Need help on a handle

John, I'm pretty sure the customer got it off ebay. I can ask him who the seller is today. He bought it and shipped it to me. It looks cool..lol
 
Yeah, I thought so. Listen....not all wood from ebay is bad. But you have to know what you're doing buying it. And even still, the experienced eye can still get burned. People can be just plain dishonest.

I would bet top dollar that it is 'stabilized' and I'm pretty sure I know by whom and I'll leave that at that. You're farther ahead to get rid of those scales in my opinion. Spalted stuff like that is half rotten, punky end grain to begin with. Looks cool as all heck. But you're taking chances with it even if it was stabilized by one of the few professionals. If this stuff was stabilized, it wasn't by one of the pros.
 
Couldn't it be saved with several coats of Tru-Oil? It's a beautiful handle, and if all he's worried about is soft spots, wouldn't an outside sealer like Tru-Oil take care of that?
 
Yes, it is possible that either tru oil or superglue *could* make it okay or at least serviceable. Essentially, any wood is taking a chance when you get down to the very basics because you never really know what it will do. But, using a questionable product to begin with maybe adds to your chances of trouble down the road.
 
I see a lot of guys, especially on ebay, sell wood "stabilized" with Minwax Wood Hardener. Does that stuff really work? I was kind of doubtful about the Minwax and bought some Cactus Juice, but haven't built my vacuum chamber yet to try it.
 
I bought the Minwax Hardener and it doesn't do anything but darken the wood and put a very thin coating on it. I was going to try submerging the scales in it and see if it made a difference, but I have a full bottle of it that I don't use because it doesn't seem to do anything but coat it lightly and change the appearance of the wood.
 
Like anything, there are reasons that the pros are the 'Pros'. Some of those reasons might be secret, some not so much. Seems especially true with stabilizers. There are only a few that the vast majority would call 'pros'.

Pretty mystical and vague, huh? :D
 
Great Post guys, Thank you. I just learned more about wood in 5 minutes, then since I started.
Where can I get Tru-oil? Also, is it good for all wood, except the real oily woods like cocobolo?
thanks,
- J
 
Jason Wernli said:
Great Post guys, Thank you. I just learned more about wood in 5 minutes, then since I started.
Where can I get Tru-oil? Also, is it good for all wood, except the real oily woods like cocobolo?
thanks,
- J
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Jason I picked up a bottle at a local gun shop. the gun guys use it on refinishing stocks. You can get it online too usaknifemakers.com might even carry it.
 
I,ve used Tru Oil many times and it works good. The real secret to using it is to not go by the instructions. It is too thick and messy. It needs to be diluted by 1/3 with mineral spirits. The first coat is the most important as it needs to dry for about a week. The first coat soaks in pretty deep and just needs allot of time to cure. The first coat coat is called the slurry coat and needs to be sanded wet to fill the pores. After it is completely dry be sure to not sand too deeply or it can be sanded away enough to see open pores again.
After the first coat is sanded smooth with about 800 grit the next coats can go on with your finger and taken back off with your hand. No rag is needed. The idea is to apply the tru oil and then take it back off. It's impossible to take it all back off so it always leaves an ultra thin coat that dries quickly. These coats should be sanded wet every 3 or 4 coats with consecutive finer and finer grits up to about 2000 grit.
The professional rifle stock makers charge thousands for their work and have learned to be patient.

An even better product for gun stocks and knife handles is "Water Lox"
It doesn't need to be diluted. It's my favorite finish and works the same as tru oil but makes the wood very hard compared to tru oil. It's also easy to leave the high gloss or rub it a little for a satin gloss on the last coats. Don't buy either of these in the giant economy sizes because they gel up in the bottle. Get the smallest container available.
 
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Once you get the dark spots cleaned up, try gel or thick superglue on the wood to seal the pores, then sand. The dark metal dust should not build up into a dark spot after that.
 
Just an update I talked with the customer and decided to replace the wood with something different. Ya hate to lose that time but I'm just not happy with it.

Bruce and Jason I'm going to get some of that paper to. Where do you find the best prices at?
 
Justin Presson said:
Just an update I talked with the customer and decided to replace the wood with something different. Ya hate to lose that time but I'm just not happy with it.

Bruce and Jason I'm going to get some of that paper to. Where do you find the best prices at?
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Hey Justin. If you find some locally let me know. I need to get some as well.

John
 
Rudy Joly said:
I have to agree with John on the over rated part.
I never liked the extra weight it gives to the material. But yeah, try and sell a knife without it now. I've even gotten to the point where I have misgivings about letting an untreated knife out the door. Some of us remember the days before stabilization and it worked out fine too.

Rudy
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Justin,

I started knife making in 96-97 and I used Cocobolo, Desert Ironwood, Kingwood, Liguam Nital/SP? Tree of Life, Bocote and a few other of the heavy oil content woods that won't take stabilization and back then K & G and I think wood dynamics? were about the only two companies that did stabilization.

Its great that the process has spread, but I remember when people started fixing up a mason jar with a vacuum pump and pouring in Miniwax wood hardener and calling it "professionally stabilized"

The process can allow us to use many more colorful woods that you couldn't use for a handle like Cal, Buckeye and many other punky burl woods.

Lesson one here, don't be in a hurry to take mystery stabled woods from customers without some background info and an understanding that they provided the material so you will do your best.

John's solution of urethane or I would probably do CA glue coats myself.
 
Hey Guys, from just looking at it,first of all it is end grain cut ,which will leave open cells and second of all the color is way too light to have been acrylic stabilized. The only way to save that handle is to clean it very well till You get it the way You like it and put a coat of thin C\A glue over it ,let it dry and then finish sand.Just My two cents
 
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