Hello,
I have been making and selling woodcarving knives on Ebay with some success. I am using american walnut, cherry and a few unknown tropical hardwoods. My finish of choice is thinned urethane spar varnish, sanded to 220 and then a second thinned coat that I wiped on and then rubbed off.The next day the handles were nice and smooth with the grain filled.
On you tube some members used TruOil which is predominately used for gun refinishing. Never used this before but the finish looks really deep and durable. The process takes a few days but maybe it's worthwhile.
Any users down under use TruOil or something similar ?
Cheers