Germilina wood

Gliden07

Gliden07

Well-Known Member
Has anyone tried this for handles and scales?? My Brother went to the Philippines and brought me some of this and Mahogany. Obviously this is all untreated. Do I need to stabilize it to use? The Germilina is Rock Hard!
 
Gliden07 said:
Boat oars?? Maybe a good water resistant wood then??
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I would think so. I got curious and I've been Googling it. It's used a lot in Indonesia. Other than the reference on Wikipedia. I didn't see anything further about using it in oars.
 
Sean Jones said:
I would think so. I got curious and I've been Googling it. It's used a lot in Indonesia. Other than the reference on Wikipedia. I didn't see anything further about using it in oars.
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I did some more looking and I found that they also call it Grey Teak! So new question is Teak any good for scales/handles??
 
Teak is fantastic for handles, it just isn't much to look at. (Looks fantastic on boats.) Probably, the only reason you don't see it used everywhere on old knife handles is because it is so expensive compared to something like hickory.
 
TimGinMN said:
Wood Bible says it's definitely durable. Close grained and oily, but should be able to shape it. I've had it on boats we've owned and it was both oiled and clearcoated with marine varnish of some sort. Pretty, but plain and not much character.
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Tim, you said you've had it on boats, do you mean "teak" or the Germilina mentioned by OP? I've had LOTS of experience with teak from living on a sailboat for 25+ years. Good boat word, but certainly not something I'd consider for a knife handle. Teak is fairly soft, but as you mentioned it's fine grained and VERY plain with little character.
 
KenH said:
Tim, you said you've had it on boats, do you mean "teak" or the Germilina mentioned by OP? I've had LOTS of experience with teak from living on a sailboat for 25+ years. Good boat word, but certainly not something I'd consider for a knife handle. Teak is fairly soft, but as you mentioned it's fine grained and VERY plain with little character.
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I meant regular old Teak. But it seems there are many species and sources of it.
 
I have a teak board in my shop right now that a customer wants to use for a knife handle. It has all the character of a brown popsicle stick, but it's one of those "sentimental value" things. Like Ken says, it is comparatively soft and nothing to look at. So long as nobody ever puts it in the dishwasher it ought to last several lifetimes. If I'm wrong, I'll definitely update this post.
 
I've got a bit of teak on hand now. Some of it is in 2X4" about 24" long. These came off an old freighter shipwreck we found down in the Islands back in late '80s. My 12 yr old daughter and I climbed aboard with a saw 'n hammer to salvage what we could. The teak was the caprail on the ship. We had to cut into 24" chucks to remove from bolts holding to caprail. We got a "boatload" of the stuff. When we returned to States I stored it at Dad's farm in an old building. A couple yr later I found Dad had used some of the teak as
"scrap wood" around the farm. He couldn't believe the cost of teak per board foot when I told him. He just "knew" had it the price wrong.
 
Interesting your teak is "rock hard", of course "hard" is somewhat a matter of personal interpretation. I did a bit of looking in the wood database and find for teak:
Janka Hardness: 1,070 lbf (4,740 N)

Compared to Black Walnut:
Janka Hardness: 1,010 lbf (4,490 N)

Compared to American Post Oak:
Janka Hardness: 1,350 lbf (5,990 N)

Compared to Honduran Rosewood:
Janka Hardness: 2,200 lbf (9,790 N)

Looks like teak and Black Walnut are rated about the same hardness, with Post Oak a bit more, and Honduran Rosewood over twice as hard. That's what I call "hard wood" {grinning}. While Teak and Black Walnut are both classed as "hardwoods", they seem to be on the lower end of "hard". LIGNUM VITAE is a real "hardwood with Janka Hardness: 4,390 lbf (19,510 N)

I like teak, and have used a good bit of it on boats, and some furniture, but had never really considered it for a knife handle. I'm sure it'd last a LONG time and hold up well.
 
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