Wooden Knife Handles

I've got a full tang blade without handles and thought you blokes would have a wealth of knowledge on a finish (for the wood I have yet to select and put on the blade) that'll stand up to the elements. I've done some research and I've read that tung oil/danish oil/pure tung oil both penetrate and seal the timber. But withouth experience I don't know what to buy. Any advice would be lovely.

I've also used alittle wax before and considered it might be a good secondary sealant, even though i reakon it'll probably rub off, it's something that I can re-apply. Maybe?

It would if we kow what the knife will the be used for

And the wood too :U

On the knives I've made, I've use either linseed oil (minimum 3 coats, 5 or more is better) or a linseed oil / beeswax mixture. It's not the best if the wood will be sitting in water but does fine for day to day use. Some woods don't need anything. If you go with the straight oil, expect to refresh the finish every few years. The wax mix has held up for 5 years and counting.

ron

Just lately , I have started dunking my foodbowls in hot RAW linseed oil .
The wood has to be bone dry of course , so that the oil replaces the air in the wood . I leave it in there until the bubbles stop . That way you know that the oil had gone in as deep as it can possibly can.
Its' the best water proofing for wood that I have come across , and it won't ever wear off :2tsup:

China: It'll be an outdoors knife. So it'll deffinitly have to be as water-proof as I can get it. Blood and fishgut-proof would be nice too, but I think water proof is the main concern. I don't want the wood to swell once it's on the handle.

Manuka Jock: I'm still unsure if I'm gonna be lazy with the wood and use stuff I can find locally, e.g: My dad has these old leangths of timber that he used to use to isolate power lines with. It seemed to be nice-ish timber. My other option is this "stabilised" wood I can find online. I'm still not sure what "stabilised" is but I'm guessing it's like force seasoned/treated.

son of bluegrass: Some woods don't need anything? That sounds handy ! What woods are these?

Linseed oil: I've heard it can rot or go rancid in the timber, is that true? (that's what lead me to tung oil)

Dunking in oil sounds effective ! I think that I would give that a shot given the info I've got so far. But would swapping the linseed for pure tung oil be a problem?

Take a look here for oil finish info

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Originally Posted by Hop Thief

Linseed oil: I've heard it can rot or go rancid in the timber, is that true ?

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Linseed oil is said to be the second oldest wood treatment known to man , after animal fat .
It does not go rancid in wood . It has been , and still is , used on house decorating , furniture finishing , food utensils , diningware , tool handles , weapons , and so on for thousands of years .
If it did go rancid in wood , the world would stink to high heaven :U

I like your idea of using wood that you come across in your daily like . It has a story to tell eh .
We woodturners do the same thing . A chunk out of somebodies firewood stack , a bit of fruit tree , a few rounds nicked from the council blokes trimming trees around the town , a tree that we felled for someone for free , swapping with other woodies , etc
Thats how we get such a broad range of wood
We hardly ever pay for it , 'cos we don't need to :2tsup:

Manuka Jack: Well you've settled my mind on that question then. Daily life timber it is ! I'll start with dads. :2tsup:

I'm glad to hear that linseed doesn't go rancid in wood. I like products that are simple and natural. by RAW do you mean Pure? As in not a polymer with thinners and stuff in it?

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Originally Posted by Hop Thief

Manuka Jack: Well you've settled my mind on that question then. Daily life timber it is ! I'll start with dads. :2tsup:

I'm glad to hear that linseed doesn't go rancid in wood. I like products that are simple and natural. by RAW do you mean Pure? As in not a polymer with thinners and stuff in it?

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Yep , thats it , Raw . You might be able to get it from the farm and horse racing suppliers too , they call it Flaxseed oil. It might be cheaper.

That other stuff sold as 'Boiled Linseed Oil' , is not actually boiled. Its the one that has the chemical driers in it , and is Not particularly food safe .


Linseed oil is good on metalwork too , the old blacksmiths used it as a finish .
Google it , you might be able to use it on the blades to in some fashion.

I've found a few references now that say it'll prevent rust. Makes it perfect for my knife and axe for both finishing and maintainance. Pretty decent stuff by the sounds of it.

It seems that the only difference I can find in writting about linseed oil and tung oil is the colour and shade of the finish. The darkening with age of linseed oil sounds very desirable. While the matt finish of the tung does also. Have I missed anything as far as differences go? Wiki seems to think that they both have around-about the same proctectivity and durability. I might even end up doing some test coats of both if I can buy small quantities.

I found this ( Tung & Linseed Oils ) which gets abit technical but seems to compare the two oils.. but to need to go into such detail to tell the difference between the two tells me that for my needs, their both about the same.

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Originally Posted by Hop Thief

I found this ( Tung & Linseed Oils ) which gets abit technical but seems to compare the two oils.. but to need to go into such detail to tell the difference between the two tells me that for my needs, their both about the same.

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For me it is a case of cost and availability .
The mildew , yellowing and UV issues are not issues to Treen (kitchenware).
I doubt that they will be with your knives either

Yeah I'm pretty sure the whole mildew thing is extremely rare, lots of people, including yourself, seem to use linseed oil without issue. I'd be pretty chuffed to use either at this point after all this reading. Even Ray Mears supports the old linseed oil !

I reckon I'll dunk the handles like you said. That should scare off any water that wants to get in.

Linseed oil is a good finish one advantage is that you can just keep on oiling it, without the need to remove or sand another fininish first, plus over the years it will build up a nice patina. I f you were buildiing a "special ops" type of knife I would use either a epoxy finish or use synthetic scales

I find straight linseed takes a very long time to dry so I tend to use BLO on my wooden tool handles.

However, to speed up final coats drying of both straight or boiled linseed you can always add your own drying agent. An example of his is white shellac. The way I was shown how to do it is as follows

For tool handles I use 2-3 coats of liberally applied linseed oil and leave it for a few days to dry out a bit, then I use a cloth pad liberally wetted with linseed to which I add 2 drops of white shellac direct onto the cloths (out of date stuff is fine and is a good use of this) and wipe then rub on a coat with that. As soon as that is dry I repeat with the linseed oil cloth pad plus 4 drops of shellac. If the handles ever look dry I repeat the final step. The resulting finish has a real nice feel to it.