Wood Knife Handles: Maintenance, Renewal & Care?

J

JD Spydo

Joined
Nov 20, 2004
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Well I've had these knives for quite some time and some of them have good steel. Some of them are stainless and the others are high carbon steel. So I have 10 fixed blade knives and most of them are culinary, professional meat cutting and a couple of them outdoor type blades.

First of all what do I do with the wood handles? A good buddy of mine just came over yesterday with almost a full, one quart sized can of "Raw Linseed Oil". Now I've used Boiled Linseed Oil on a few occasions for old home restoration and for a couple of other jobs involving wood treatment. The only time I've ever used "Raw Linseed Oil" in the past was in hanging new ax, hammer & hatchet handles. I was told that for that job the "raw" was better for a lot of reasons but I'm not sure about doing these wooden knife handles ( some old and some relatively new) with it.

I will admit that wood has never been one of my favorite handles for a knife but I'm willing to learn about them. Most of these woods on the handles do appear to be some type of hardwood and I think one of them is hickory I'm pretty sure of it. But again I've never done much with wood handles on fixed blade knives. So I thought I would see what you all have to say about the subject.
 
Raw linseed oil will leave a gooey mess. Don't use it.
A good coat of paste wax is all you need.
 
I favor tung oil for my wooden knife grips, ax/tool handles, etc. It lasts a long time even out in the weather, doesn't goo up and leaves a nice finish.
 
In the dry environment where I live (desert southwest U.S.), wood handles on some of my knives might occasionally tend to get too dry and crack, shrink or warp if I do nothing for them. So, maybe a couple or three times a year, I'll just moisten my fingertips with a couple drops of mineral oil (100% mineral oil, not 3-in-1 or others with additives of any kind) and rub that into the handles and wipe with a dry rag. It's essentially the same as if just wiping down the knives after routine sharpening on oilstones, when there's always a little bit of oil on the fingers and on the handles of the knife. Wipe it away, and it's taken care of. It's just enough to keep the drying issues at bay. It's small enough of an application that it dries to undetectable (by eye or feel) within a few minutes, but still enough to protect them from cracking or warping/shrinking. That's all they need.
 
I use (pharmaceutical grade) mineral oil on mine as well...but we are far from arid in my neck of the woods.

Still, the wood benefits from the treatment as it will shrink, swell and possibly crack otherwise during the course of the year.
 
Tung oil is my preference after having tried several other type treatments on gun stocks and knife handles over the years.
 
Does Tung or Linseed oil change the color of handle scales? I have an Olivewood handled knife that is sort of dry. Also curious about using it on Mahogany.

TIA,
Sid
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Wax won't darken the wood.
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I'm probably going to try that TUNG Oil the two Brothers recommended first because I've talked to a really good friend of mine who is an expert woodworker and he said I couldn't go wrong with TUNG Oil.

BILL DeShivs?? What type of wax are you referring to? I might just try it on a couple of them to see what kind of results I have. I love trying all kinds of things anyway.

Also a few years back when I was still re-finishing gun stocks and other specialty woods I was using a lot of "BIRCHWOOD CASEY's" Tru-Oil product. It's kind of like a high speed linseed oil and it doesn't leave a tacky film like regular linseed oil can do at times. Thanks for the great responses so far guys
 
I agree with the paste wax. I put several coats on all my folders with wood scales and they are holding up beautifully.
 
Hand rubbed pure tung oil, good enough for M1 Garand stocks should be good enough for knife scales.
 
Sort of related, I have been thinking of making my own handles for blanks using cocobolo and brass pins. If I wanted to make them removable my understanding is not to use epoxy. What should I use between the wood and the blank, if anything? Rubber liners?
 
cm_bushman said:
Sort of related, I have been thinking of making my own handles for blanks using cocobolo and brass pins. If I wanted to make them removable my understanding is not to use epoxy. What should I use between the wood and the blank, if anything? Rubber liners?
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Why not just wood to the blank? I have a bunch of knives like that.

