Working with and finishing Koa

G

GATroutBum

Joined
Feb 15, 2016
Messages
17
Hey Guys,

I recently scored some nice Koa..for cheap! Paid $15 for the 2 pieces pictured. I cut some scales for my son's knife and another future knife for me and then took a small sample piece and played around a little . I sanded it with 80 & 120 on a 4x36 bench sander and then by hand with 220, 400 and 600. I cleaned it off and then hand rubbed melted beeswax in to it for a good while....like abiut 20 minutes!!!

The guy I got the wood from from said that a lot of people just buff/Polish Koa and many other woods with no oil finishes added. Is this a suitable way of finishing Koa with nothing but beeswax??? I really want that "wet look". So far I have some Tru-Oil, Formby's Tung Oil finish and a huge bar of beeswax. Was looking at Waterlox but I haven't picked some up yet.

Do I need to look at getting any certain bufffing compounds over Beeswax? Keep in mind that I don't have a buffer, just my hands!!!

I was planning on taking it to 2000 and then finishing as I've read Koa only gets better after 1000 grit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

20160324_122541.jpg


This scale is just wet with water.

20160324_135222.jpg


This is the piece with the beeswax along with another small piece only sanded to 220.

20160325_211120.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hey Guys,

I recently scored some nice Koa..for cheap! Paid $15 for the 2 pieces pictured. I cut some scales for my son's knife and another future knife for me and then took a small sample piece and played around a little . I sanded it with 80 & 120 on a 4x36 bench sander and then by hand with 220, 400 and 600. I cleaned it off and then hand rubbed melted beeswax in to it for a good while....like abiut 20 minutes!!!

The guy I got the wood from from said that a lot of people just buff/Polish Koa and many other woods with no oil finishes added. Is this a suitable way of finishing Koa with nothing but beeswax??? I really want that "wet look". So far I have some Tru-Oil, Formby's Tung Oil finish and a huge bar of beeswax. Was looking at Waterlox but I haven't picked some up yet.

Do I need to look at getting any certain bufffing compounds over Beeswax? Keep in mind that I don't have a buffer, just my hands!!!

I was planning on taking it to 2000 and then finishing as I've read Koa only gets better after 1000 grit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

20160324_122541.jpg


This scale is just wet with water.

20160324_135222.jpg


This is the piece with the beeswax along with another small piece only sanded to 220.

20160325_211120.jpg


20160325_211311.jpg


GATroutBum said:
Hey Guys,
Click to expand...
 
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sorry for the double post. I did it from my phone and then added 1 picture at the bottom. didn't realize I was replying to myself!!!
 
Good wood but bad advice on the finishing.
If you are going to use the koa unstabilized I would suggest a danish oil finish. I like watco brand best.
Get the clear gloss.
Sand to about 400 grit then apply a very liberal coat of the danish oil.
Use 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper and wet sand the wood.
That will create a slurry that you want to let dry on the wood.
After that apply more oil and wet sand again and let the slurry dry in place again.
Repeat that 3 or 4 times and after dry you can progress to dry sanding at finer grits.
When you have gone as fine as you want to go then apply another liberal coat of Danish oil.
After about 15 minutes wipe away any excess oil with a soft cloth.
Let that dry and repeat a few times. Finally let it dry overnight.
Then apply a wood finishing wax. I like minwax brand paste finishing wax.
Apply like you are polishing leather shoes.
Let the wax sit about a half hour and hand buff with a soft cloth.

Here is a link for a video where Nick Wheeler is using a similar method using Tru-oil
[video=youtube;7TmZ0m9x1kM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TmZ0m9x1kM[/video]
[video=youtube;Ubx2e4-gUMw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubx2e4-gUMw[/video]
[video=youtube;Nc4y1bFj3co]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc4y1bFj3co[/video]
 
Last edited:
Burl Source said:
Good wood but bad advice on the finishing.
If you are going to use the koa unstabilized I would suggest a danish oil finish. I like watco brand best.
Get the clear gloss.
Sand to about 400 grit then apply a very liberal coat of the danish oil.
Use 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper and wet sand the wood.
That will create a slurry that you want to let dry on the wood.
After that apply more oil and wet sand again and let the slurry dry in place again.
Repeat that 3 or 4 times and after dry you can progress to dry sanding at finer grits.
When you have gone as fine as you want to go then apply another liberal coat of Danish oil.
After about 15 minutes wipe away any excess oil with a soft cloth.
Let that dry and repeat a few times. Finally let it dry overnight.
Then apply a wood finishing wax. I like minwax brand paste finishing wax.
Apply like you are polishing leather shoes.
Let the wax sit about a half hour and hand buff with a soft cloth.

Here is a link for a video where Nick Wheeler is using a similar method using Tru-oil
[video=youtube;7TmZ0m9x1kM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TmZ0m9x1kM[/video]
[video=youtube;Ubx2e4-gUMw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubx2e4-gUMw[/video]
[video=youtube;Nc4y1bFj3co]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc4y1bFj3co[/video]
Click to expand...

I highly recommend the Nick Wheeler finishing method.
 
i have taken to using CA to fill the pores sand the handle down to clean wood then tung oil on a hunter or for a razor handle fully CA clear coat to give max protection in the bathroom
 
There is a woodworking term -chatoyance - a French word describing the effect of making that wavey grain look three dimensional . That's what you need to bring out the WOW !
Koa is one of a number of fine hardwoods in the acacia family ,figured koa often used for musical instruments and fancy furniture .
 
And unfortunately, some of the best finishing methods to bring out the chatoyance in certain woods are not really good for knife making, like a shellac based French polish. On a related note, I have wondered for a while why people seem to feel that koa needs to be stabilized when even the super curly stuff can survive being steam bent into the side panels of a stringed instrument?
mete said:
There is a woodworking term -chatoyance - a French word describing the effect of making that wavey grain look three dimensional . That's what you need to bring out the WOW !
Koa is one of a number of fine hardwoods in the acacia family ,figured koa often used for musical instruments and fancy furniture .
Click to expand...
 
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"....I have wondered for a while why people seem to feel that koa needs to be stabilized when even the super curly stuff can survive being steam bent into the side panels of a stringed instrument? "


Stabilizing koa makes it have a resin fill in the pores. It also darkens the curl a bit. It will sand and shine wonderfully. It can really pop when sanded and polished right. Filling the pores with Danish oil or CA can get the same result, but takes more work than stabilizing. On some show handles a final coat or two of tung/Danish oil will be all stabilized koa needs. In most cases it needs no final finish beyond very fine sanding and a light buff..
 
I wanted to share a few pictures of the KOA handle I'm working on. I sanded to 400grit and then wet sanded with Tru-Oil and 400 3 times. Then I did the same, wet sanding with Truil -Oil one time at each of the following grits 600, 800, 1000, 1200 and 1500. I applied an additional coat and let it dry, then hand buffed!

The pictures don't do this handle justice....It's got some serious chatoyance going on. Looks like a hologram at different angles! thanks for the help fellas!!!

20160404_205913.jpg


20160329_145216.jpg
 
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