wood handles and oil

Azis

Azis

Joined
Dec 4, 2002
Messages
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I know there are many threads on wood care but just a simple general question,
Should the wood handles like chandan wood be treated? If so why and what would be the down side of not treating them? If so is there an oil that is recommended, I normally use linseed oil is there something else that should be used instead?
 
I don't know about chandan, but I now use Watco's Danish finishing oil.


munk
 
I don't really know much about chandan wood either but I have several kardas and a couple of khuks with that wood.
 
I would not use baby oil on a nice wood.

I have used linseed oil in the past for furniture. The finish looks good, but it is slow and takes a long time. The tradition is to use one coat per day, then one more per week, then...
The downside is that a traditional linseed oil finish may not be most resistant to water.

I use Watco natural Danish oil if I want a satin finish.

For a shine, I like Formby Tung Oil - it is really a wiping varnish, easy to use and can give you a good shine.
If I wanted a durable finish that is not quite as nice as the Watco alone or the wiping varnish, I'd use Watco followed by a light coat of wiping polyurethane (Watco). It looks OK.
You just need to decide what would look best and what sort of finish you want. Traditional oil finish - linseed oil - is susceptable to wear and is not as easy to apply as the others I mentioned. You can recoat Watco the same day, but linseed oil takes at least a day or longer between coats.

An alternative that is pretty nice is to mix linseed oil with a varnish (take your pick) and turps (1/3 for each) to make your own wiping varnish. I have used spar varnish for this in the past. If you take this route, stay away from any water based varnish for the mix.

If you don't have a good finish on the wood handle, you risk cracking with humidity changes in the winter and summer.
 
well I am not as interested in a gloss finish or anything like that I am really looking to preserve the wood for the long term
 
Baby oil prevents cracking. varnish seems a terrible thing to do to me. But each to thier own.

Most fast drying oils like, tung ,boiled linseed etc. are poisiness & shouldnt be in skin contact. the driers they use are heavy metals.

If you want the absoulute best , pure sandlewood essential oil is whats extracted from chandan timber {& its relatives.} in the first place. Buts its expensive.

Spiral
 
The sandlewood sounds like it would be the logical choice, the cost is not an issue as it can't take that much oil to do a dozen or so knives. Now to find it from a good source.
 
Azis, I cook up what I call "Bear Grease" and use it on wood, leather, and steel alike. It's two parts food grade mineral oil, one part pure lanolin (you can get both in most pharmacies), and one part pure beeswax. Keeps wood or leather from drying/cracking, and you can cut up food with a blade coated with the stuff and not poison yourself. A wooden handle on a working knife ain't fine furniture, and I'll be dadgummed if I'll obsess a bunch about it's "finish". :rolleyes:

Sarge
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
A wooden handle on a working knife ain't fine furniture, and I'll be dadgummed if I'll obsess a bunch about it's "finish". :rolleyes:

Sarge
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I gotta go along with Sarge on this one. Personally I like a nice shiny but not polished finish and Sarge's "Bear Grease" would give you that methinks.
I've used Ballistol and Mineral Oil for handles and I like the results I get with it but there are as many finishes for wood as there are opinions. :rolleyes:
Some are quite good and others stink.;) :D
 
Azis said:
The sandlewood sounds like it would be the logical choice, the cost is not an issue as it can't take that much oil to do a dozen or so knives. Now to find it from a good source.
Click to expand...

A good "health food" store, "natural food/vitamin" market, those places have sandalwood oil.
 
The original recommendation for Watco Danish oil came to me from Erik Estus, a bladesmith. I was getting cracking from horn handles, and nothing stopped it. Lanolin didn't work, neither did mineral oil. Watco worked!

I just had a window installed in my kitchen and used Minwax oil stain finish on the wood inside, and I plan to add a couple of coats of Minwax spar varnish when the Minwax stain dries. I used a coat of walnut-like stuff, followed by mahogany to get a color my wife wouldn't gripe about.

I don't own stock in Watco, but it is great stuff.
 
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