If you want an accent then G10 sheet is popular.
 
Eli Chaps said:
I switched over to Johnson's Paste Wax on all my firearms years ago and see no reason to change. Sometimes simple really is better.
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I might just take your's and Bill DeShiv's advice. I have a bottle of really good Metal Wax made by the FLITZ company that I've had great luck with. I also came across a big can of RENAISSANCE wax that I've had for a while but I opened it and it seems to be OK. But the one thing I really liked about that FLITZ wax is that it would cling on better than anything I've previously used. I've had excellent results with all the FLITZ products I've used over the years.

OK now I have to take issue with one Brother who advised against using the "Raw" linseed oil that a friend of mine recommended. I used it on an el-cheapo kitchen knife I found in my late mother's kitchen stuff and I didn't have any problem with it at all. It seemed to absorb very uniformly and made the wood look kind of wet and pretty too>> it really made the grain definition stand out nicely. Now I'm sure that every different wood has it's own properties and I'm sure there are probably some woods that it may not be suited for. But I'm going to try the "Raw" linseed oil on a couple of other handles. The "Raw" linseed oil is also great for using on new ax and sledge hammer handles>> it seems to absorb really well on those hickory tool handles I use when I re-hang any tool handle. Very good and interesting advice guys I sure appreciate hearing from all of you.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Raw linseed oil will leave a gooey mess. Don't use it.
A good coat of paste wax is all you need.
Click to expand...
Decades ago when I was starting out as a carpenter, an older carpenter kind of took me under his wing. He said, but yourself a quality hammer, like a Bluegrass or a Vaughan. He then said to lightly sand the handle with some fine sandpaper then get some car wax and wax the handle to make her last a good long time.
I'm 63 and I still have that hammer. Some of the best advice anybody ever gave me.
 
Uncle Timbo said:
Decades ago when I was starting out as a carpenter, an older carpenter kind of took me under his wing. He said, but yourself a quality hammer, like a Bluegrass or a Vaughan. He then said to lightly sand the handle with some fine sandpaper then get some car wax and wax the handle to make her last a good long time.
I'm 63 and I still have that hammer. Some of the best advice anybody ever gave me.
Click to expand...

OH I can also give a testimony about "Vaughn" hammers. I've still got two Vaughn hammers I've had since the early 80s >> one 28 oz and one 20 oz and I've used both of them a lot over the years. They are incredibly well balanced, American made and both of mine are in just as good of working condition as they were in the 80s. Over the years I've used either Raw Linseed Oil or that Birchwood Casey Tru oil you buy in the Gun Stores to treat the handles and I've never had to re-hang either one of the handles and I've never had a Vaughn hammer break on me ever. The last I heard they are still making hammers with real wood handles.

I haven't checked them in while and I do hope they are still in business. Collins was another great company who used to make great striking tools but I heard they took all their stuff overseas unfortunately.
 
JD Spydo said:
OH I can also give a testimony about "Vaughn" hammers. I've still got two Vaughn hammers I've had since the early 80s >> one 28 oz and one 20 oz and I've used both of them a lot over the years. They are incredibly well balanced, American made and both of mine are in just as good of working condition as they were in the 80s. Over the years I've used either Raw Linseed Oil or that Birchwood Casey Tru oil you buy in the Gun Stores to treat the handles and I've never had to re-hang either one of the handles and I've never had a Vaughn hammer break on me ever. The last I heard they are still making hammers with real wood handles.

I haven't checked them in while and I do hope they are still in business. Collins was another great company who used to make great striking tools but I heard they took all their stuff overseas unfortunately.
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Spydo - I have a 16 oz Vaughn trim hammer with a wood handle that I treated with car wax, decades ago and I've yet to do anything else to it.
I prolly have 15 or so hammers and those with wood handles received the car wax treatment.
 
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