Handle preserver?

[Burt]

Can anyone suggest an oil or other durable preserver(other than varnish) for treating/waterproofing a birch handle.
I have tried veg oil, olive oil and boiled linseed oil, as soon as it gets wet the grain rises and the oil is gone.

Cheers.

 

[tomtom]

Danish oil - boiled linseed oil.. should work!

 

[scanker]

Tung oil seems to be quite popular, as does danish oil as the poster above says.

I presume you can wax it after it's been oiled? I haven't tried wax, but I've seen the same sort of problem with a knife of mine.

 

[tomtom]

how long are you leaving it in the oil for?

 

[soup_monger]

I may be wrong ,but,does the boiled linseed oil not remain below the surface of the wood and act as a barrier?
My thinking was that you just re-coat the handle every now and again with the boiled linseed oil when the handle is dry.
I have no idea if this works but I made a braid for my axe and soaked it in linseed oil as I read somewhere that it was common to seal a piece of oil saturated cloth in a hole in the handle and it gradually soaked into the wood.

Daft or clever?

 

[Andy]

I protect the wooden handles on my kitchen knives with a bees wax based product (renapor?). That works very well

 

[scanker]

I've used Tung Oil. I followed the instructions (I think, I'll have to check) and left it on for an hour and then polished any excess off. I've done this about half a dozen times and it still "goes grey" when wet.

I think the instructions on the oil said that if excess was left on for longer it would go sticky and you'd have difficulty putting on more coats.

 

[Treb]

The handle of my Helle was treated like this:
I applied a little oil (mixture of boiled linseed & tung oil) with a cotton rag and then all of a sudden the grain popped up beautifully. After that I soaked it for a few hours to intensify the pattern. Then came the tedious bit, wiping off the excess oil at regular short intervals to end up with a matte surface. The wood will "sweat out" the excess oil. If you pass this step the oil becomes glossy and a very sticky mess which takes ages to harden.
Now the handle looks stunning and has a nice grippy texture, it doesn't feel smooth like a glossy lacquer finish would.

 

[Seagull]

Ive just been doing a bit of work with handles and half-wood sheaths and for a change, used Liberon Liquid Beeswax.

Though it,s pre-mixed with pure Turpentine, I had to warm it a bit, atop a radiator, in order to get it out of the can.

I used it on the leather and the wooden bits, it aint sticky, it smells great.

Re-dressed the dining table top with it too, hard work, but well worth it.

It aint cheap , at around £9-50 a can and woodworkers shop , rather than BQ, is likely where you,ld find it.

Ceeg

 

[Hedgehog]

Boiled linseed oil, or Tung oil will be fine if you apply liberally & allow to soak in for a few days (re apply as it soaks in).

If possible immerse & soak the wood in it for 2 days, it works well on handles I've made.

The more oil you can get the wood to take up the better really.

 

[scanker]

OK, so to clarify.....it's probably best to fully immerse the handle which will allow the oil to penetrate deeply whilst not going through the sticky stage, just remember to get rid of the excess afterwards.

Thanks. I'll try it.

 

[Pignut]

I have polished one of my handles with pure beeswax!

It is very shiny but does not seem to get slipery when it is wet and will repel water even if it is left soaking wet!

 

[ozzy1977]

When ever I treat raw wood with an oil thefirst couple of coats are diluted with either turps or white spirit, this allows the oil to penetrate further, and when dry lightly sand to remove the raised grain. I normally do this a couple of times. Then use the un diluted oil, folow the instructions, and you cant go far wrong. Once totaly dry, you can wax but on knife handles I would not, as to re oil you would have to remove the wax to allow the oil the soak in.

 

[ggfh666]

There a re different options. I've done :

50% boiled linseed, 50% turpentine, apply during 1 hour several layers.
same mixture, put handle in it for a few days, it will darken
same mixture, 5 hrs, darkens a bit, apply CCL oil
Only CCL oil, almost no color change

You could do a final buff with what's it called again, a kind of wax
Carnauba, that's it.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I have soaked handles for 24 hours in Danish Oil. On the last one, a handle of fairly open grain walnut burl, I had to do a bit of reshaping haveing left the handle a little too fat. The wood was permiated with oil for at least 3mm depth, it clogged sandpaper and smelled strongly of the oil, even though the surface was dry.

Danish oil has a lot of thinners in it, and also drying agents to make it set. One thing I did notice, it totally killed the chatoyancy of the wood. I haven't had that happen on maple, but that is a denser wood and may not absorb so much. It might knock the light reflectant quality of birch down too, but it would certainly make it water resistant in a big way.

 

[joelbolden]

I've never know Danish oil to protect anything outdoors, and boiled linseed oil is almost as bad. It never really dries. While soaking it in linseed for a couple of days will give you a handle saturated with the stuff, it darkens the wood and is a "dirty" finish that is not particularly waterproof. Anyone who has ever handled American Springfield or British Enfields/SMLE's from the WWI and WW2 era will understand what I'm saying. In my 45 years of working with wood riflestocks and my last 8 years making knives, I"ve found that among the "natural"finishes 100% pure tung oil works ok. It does fully dry and is waterproof. Has to be the pure stuff to actually do the job tho. My own personal favorite is Teak Oil, manufactured by Watco combined with a good "hard" wax such as those formulated for bowling alleys etc. Teak Oil is a marine oil finish formlated to work with dense woods such as teak and mahogony; both used as trim/decking on watercraft. It contains both penetrators and driers which go deeply into the wood, brings out the grain beautifully and protects against moisture and salt. Sweaty hands being a good example. Dón't know if its available worldwide, but I suspect you should be able to find it in the UK at least. Takes 45 minutes to apply and,on knife handles, lasts a long time. There may be other marine oil finishes available that are basically the same thing. Marine supply houses would carry them. They make sense. A couple of coats of hard wax applied properly; which means letting the wax dry according to directions or even longer, will provide additional protection.

 

[redcollective]

I don't know if this is the right way to do things - I rub Tung oil in with fine steel wool and then wipe it off again with a cloth, once a day for several days after making the knife, then just give them a top up once a fortnight with tung oil on a cloth, careful as others have said, to rub it away properly when it 'sweats' out.

Stu

 

[ozzy1977]

Just be carefully with what you do with the rags after you have used them. Most oils dry by oxidisation, thus giving out heat, and if the rags are scrunched up thay can spontaniously combust, resulting in a fire. It is best to either lay them out flat, outside to dry or burn them straight away. You can store them in an air tight container aswell.

 

[JM]

Recently made my own, pine pitch melted in boiled linseed oil, with a little turpentine added (and a tad of naphta siccative). Excellent waterprofing, excellent grip qualities, and works as a surface hardener... Pure tung oil though is probably the best I know in terms of waterproofing!