Wood handle finishing

Mundele

Mundele

Joined
Aug 5, 2000
Messages
403
Hi guys...

Well, I just recently finished my first knife. Well, actually I bought a blade from www.ragweedforge.com and put a walnut handle on it. I finished the handle with linseed oil and turpentine. It looks really nice but the grain is still sort of "open" as walnut tends to be. Does anyone have any advice on how I might fill the open grain? It still needs another coat of linseed oil in a few days. Would using straight (unthinned) boiled linseed oil help fill the open pores?

For my next handle, is there a way I can "tint" the turpentine/linseed oil mixture so that I can get a "stained" colored handle without using varnish?

Thanks for the info.

--Matt
 
Matt, I've never used linseed oil, but I have used Tung oil on ocassion and I think they are similar. The few times that I have used tung oil I soaked in a real thin mixture for a couple of days to get as deep a penitration as posible, then after that pretty well dryed, I rubbed in several coats of uncut tung oil and let dry a day between coats. The tung oil took a couple of weeks to cure, but sealed the open pores and had a hard water prof finish.
As for the dying, I have not tried it, but I beleive you could dye it befor sealing and the oil would lock the dye in.

I havn't used tung oil for a while now because as good as it looks, and as tough as it is. I have not found it to be as durable as stabilized wood.

Hope this helps.
 
I use raw or boiled lineseed oil for coating wood.
I used it on gun stocks.
For dyeing use alchool based wood dye. It dries quick and fills well the wood.
Raw lineseed oil is slower to cure.
Give as many passes as you need to fill the pores.
Lineseed is a form of natural stabilization.
Epoxy stabilized wood is probably more durable, but I haven't had any problem with lineseed coated gun stocks with my handguns, and I use it quite often.

If you want a nice coat agent based on lineseed use Tru-Oil of Birchwood Casey.

Lineseed oil has the advantage that is simpler to apply than epoxy stabilization.
 
Like many others, have used Linseed oil to finish gun stocks. Not an expert in various types of Linseed oil, usually buy a small container of some marketed for gunstocks. I've gotten a glass finish by using 0000 steel wool after the oil drys, removing excess oil down to the wood. After 2 or 3 coats, the pores are filled and smooth. Maybe a rougher (00?) steel wool would be better for a knife handle.
 
A note on Tru-Oil: Let it dry longer than the recommended two hours and where it says buff 'lightly' with steel wool, it should say 'scrub well'. When Tru-Oil starts to build up it takes a looong time to dry. Also, be careful what you apply before Tru-Oil or it may not dry fully at all. At least this has been my experience. It does give a nice finish though.
 
Thanks for the replies. So tru-oil is better than linseed huh? I'll give it a try next. I'm hoping that another coat of uncut linseed will fill those pores.

Thanks again for the info...

--Matt
 
Yep! Tru oil requires some caution and patience.
Two ours are definitely not enough.
Anyway, if you have such problems with pores, you should consider switching to a tighter grained wood or using some compound specific for obstructing pores before you do any other treatment to the wood.
You may find various kinds in art stores. Choose the right color or a light one if you plan to dye the wood.
ANyway it should mach the wood color as much as possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top