woodchuck miscellania

I've gitched and groaned about the dark burl on the humungous UBE Sanu made, and it sounds very similar. The wood is unbelieveable dense and hard,and oily as well. I went through every site I could find off the Nepali Google search, looking for "Saatisal", and every variation of tree I could find. I fnally got a reply from the owner of a firm in Kat, who had some dark wood tables and plaques on his site. He said my handle could very well be "Shorea Robusta", sometimes called Saatisal by the furniture makers, but different from another one with gold grain. I asked if this was the one referred to on another site as a construction wood, and he said "Oh, yes - it is used to make heavy carved doors, which withstand weather with no finish at all". He also said that on some pieces, varnish will not adhere to the wood because it is so oily. I gave up on trying to make the UBE shiny - it is as slick as a piece of polished marble, but dull where the light doesn't reflect. It only has two coats of Johnson's Paste wax, smoothed out with Armor All. I don't think it would tolerate anything else. The man said it is common all over India and southern Nepal, and not at all rare - just very tough and individual.
 
Nice info, Wal. Shorea Robusto! I'm impressed -- you're going to make a woodchuck out of me in spite of myself.

Ah yes, and here we have a khukuri profundo by Maestro Bura handled in Shorea Robusto of exquisite color and blah, blah, blah -- and another woodchuck bites the dust.

When in reality is goes like this: That filthy, nasty Bura stopped fighting with wife #3 long enough to pound out this knife from a piece of junk spring and stick a chunk of Nepali oak on the tang. Who wants it?
 
Fir and Wal,
The wood looks nearly exactly like Firs handle IIRC from when they came up as PGAs.
Perhaps I did something wrong at some point. How hard would it be to counteract the oil finish already present?
 
Rog, if the finish is hard, just steel wool it down. If it is still tacky, rub it down with a rag until the worst is off, and then steel wool it down to the wood. I wouldn't use turp, or any remover - just elbow grease. Use 0000, and when you get through the oil, it should start to take a shine. At that point, shine it 'til you're satisfied, and put a very thin fingercoating (rubbed on with your fingertips) of a good furniture paste wax. You can "spit shine" it in with the Armor All if you like. A second coat may be all that is necessary, but use your own judgement. Generally, additional coats of wax will add some protection, but not increase the grain appearance. Too much, like the oils, will just gum up.
 
Roger,

Wal is the expert. Anything I say or suggest about woodchucking comes with the explicit guarantee that Wal and Yvsa, and many others who've posted here, know a heck of a lot more than I do.:)

And Wals sugestion keeps a lot of your effort intact. If the steel-wooling and wax doesn't do it for you, you can always try opening the wood with Murphy's or the acetone treatment as suggested for lignum vitae as last resorts. I do recall brownish stuff seeming to come out of the wood with soaping after the rouge was gone. There wasn't much rouge, but I did a couple extra soap scrubs since I couldnt' beleive the wood's color at first.

I just hope my chakma handle continues to behave...
 
Wal is the king of the woodchucks. Yvsa is the king of the sharpeners and model designers. I'm the king of Heineken and nickle video poker.
 
If I buy two more Khuks, I'm "king of the Road". A Himalayan Hobo. Nepali Ne'er do Well. HMMmmm....the YCS and the Cherokee Rose will just about do it :D
 
You heard the one about the golfer, who stopped, took off his hat and covered his heart when a funeral procession passed on the highway near the 18th hole. One of is partners said "That was touching - I always thought you were a heartless, cold S.O.B. on the green". The other guy said "Yeah, but we would have been married 30 years, today". Woodchucks can show warmth, too.:rolleyes:
 
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