What to do for unstabilized wood

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thegeek574

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Sep 3, 2010
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Everyone,
I have a whole lot of cherry wood at my disposal, and i was wondering what i need to do to just seal up the wood so that it does not begin to rot after use or some other horrible thing. i do not want to stabilize it. this will not be for selling, just for around the house use.
thanks,
Steven
 
If your talking cherry lumber, nothing is gong to happen to it?? Put it on a shelf and use when needed. Put the finish of your choice on it when used.
 
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Just use the wood finish of your choice. Be sure if it is for out door use you use an exterior product. If it will be in the weather, something that is water resistant, like Thompsons water seal. If in the sun, something with a UV blocker. Inside use, oil, lacquer, waterbased finishes or poly.

It is pretty simple. Now days there is a product for just about any use. Just read the cans and pick out what is the right stuff for how you will use it. One thing to remember, if it is really cheap, there is a good reason.
 
Just another option for finishing cherry....Which I am really looking forward to trying on some quilted cherry I have.

"Cherry lumber darkens to a rich natural color with age, but you can speed up the process by applying a solution of household lye and water. After a few minutes, cherry lumber will turn a deeper reddish hue, with variations in color that preserve the natural look of the grain. Once the lye solution dries, you can leave the wood as it is or add oil, polyurethane or any clear finish of your choice. Lye is a strong alkali, so wear protective clothing, work in a well-ventilated area and observe all cautions on the container."
 
*facepalm* forgot to mention: this is for knife scales. it will not be used as a hammer or anything, but i would like it to be water-resistant. as a complete newbie, i would really appreciate it if someone pointed me to a product.
 
Cherry is fairly tough wood. If you are not going to get it stabilized you could just use an oil finish. It doesn't make the wood any tougher but it is easy to touch up if it gets any scuffs or scrapes.

There are several good finishes. Most can be found at Walmart or any home improvement store. In the sporting goods section you can find Tru-Oil. They use it for gun stocks. Otherwise in the wood finishes section look for Danish Oil, Tung Oil or Teak oil. For Danish Oil I like the Watco brand.

The oils I mentioned are all ones that will penetrate on initial coats and build up a finish with further coats.

Do not scrimp on the sanding. Every scratch you miss will show up when you start to apply the oil. It is best to go through the grits of sanding from about 60 grit to refine your shaping then progress 120, 220, 320, 400 and on intil you like how the handle looks.

When applying the oil make sure to do it in a warm dry area indoors. Portland is cold and wet right now. Apply a liberal first coat and let it sit long enough for a cup of coffee and a smoke. Then wipe it thoroughly with an old t shirt. Let that sit and dry overnight and repeat. Repeat that until you like how the handle looks. After that dries a few days use some paste wax and then hand buff with an old towel.

This is all assuming you will be shaping and sanding your handle by hand without power tools. (I am making the assumption because you said you are a newbie). The instructions I gave take a little while but you will find the hand finishing is kind of relaxing and enjoyable.

In the future if you scuff up the handle you can just wipe on a couple more coats of oil to make it look good again. Other finishes would require you to sand off the old stuff and refinish the whole handle.

Good luck with your project.
 
I will work on this. I have some watco danish oil, and so i will see about using that.... how necessary is it to go through all of the grits. could i just go from, say, 120, which i have, to 400 or 600? i know it will wear out the higher grit faster, but my motto is "swing it on a budget". my dad is kindly lending me a whole bunch of tools, and so i have access to a power sander. i probably won't use it for this project, but i will be for sanding the basic shape. as a non-smoker, i guess i will have some coffee and a few games of minesweeper:cool: this sounds like fun.:D

thanks so much for the help. this is going to be fun!
 
I didnt realize this was gonna be for knife scales, I thought you were using it "around the house", as in woodworking around the house. I wouldn't use the lye method for scales in that case. Larry
 
Sandpaper is cheap, what's time worth? If you go directly from 120 to 400, it will take almost forever to remove enough material with the 400 grit to get out the 120 grit scratches. And odds are good that you'll miss some that you will only see after you've put on the oil...DAMHIKT. One sheet each of 150, 180, 220, 280, and 320 should only be about $5 total at the hardware store, and will make the project go much smoother.
 
thegeek574 said:
*facepalm* forgot to mention: this is for knife scales. it will not be used as a hammer or anything, but i would like it to be water-resistant. as a complete newbie, i would really appreciate it if someone pointed me to a product.
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I really like what I've gotten out of tung oil on cherry. I wipe on a fairly generous amount with a T-shirt, wait about 3 minutes, then wipe it down real good with a dry part of the shirt.

