturated and almost completely dry in minutes.
Click to expand...

What kind of rig do you have for the vacuum treatment? I have a bunch of black walnut that I would like to stabilize and I have been thinking about building something to do it myself. If you could post some pictures or a description of how you built yours I would really appreciate it.
 
MisterSat I'll try to get some pictures up after the weekend. My setup is very simple. I use a mason jar about 20 inches high that holds about 2 - 3 quarts. The jar will seal airtight when closed. I drilled a 1/4 inch hole in the top of the lid and run a high pressure hose to a vacuum pump. I apply vacuum and the bubbles come off of the wood just like bubbles coming up from a freshly poured glass of ginger ale. The vacuum sucks all of the air out of the wood and the spaces then fill with the medium. Wood comes out completely saturated with the medium. Total setup costs very little and is safe. I've ordered an electric vacuum pump that I will use in the setup in the next week or so. For small amounts of wood it works great.
 
I use a foodsaver with the wide mouth jar sealer. I can fit 3 or 4 handles in a wide mouth canning jar, fill with stabilizing medium. Put the seal on top and draw a vacuum. The wood bubbles like described above. I let it set for a couple of hours release the vacuum and repeat. I do this until the bubbles coming off the wood almost stop when the vacuum is applied. This could take a couple of days. Remove wrap in alum foil and put in an oven for a couple of hours at 200f. If you are using a flamable liquid let it dry in air.

Chuck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top