Finish Recommendation

[tuneswoodshop]

Hello,
I am making a couple knife handles and possible a couple handgun grips in the future. My question is what do you guys use for a finish? I am looking for something that is fairly simple. I have used BLO and though its as to apply I am wondering if its enough protection.

I was researching waterlox and emailed the company to ask about different application techniques. I asked if it was ok to brush on and wipe off and they said that was fine but really never got the answer I was looking for they just kinda said everyone uses it a little differently.

The can of waterlox says to brush on and do three coats so If I chose to brush on and wipe off how long to leave it sit? How many coats do you think it would require?

How about pure tung oil or tung oil cut with mineral spirits? How many coats and how long between coats?

Is there any other finish that I should be looking at trying?

I am looking for a direction seems like everyone has a different idea what works.

Thanks

[Rob Young]

Hello,
I am making a couple knife handles and possible a couple handgun grips in the future. My question is what do you guys use for a finish? I am looking for something that is fairly simple. I have used BLO and though its as to apply I am wondering if its enough protection.

I was researching waterlox and emailed the company to ask about different application techniques. I asked if it was ok to brush on and wipe off and they said that was fine but really never got the answer I was looking for they just kinda said everyone uses it a little differently.

The can of waterlox says to brush on and do three coats so If I chose to brush on and wipe off how long to leave it sit? How many coats do you think it would require?

How about pure tung oil or tung oil cut with mineral spirits? How many coats and how long between coats?

Is there any other finish that I should be looking at trying?

I am looking for a direction seems like everyone has a different idea what works.

Thanks

re: tung oil -- the pure stuff (bottle will say 100% tung oil and list ingredients) dries pretty slowly. For me it is about 1 week to dry. Flood on, keep flooding until dry spots don't show up. Wait another 1/2 hour or so then wipe down. Wait a bit and wipe again as the oil may rise up through pores again. Then I just check it once a day and it usually takes at least 5 days sometimes more. Rinse and repeat. Right out of the bottle, pretty thick stuff. I've not tried thinning it. Only used on stuff that doesn't need any kind of surface luster. A few replacement plane totes and knobs, places on old wooden rabbet planes where I let in new material for the sole, etc. Seems to have held up OK but then again I wasn't concerned about looks. Tried a few small boxes and it looks OK, better on figured woods but absolutely no luster, dead flat looking.

Recently was using some Minwax Antique Oil (i.e. very amber, very thinned out oil-varnish-poly mix stuff) on another project and decided to dip the handles from some Grace screwdrivers in the stuff. No other reason than I wanted to see what it would look like. Seems ok and again, very low luster. Level of protection is probably minimal. Just a whim.

Knife scales like for a pocket knife might look good with tung oil or the M.A.O stuff. But scales on a kitchen knife should probably be re-treated once in a while. And I suppose it depends on how much you handle the pistol grips.

Heard good things about TruOil in the scales and grips application but never tried it.