Thread: Huon Pine Knife Handles

I can't vouch for the huon pine; however I've made a few handles out of small Jarrah offcuts and soaked them in Macadamia oil. They have proved to be quite durable and don't really show any wear after nearly 10 years. I heated the wood up in the oven at a low temp with a generous coating of oil and as it cools off it seems to draw the oil in and doesn't really seem to ever need re-oiling again. As per your thoughts they are hand-washed only.

I am down in Tassy and am about to horrify some purists.

I have huon pine handles on my oyster splitting and fishing knives, and I have had them on cutlery. The following finishes have been used:

1. Nothing, just bare huon pine,
2. Danish oil, and
3. Wipe on polyurethane.

All work well, but WOP is possibly the most durable. (None go through the dishwasher.)

Technique - wipe on poly:

1. Buy some WOP, or simply dilute some Estapol with an equal amount of turps,
2. Wipe/brush on poly, wait 10 minutes then wipe off with clean rag,
3. Next day, repeat step 2. (This fills the grain)
4. Dip a small piece of 400 grit sandpaper into WOP and wet sand; surface should finish damp, not saturated,
5. Next day, repeat step 4 with 600 grit,
6. Subsequent days, repeat step 5 progressively through 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000 and 4,000 grits.
7. Wait 48 hours and then polish with furniture polish (I use Hurrels because I was given some)

Surface should finish up silky smooth and lustrous, and very robust. It is often refered to as faux french polishing.

The technique also works equally well with Organoil Hard Burnishing Oil and I prefer its smell to that of poly.

It really is an easy technique as the wet sanding only takes for of five strokes at each step.

hi, I make my cheese knives completely from various timbers including huon pine and have always used just grapeseed oil, on both the knives and boards without any issues. Owen

Thank you for the advice and tips. I had used the heating method to draw the oil in before with a mixing spoon and it worked out ok with U Beaut Food Safe Plus.

I have not used WOP before but have used Organoil and liked that but none on hand. I will have to give some thought if I can justify the outlay for the meagre amount needed for this and any future projects.

I do have an in date bottle of U Beaut Hard Shellac which reportedly has the durability of polyurethane so I wonder how that would fare.

The other thing is with the epoxy glue I had difficulty getting the resin to the bottom of the hole due the the thick viscosity and the short working time. I had heard/read that heat will thin the viscosity. I have a small dehumidifier for 3D print filament and I could warm the epoxy to say 40° prior to use but not sure if that will reduce the set time.

Heat will thin epoxy but will shorten working time

Mix epoxy in a large flat open container. Epoxy gives off heat when it starts to react, which then speeds the reaction.

Originally Posted by apple8

... The other thing is with the epoxy glue I had difficulty getting the resin to the bottom of the hole due the the thick viscosity and the short working time. ...

I use a lot of epoxy. It is really easy to adjust its viscosity.

Thinning: Just dilute with acetone or MEK to get the viscosity that you want.

Thickening: Just use any of the recognised thickenners. I use colloidal silica, sander dust and micro fibres. Micro spheres and talc also work well.

Working Time: I almost always use a slow hardenner with epoxy so that I am not forrced to rush and make mistakes, or waste epoxy that starts to go off too soon. From a series of bad experiences I never use 5-minute epoxy as it is just unreliable and frequently of dubious quality.

As pippin says, mix your epoxy in shallow containers - I use ice cream containers or a paint tray. Deep containers may trigger a premature exothermic reaction.

Some good information there. I have some acetone and will do some trials to get a feel for what works best.