Juniper

Jon Kelly

Well-Known Member
What are your thoughts on using Juniper for knife handles, and has anyone had any success with stabilizing this wood for such use?
 

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I have worked with juniper in the past. Would it be good after stabilizing, I don't know, but as it is it is a far too soft wood for knife handles.
Frank
 
Jon,
The only thing that would keep it from being able to be stabilized is dependent on the woods oil content. Woods like Cocobolo, Ebony, Wenge(I think), anyway you get the idea. If you look up a "Wood Encyclopedia", on line I'm sure you will find all that you need to know.

BTW, The woods that have a natural oil content to them, I treat as stabile, they will not absorb water, oil, or barely epoxy. In fact, when I expoxie Cocbolo, I clean the glued side with acetone AND alcohol, and once clean, immediately go to the epoxy process, in fear that the wood will "seep" more oil out to the outer edge that I just cleaned, now that is only my thinking, due to some I had come off using Acraglas, I cleaned them like any other, and went to do something else, when I got to it, I went on with the gluing process, now I know Acraglas will not let go willingly! I went through my procedure
(in my head) and the only thing I had done differently was the wait, while others where just clean and glue. I do not know if there is anything to back up my thoughts or experiences with or if I'm totally off my rocker, but every since then I clean it the way I mentioned I've have had zero failures! With stick tangs, I thought I was whipped with using Coccobolo or any of the denser Rosewood varieties, but what I came up with was to simply flush the cavity with acetone, let it sit for half a minute or less pour it out and then let it dry ( about a 1/2 min) then flood it with alcohol and let it dry, this time I gave it a good 5 minutes, then pour it out and give it a couple to 3 minutes to dry, before epoxy and so far! no failures. Also, the order should be acetone first, as acetone itself has some oil content to it, now I've not tested the theory that it HAS to be in this order, I just went with what I thought was right and got great results!

As far as the wood encyclopedia's go, if you've been on any of the big wood suppliers websites where they give you all the info about the wood, the growing climate, as well as where it's found, that's the kind of info you're looking for. It will tell you if it's an oily wood or not, you will always see this statement,"Polishes easily to a high shine". That alone is a sign that it has a high oil content.
Hope this helps, Rex
 
Raymond,
that brought up a sweet blade from one of our own Dawgs here, J. Neilsen! Standing prominently out front,(and a bit to the side on my iPad), is one FANTASTIC BLADE, looks like it might have magical powers even!!! One of the Meterorite Damascus blades he made for KD Meteroite. At least it looks similar to some he made in the past. Thanks for sharing, I was not aware of how beautiful Juniper Burl was, it has that Buckeye Burl flair to it, at least some of those examples do.
i did look up Juniper, and the only 2 I got was African and can't recall the other it listed, according to that it either came from the Cedar family or has some of its qualities.
Thanks, Rex
 
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Thanks guys. There isn't a lot of information regarding the use of juniper for knife handles online, and I am not using a piece of burl, though I would assume that juniper burl is very similar to redwood burl as far as hardness is concerned prior to being stabilized. What little info I did find on stabilization shows that it may or may not work depending on the procedure and chemicals used, as it may continue to weep long after it's been done. I guess I'll go guinea pig here and get some done and see how it all turns out.

Thanks Raymond for showing me how to do a google search as I had not thought of doing that. :3:
 
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It is my understanding that some have had issues with the stabilizing agent not fully curing out in the wood due to the natural resins in the wood itself.
 
I have not used juniper as handle material (yet) but I have cut quite a bit of it. It is a pretty hard wood and is often tough to just cut. I think it would work pretty good and it sure is pretty.
 
Hmmm? Juniper berries are used to make Gin but as far as a good wood for handles I don't think it would work well. Too soft, Too Oily and it seems to crank along the grain to easily. Try it and prove me wrong. I just think there are plenty of other fine ones to use.

Yes, you see it on those junky French knives. Need I say more!
:3:
 
Juniper doesn't rate real high on the hardness scale (about the same as walnut) but it still is a hardwood. As others have said there are a bunch of harder woods available.

Juniper 1160
Walnut 1010
Brazilian Walnut 3680
Bubinga 2628
Ironwood 2299
Rosewood 1780
Hickory 1820

To name just a few of my favorites.
 
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I have had some Juniper stabilized in the past.
It responds a lot like red cedar. Not much of a weight gain and weeps afterwards for a few months.
The weeping is something that can happen with oily woods. The block will be kind of sticky and gets a satin instead of shiny finish.
Usually after letting the stabilized piece sit for a few months it is good to go.

If used unstabilized Juniper is very prone to cracking along the grain.
 
I managed to do a test run in Cactus Juice with a set of Juniper scales. The results seem to be satisfactory. There was not a lot of weight gain, the finish is uniform and smooth, the color was darkened a shade, and so far there has been no weeping. The hardness seems to be equivalent to stabilized redwood. I will craft a handle from this set and see how things work out in the finishing stages.
 

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