Then wait overnight. I repeat the process another 3 or 4 times. I've learned not to rush it. Trying to put on too much (I.e. not wiping off the excess), or trying to add a new coat to one that hasn't dried, tends to lead to an ugly sticky-feeling finish.

In my experience, tung oil won't yield a shiny, plastic bright finish, but I prefer something a little more "matte" myself. And as has been mentioned, it's pretty easy to touch up if necessary.
 
Well you can push the stabilized wood all you want, but what did they do in the olden days when I was making and selling all the hunters I could manage to complete. HEY we just used good hard woods and some not so hard . The knives were used year after year and I'm sure some of those are still in use say 4o years later. Why does that knife need so much protection from the weather. If it's on your hip the rushing waters from the sky don't get at it and if you go into a lake you are soon going to have all of your outside clothes off as well as the knife. I honestly feel placing $20 worth of wood on an inexpesive but quality made hunter is a waste. Sure if it's to go into a collection anything that looks super on line is probably going to be stabilized and cost that for what iyt takes to get the wood to that state. And what was used back then? Well I really liked walnut and the customers did too. Some liked the rosewoods. Lots of building supplies carried pieces of hardwood and often in different demnsions. I remember once buying a long piece of a very hard brown colour with black streak hard wood. It wouldn't take oil let alone water. I still have a few scales of that in a box. Why the stabilizing. Well if you go to softer stuff or stuff that is dyed then it can be necessary. Try some ordinary walnut on one of your current hunters. It could cost you as much as $3.99!!! Use it for the next thirty years and see how it deteriorates from the weather and blood . Frank
 
Thank you to everyone. Frank, I think i will put oil on this one because i will be beating it up and so i would like to be able to touch it up now and again. I will try going dry on another knife later, just as an experiment. There is a chance i would get some black walnut, and then i will try it with that.
 
Frank Niro said:
Well you can push the stabilized wood all you want, but what did they do in the olden days when I was making and selling all the hunters I could manage to complete. HEY we just used good hard woods and some not so hard . The knives were used year after year and I'm sure some of those are still in use say 4o years later. Why does that knife need so much protection from the weather. If it's on your hip the rushing waters from the sky don't get at it and if you go into a lake you are soon going to have all of your outside clothes off as well as the knife. I honestly feel placing $20 worth of wood on an inexpesive but quality made hunter is a waste. Sure if it's to go into a collection anything that looks super on line is probably going to be stabilized and cost that for what iyt takes to get the wood to that state. And what was used back then? Well I really liked walnut and the customers did too. Some liked the rosewoods. Lots of building supplies carried pieces of hardwood and often in different demnsions. I remember once buying a long piece of a very hard brown colour with black streak hard wood. It wouldn't take oil let alone water. I still have a few scales of that in a box. Why the stabilizing. Well if you go to softer stuff or stuff that is dyed then it can be necessary. Try some ordinary walnut on one of your current hunters. It could cost you as much as $3.99!!! Use it for the next thirty years and see how it deteriorates from the weather and blood . Frank
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That sounds like persimmon. Very nice wood. If I remember correctly, it's a relative of ebony.
 
I am using Boiled Linseed oil right now an a walnut handle. It seems to soak in really well but from what I gather it won't leave much of a shine. I'm curious as well if the BLO will build up if I put enough coats on that I can hand rub it to a good shine or if I should be looking into rubbing something else into it at the end to get the shine?
 
I use a fair bit of cherry since I get it free when the orchards trim their trees every season. I prefer tung oil but I've been using Watco Danish oil and the results aren't bad. I let the piece soak in the oil overnight, or sometimes 2-3 days depending on how it's coming along, and build coats on top of that. Takes a bit longer to dry but the results are worth it.
 
I have another question. Can i use green wood, or is it going to crack when it is nicely formed and been on the handle for however long it has taken it to dry?
Steven
 
Green wood can crack and warp when it's drying in lumber sized pieces. You want to dry it (with wax on the ends to slow it) oversized to allow for shrinkage and warpage before cutting into the piece.

Someone can give you more info on drying wood. I haven't heard it uncommon to buy wood from anywhere and let it acclimate to the maker's shop for months before using it to make sure it is a stable dimension for the climate.
 
Ive been a woodworker for the last ten years.....i now have the bug to make knives. If the wood is green.....it needs time to dry. Wood moves ALOT! More then one would imagine. I dont know how thick your pieces are but you can resaw them to 1/2 OR 3/8 pieces and set them up to dry. If the would is really green you can wax the end grain ...heat the wax and paint it on. this slows the drying process down through the end grain allowing it to cure more even and reducing the chance of it checking. A good finish you may want to try is 1/3 miniral spirits, 1/3 tung oil and 1/3 poly urathane. This is a nice finish..gives a good luster especially in burl or crotch wood.
 
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