Thinking about trying my hand at upgrading the handles on a few of my less expensive knives. I'm fairly confident I can make a wa handle with my woodworking setup, but being new to this and after reading about wood needing to dry first, I ended up with a few questions even after doing some research.
Half of my lot is kiln dried half is not dried. Can I leave the blanks waxed on the ends (removing wax in the middle) and let them dry inside the house until they stop losing weight?
And stabilizing. Should I be stabilizing these handles when dried, or is it okay to not do that. Are the knife handles that we usually get (Kato's, Konosukes, Kurosaki's) stabilized?
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Working With Knife Blanks
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Re: Working With Knife Blanks
I suggest stabilizing non ebony woods just because they are lower maintenance.
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Re: Working With Knife Blanks
only a few woods i use un stabilized cocobolo and ironwood are 2 of the main ones. i send my wood out to K&G they will even dry it for you if you dont have a tester (last batch i sent was too wet only added like a week to the process time) it was spalted hickory and turned out nice im going o see about getting the next batch dyed different colors. K&G are great to work with
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Re: Working With Knife Blanks
I would start with stabilized wood. Arizona Ironwood, Greenberg woods are good suppliers or look for someone who sends out to K&G. I tried some blocks professionally stabilized with Cactus Juice and they were not up to the same quality as stuff from K&G.
You can also use ironwood, cocobolo, rosewood, ziricote for pretty stable handles. Corian is another synthetic option as is micarta. Most knife supply houses sell stabilized as well as non stabilized wood. Wood turning blanks are often left a bit wet since people often rough turn the wood while green, then let dry and finish turn
You can also use ironwood, cocobolo, rosewood, ziricote for pretty stable handles. Corian is another synthetic option as is micarta. Most knife supply houses sell stabilized as well as non stabilized wood. Wood turning blanks are often left a bit wet since people often rough turn the wood while green, then let dry and finish turn
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Re: Working With Knife Blanks
Thanks for the wisdom Ben, Lloyd and Taz. I was stuck on exactly what the next step needed to be and what did and didn't need to be stabilized.
Did any of you guys ever experiment with Minwax Wood Hardener?
Did any of you guys ever experiment with Minwax Wood Hardener?