Knife Handle Finishing

[mikeys]

Hello,

I have been making and selling woodcarving knives on Ebay with some success. I am using american walnut, cherry and a few unknown tropical hardwoods. My finish of choice is thinned urethane spar varnish, sanded to 220 and then a second thinned coat that I wiped on and then rubbed off.The next day the handles were nice and smooth with the grain filled.
On you tube some members used TruOil which is predominately used for gun refinishing. Never used this before but the finish looks really deep and durable. The process takes a few days but maybe it's worthwhile.
Any users down under use TruOil or something similar ?
Cheers

[Simplicity]

I’ve never heard of True oil, but it sounds interesting, just did a little Auntie Googling on it,

I would be interested to also hear from anyone hear especially in Oz Who has experience with it.

Wonder what it would be like on Saw an Plane handles,

Cheers Matt.

[mpot]

Tru-Oil is basically a danish oil, consisting of a mix of thinners, varnish and linseed oil or tung oil.

I've found that Tru-Oil and danish oil provide very similar results if you follow the same process - apply a coat, leave it for 10-15 minutes, wipe off as much as possible, and repeat for ~6 or more coats about 12-24 hours apart.

See here for a thread from a few years ago showing results with Tru-Oil.

[mikeys]

I applied two coats of truoil to my knife handle and was not impressed. The youtube channels really oversell the tru oil finish, mainly for gun stocks. I compared the finish to my 2 coats of thinned spar varnish and couldn't comment one way or another.
Oh well if we didn't try a new finish-for me then I'd have no excuses. I'll stay with my thinned spar varnish application.
Cheers

[mpot]

I applied two coats of truoil to my knife handle and was not impressed.

Read some gun-related forums on how to apply TruOil - those guys typically do 10+ thin coats, so I'm not surprised you were disappointed after only two coats.

[mikeys]

I guess I jumped to conclusion about application. I'll continue using additional coats and see if the results are worthwhile. These knife handles are spalted maple from ebay, so I am anxious to see final results.

[mikeys]

While my knife handles are drying I had to look for alternatives. Attached is a homemade recipe for a truoil application. I don't think there are any unique ingredients that would not be available in Australia.

After a few wasted hours on the web, there doesn't seem to be a consensus. Truoil is an alternative finish to varnish,etc. As I am an impatient worker after all that I have read my easiest finish is a thinned-50% spar urethane varnish, sand to 220/400 and apply a wash coat of the varnish. After sanding for finish coat I apply a thinned varnish and wipe the finish and let dry. Finish is durable with no bubbles or runs.

[mpot]

Attached is a homemade recipe for a truoil application.

If anyone wants the original source of that homemade recipe, see here.

[mikeys]

I sanded the 6 handles after another coat and decided this the end of my truoil experiment. I sanded down 320 and did my old standby spar urethane thinned for a wipe on application. This finish works great and is fast-no waiting 24 hrs between truoil application.
I'll post pics tomorrow, the finish is great, satin texture and easy to apply.
Wipe on varnish is here to stay for my needs.
cheers

[ubeaut]

We have a number of knife makers using our Hard Shellac and others using our Aussie Oil.

Click on this link: https://www.instagram.com/ubeaut_pol...eb62a08116&g=5

Then click the right arrow on the reel below heading then click on Hard Shellac There is a 15+second video of a knife handle finished with Hard Shellac after the guitar.

In the same link above there are 3 different vids of knife handles finished with Aussie Oil. The 9th one is a spectacular still of 2 handles. The others are OK but don't show up to the best ability due to light.

Below is a pic lifted from
#9 in the Aussie Oil bit:
knife 1.jpg

Hope this is of some help for future knives.

Cheers - Neil

[mikeys]

Thanks for the link and pics. The finish looks great. I will try it in the future.

[rustynail]

I make furniture and custom gun stocks. Have been using Birchwood Casey Tru oil for about fifty years. The art to it is thin and plenty ie keep the coats thin to speed drying and do plenty of coats to reach the required gloss. Wet sand initial coats to assist with grain filling, particularly in walnut which can be quite open grained at times. This finish is durable water proof and easy to apply and refinish without stripping or resanding. It would be my finish of choice for small, hand held, regular use items and your knife handles tick all the boxes. If there was something out there I thought was better for purpose I would be using it.