white oak?

R

rachet197

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Jul 16, 2011
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I am going to start knifemaking pretty soon, looked around for anyone who used non stabilized white or red oak?
If I don't use the oak for handles would it work for wooden sheaths?
I have tons of it in my land I wonder if it would work, BTW if it doesn't I have some Ostrya virginiana aka ironwood.

THX in advance
 
KFU has used a bunch and it's awesome.

I have and like it a lot. I'm wary of putting unstabilized 'normal' wood on a knife-to-sell, but on my own I like it well enough.
 
Putting a coat of linseed oil on it wouldn't hurt though right?
BTW I'm not selling these, more for practice really!
THX for your opinion daizee
 
I used oak many years ago, and it was fine.At one time a friend gave me some burled type from the where the tree entered the ground. Gee it was pretty stuff after I stained it. I can't remember what I used over the stain. Frank
 
It really gets nice after being buried underwater in a bog for about 5000-6000 years. See Burl Sources Bog Oak for photos.

I don't use plain white oak because it just doesn't look good to me, but that is probably just me.

BTW, If you cut it fresh, it has to fully dry for a few years.
 
hurt it with linseed oil? hell no, that will bring out the grain!
I'll see if I can dig up a couple before/after pix.
Identifying the wood that will show nice grain takes a little time. Look for WIDE end grain.
Picking how to cut the wood to show off the grain isnt' tricky, but takes a little fiddling around.
Basically you want the end grain lines going from the inner face to the outer face, IME.

My wood came from cut-offs from a custom woodworker, and was well-dried. I have some lovely wavy oak I cut fresh myself, but have resigned it to the firewood pile as I just don't have the time/space/expertise to make it into handle material.
 
I think this one was sanded to 600 grit. I apologize the the lousy pictures.

before oil, about to get kydex:
IMG_20120220_225312-small.jpg


after Tru-Oll

IMG_20120221_092029-small.jpg
 
Do you have any dead trees on your property? Like ya'd cut down for firewood? That would be pretty close to dry and if its been dead for a while you're good to go. I've got Black Oak on our ranch. Cut up a lot of burls. Unbelievable grain patterns. But as mentioned also a lot of work. This oak cracks a lot and often has insect holes. I cut a burl slab about 18"x24"x8" and got four small knife handles out of it. The rest while beautiful is not usable. I've never used the straight grained stuff. Kinda boring to me when the burl jumps out and says WOW! However nothing boring about Daizee's handle above. Very nice.
 
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Nice handle daizee
and yeah I do have some dead trees around my place, I just have to hope their not too rotten
 
If ya know the tree and know that its been dead for several years you'll be fine.
 
If you cut it live, strip the bark, and seal the ends, then the rule of thumb for air drying is 1 year per inch of thickness.

Oak is fine for handles, but like any natural material it can shrink/expand with changes in the environment. Many do not like it for handles because the grain is rather plain, especially on small pieces used for handles. If you can find a piece with some nice figure or curl (look at crotch pieces, or root stock) then you can get some good looking handles.
 
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