Tru-Oil on Cocobolo?

Sean Jones

Sean Jones

Well-Known Member
I'm about done with a Bird and Trout knife that has Cocobolo scales and I'm loving the way it looks as is. However the wood appears to be a bit granular, which I like but I'm thinking some oil would help seal any potential problems.

The question is then will the Tru-oil darken the Cocobolo significantly? I'm loving the colors in the handle and don't want to lose them.
 
I didn’t notice it darkening very much on the knife I’ve done it on but @J. Doyle has made a heck of a lot more knives then I have so take his word for it.
 
The best way that I have found to finish Cocobolo is to clean it really well with acetone and get all of the natural oils off. Then put a couple of thin coats of clear shellac down. After the shellac, I usually just apply wax and it doesn't darken the wood.
 
Agreed, clean really good with alcohol or acetone, let dry, then put a heavy coat of CA glue, do a quick wet sand while the CA is still liquid. Let dry, then sand completely smooth. This will fill any pores with CA mixed with sanding dust making any open pores or blems in wood. Sand to 1200 or more, polish. No finish really needed, just polish 'n wax.

That's the method I use for most dense hardwoods like Rosewood, Bacote, ironwood, etc.
 
I've never tested shellac or a full coat of ca so I can't speak to those, but have read warnings of them getting cloudy with moisture. I do like tru oil and think it's similar to my tung oil in its effect on color. Here's an experiment I'm doing after cleaning as mentioned above. Left to right ironwood with tried &true (linseed beeswax),pure tung oil, spar varnish oops edit last sample plain. This is after a year and a half east facing Phoenix AZ window. I like what @Ken said.
 

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KenH said:
Agreed, clean really good with alcohol or acetone, let dry, then put a heavy coat of CA glue, do a quick wet sand while the CA is still liquid. Let dry, then sand completely smooth. This will fill any pores with CA mixed with sanding dust making any open pores or blems in wood. Sand to 1200 or more, polish. No finish really needed, just polish 'n wax.

That's the method I use for most dense hardwoods like Rosewood, Bacote, ironwood, etc.
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OK....that's sounds like the route I'll go. I've sanded to 800 at this point . I have a couple of voids in the G10 liners I needed to fix with CA glue, so I will just continue in that direction.

Thanks for the help everyone
 
I've used lacquer on it before,back when I was making custom bows I used fuller plastic two part epoxy finished on my bow risers but that sometimes would not harden on cocobolo so all my cocobolo risers got shot with lacquer.
 
AkWildman said:
I've used lacquer on it before,back when I was making custom bows I used fuller plastic two part epoxy finished on my bow risers but that sometimes would not harden on cocobolo so all my cocobolo risers got shot with lacquer.
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Thanks for the tip. I appreciate your help!
 
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