All About Pocket Knives

Started rehandling an electrician knife long time ago thanks to things i learned on this forum and now finally getting around to finishing it. I cut and made my own brass liners, soldered bolsters and put maple scales on. Now am wondering what to put on as finish over the maple. I do not have a buffer if that might make a better decision.

First thing I would do is wipe it with a wet cloth to see what I would get after applying a finish. That would tell me if I wanted to apply a stain or not.

Next I would sand through progressively finer grits to about 1500, then apply stain if I were going to do that and give it another wipe with the 1500.

If I were going to put it away and just show it, I'd wipe on a couple of coats of polyurethane.

If I were going to carry it, I would apply several coats of paste wax and buff in between.

But that's just me.

Was the maple something that has been stabilized? Meaning, did you buy it as knife scales?

If not , you would probably need to take some extra steps like Jerry mentioned. Also, if it is at all porous, you may want to use a sanding sealer or something similar.

Make sure to share pics of the finished product when you are done!

Glenn

Minwax makes a Tung Oil Varnish (simply a mixture of both) that has worked very well for me in the past. It doesn't darken the wood any more than water would and makes a great sealant.

I had started this about 6 years ago and not happy how it was going. The maple i used is just northern maple not stabilized. I used to turn handmade shortreed goose calls and have tons of different woods and chose this as have about 30 pounds od it. Anyway in goose calls i used what was called a massey finish which is one part 2 ton epoxy to 3 parts acetone. It leaves a super hard durable finish but did not work on these handles. I tried to remove it and shape bolsters and handles better and this is what i ended up with. Not what i really wanted as got steel n/s particles in the wood so made some dark areas. I did use trewax which is a floor wax and have used on my calls on the lathe. Did buff a little bit but dont have correct compounds, just one for brass and a blue one for acrylics. Anyhow learned alot and will keep looking for more junk knives to practice on. Have started one of my own design from scratch and have it together but need to practice finishing.

Spine

That came out real nice!

You can use thin set superglue to stabilize open grain wood handles. It soaks deep into the fibers and fills the grain. It dries crystal clear and won't cloud. It also dries hard, but because it soaks into the fibers, it won't chip. If you ever do manage to wear through it, you can simply reapply another coat, using the later part of the following method.
Apply a coat, let dry, level with 400 grit. Apply a second coat, let dry, level with 400, 600 and 800 grit. Then polish to 1200 grit+. Here's one I did in Australlian Lacewood, which has a very open grain.
WB

beautiful job...

Thanks Gringo, you do a right fine job yourself!
This was a knife I built as a way of using a new pin spinner that I had just gotten. It worked ok, but for the most part, I still prefer the look of hammer peined pins.

WB