Wood Handle Maintenance

[William Thee]

Just acquired several knives with wood handles (ebony and snakewood). looking for the best way to maintain these so that they do not dry out and crack. Is there a preferred oil or other material?

 

[willc]

On most wood handles I like to use boiled linseed oil.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

I usually just use butcher block wax, but this looks good:

 

[DB_Cruiser]

I've been using a mixture of beeswax and mineral oil (about 3 parts beeswax, melted, to 1 part mineral oil). It has the consistency of an auto wax and is arguably food safe. I use it on all of my wood handled knives and on my axe hafts. Provides good water resistance. I just rub it in, let it sit for a few minutes and buff it off.

 

[Alberta Ed]

I like tung oil. Lasts longer and seems more water/moisture resistant than linseed oil. Very dense woods like ebony, though, may not require any oil. I don't know about snakewood.

 

[bgentry]

I've been doing some knife handle refinishing lately. Wax is recommended a lot as a protectant. I've never really used it, though I hear Renaissance Wax is supposed to be great.

For a more "real" finish, I've tried mineral oil. It darkens the wood, but doesn't really take on a "finished" look. Mineral oil also seems to evaporate, or maybe wash away. I've used this mostly on kitchen knives, so the handles do get wet when being washed with a rag.

Linseed oil and Tung oil are classics. But they are both rather time consuming to apply. I think Tung requires 5+ days to dry and it's recommended to use at least 4 coats. I've got some stuff in a can that says "Tung Oil Finish" on it. But, when I looked into it, it has no Tung Oil at all! It's a varnish product that looks like Tung Oil. I liked the results on the one knife I used it on. Nice natural look, but also looks "buffed" or hand rubbed. Took more than a week including 3 coats and some extra drying time after the last coat.

An hour or so ago, I applied the first coat to an Old Hickory knife I'm working on. For this one I used wipe on polyurethane. It produces a nice tough coating. Available in satin or gloss. The satin variety I'm using does produce some shine. But it's not a high shine. Just a little. The resulting finish feels very smooth. Honestly it feels like plastic. Because it is! If you want to preserve the feel of wood, you probably want to use an oil or varnish product. As opposed to epoxy or poly or similar.

Brian.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Mineral oil softens wood.
Use paste wax or neutral paste shoe polish.