How to make wood handles shiny and smooth?

[Phillip Dobson]

The wood used in the lid of that box is pink ivory (berchemia zeyheri). The working characteristics are similar to those of ebony. It's beautiful, but sometimes has issues with color stability. I have to be careful that that box stays out of direct sunlight. It's also extremely expensive.

Here's another in pink ivory, ebony, holly and brown oak.

And a re-handled ZT0200

 

[Pedro G.]

wow thats amazing man! :O you really know your stuff with wood did you make that pocket knife?

 

[Phillip Dobson]

wow thats amazing man! :O you really know your stuff with wood did you make that pocket knife?

Just the handles. The knife itself was made by Zero Tolerance, and the blade was re-ground by Tom Krein.

I'm still working on making my first folding knife. There's a lot to learn.

 

[Pedro G.]

haha thats sounds like a great plan! Im still in the process of making a good fixed blade

 

[jmforge]

I have read that the really "red" woods like pink ivory and especially bloodwood tend to go more toward the brown end of the spectrum after a while unless you give them something like a lacquer finish.

 

[John Andrews]

Ive tried linseed oil that I had in my garage, Feed n wax, sanding with really fine grit sandpaper and a couple other things but i can never get the shiny, smooth, and kinda rubbery? feeling to the wood, any ideas would be appreciated. Thank you :1:

-Pedro G.

Is that a boiled linseed oil? I've used boiled linseed oil with decent results. I now use only stabilized wood, taking all the guesswork and chance results with finishes on wood.