Thoughts on WA Handle finishes

MTBob

MTBob

Well-Known Member
As I dive deeper into the world of stainless knives with WA handles, I'd like to see if there any ideas about handle finishes. At this point I'm limiting the handle composition to natural, un-stabilized, wood with highlight stacks of contrasting woods and G-10. On oily woods like Bocota and Cocobolo I've not used a finishing oil, but rather just stopped with a final buffing.
To date I've been using 6-8 coats of Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. The knives are intended to be for daily use and I wonder about the durability of Tru-Oil.
Are there better / tougher finishes for a kitchen knife?
 
I was thinking to try Fuller's Varnish as an alternative. It absorbed well and hardened on a test peice, but I haven't had the chance yet to test it's durability.
 
I wanted to also try spray acrylic. Along the same lines, Kyle Royer used something like a spray epoxy in his you tube video, Glass Finish. you can check it out - I wanted to get ahold of that as an option too.
 
Interesting video from Kyle on this 2 part epoxy. A couple thoughts - when doing a single knife this would be expensive at about $27/can. Once the epoxy is activated in the can it has a 48 hour pot life. Also, I wonder if the material would be prone to chipping or peeling, particularly on oily woods.
 
I use Pure Tung Oil on most of my knife handles, regardless if they are G10, Micarta, stabilized wood or non stabilized wood, buffed finish or 400-600 grit finish. I let it soak in and then rub off the excess and do multiple coats. I occasionally use Tru Oil, but I really like Tung Oil better. The Pure Stuff is better than the hardware store stuff with the driers and everything in it, but I will occasionally use the hardware store stuff for the first few coats to soak in deeper and then switch to the pure Tung Oil for the last few coats. I do not go for a glassy look, but it's more of a semi gloss look.

I have some Japanese Kitchen Knives that are around 10 years old, but not in constant use. Handles still look great with just the Tung Oil on them, even after many washings!
 
So, I'm not sure how critical this is but I've seen a lot of discussion around food safe with kitchen knives.

I'm a Tru-Oil fan myself (mixed partly with Armor-All) but I've also been hearing a lot about Odie's Oil products. They are food safe. I haven't tested any of them but maybe a good option?
 
chrisstaniar said:
I'm a Tru-Oil fan myself (mixed partly with Armor-All)
Click to expand...
That's a surprise, never would have thought Armor-All would be a good finishing ingredient. Is there something about its UV protection characteristic that adds value?
What mixture do you use?
 
One thing to keep in mind with drying oils, like linseed, etc. is they often use heavy metals like lead in small amounts to aid in drying. I’m going to try out that 2K Ultra that Kyle used this summer and see how it holds up, I like the way it looks, but I question the long term durability of it too
 
MTBob said:
That's a surprise, never would have thought Armor-All would be a good finishing ingredient. Is there something about its UV protection characteristic that adds value?
What mixture do you use?
Click to expand...

So, I found this because I was looking for tutorials on using tru-oil. It's been around for quite awhile and is generally used for gunstocks (I used it on a muzzleloader my son and I built). I'm not sure where it originally came from but a user called Woodstock63 is generally given credit.

www.rimfirecentral.com

Woodstocks Amazin' Stock Finish & photos

Ok, grab a cup of coffee and sit back. The top three photos are of my Winchester 72A which had a really good finish when I picked it up, for $200, but age was hiding the beauty of the grain. The other was for a customer. Brief History: I've used this process for four years now on Walnut and...
www.rimfirecentral.com www.rimfirecentral.com

For rifle stocks the process is a little different but I adapted it to knives. The rifle stock process also used special dyes to get the color that old english gunstocks had. I don't do that part.

For knives I do the following
1) Sand to your usual finish (1500 is where I stop). I also get the wood wet and then sand the grain down.
2) 1 light coat of tru-oil. Let it soak in and dry for a bit.
3) Put a few drops of ArmorAll on each side of the scales and rub evenly with your finger to spread it around
4) With a clean t-shirt, get a dime sized amount of tru-oil (i wrap my finger in the tshirt and then dip in the tru-oil)
5) Rub the truoil all over the knife. I generally go in one direction to keep the streaking down
6) The "mix" will take on a whiteish color as you continue to wipe. Keep going until the mix rubs into the wood. You'll know a coat is done when the white is gone and the scales look wet. It's normal for it to look splotchy until you get up higher in the number of coats.
7) The coats dry in about 15 minutes and you can apply the next
8) I do about 7-10 coats and then let it setup over night. I'll lightly hit it with steel wool just to keep things smooth.
9) I do 20 coats on a handle.

I'll often do a few coats and then let it setup over night and then brush it with steel wool again. This puts a nice hard finish on the handle. I coat all my handles - African Blackwood, Ironwood, Maple, cocobolo, Stabilized woods, mammoth, etc and they all get a nice finish on them.
 
Chris, thank you VERY much for detailing your process. And, the reference to finishing a gun stock is also helpful. It's interesting to note that the guy who wrote the gun stock finishing article speculated that: "I believe that there is a chemical reaction or catalyst occurring between the ArmorAll and the Tru-Oil that is much the same as a two-part epoxy that strengthens, hardens and gives such a rapid working/drying time." From reading about your process and that used on the gun stock, it sounds like applying Armor All and Tru-Oil on each application is what makes this technique work so well.
I've got some Armor All and will try this process on a couple handles that I'm currently making.
Does this technique work well on oily woods like Cocobolo and Bocote?
Edit: By the way, reading Comments on the gun stock finish reference is worthwhile. It answers a lot of questions and offers some added tips.
It's also worth noting that readers comments reflect a very large pool of people that are gun owners and wood workers - and apparently this group of people are generally very impressed and pleased with this finishing technique.
AND - I'm printing this process and putting it in my knife making reference binder.
 
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MTBob said:
Chris, thank you VERY much for detailing your process. And, the reference to finishing a gun stock is also helpful. It's interesting to note that the guy who wrote the gun stock finishing article speculated that: "I believe that there is a chemical reaction or catalyst occurring between the ArmorAll and the Tru-Oil that is much the same as a two-part epoxy that strengthens, hardens and gives such a rapid working/drying time." From reading about your process and that used on the gun stock, it sounds like applying Armor All and Tru-Oil on each application is what makes this technique work so well.
I've got some Armor All and will try this process on a couple handles that I'm currently making.
Does this technique work well on oily woods like Cocobolo and Bocote?
Click to expand...

Yes, I'd read that same bit. I can attest that the coat is harder than hell as I often get it on the bolsters and I have to sand it off or use acetone to dissolve it.

I use it on all woods. I haven't done bocote but all the usual types: African Blackwood, Ironwood, Maple, cocobolo, Stabilized woods, mammoth, etc
 
I did a small experiment on a piece of hard maple. I compared the effects of using ArmorAll with tung oil, boiled linseed oil and Tru-oil as a control. All 3 seemed to have the same effect when using the ArmorAll in combination with the oils. The Tru-oil and linseed oil seemed to have a semi-gloss finish without any further polishing. The tung oil was more of a matte finish again, without further polishing. All combinations dried within a few minutes so you could apply multiple coats in a shoty time.
 
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