Show us your sticks (finished handle projects)...

Find deals on amazon
Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Ok, please be gentle. This is my first ever woodworking project or handle. I am super pleased with the results. There's a small cavity in the wood I'm going to have to fill.

I have taken some beginning blacksmithing courses but broke my hand on Thanksgiving. Lost that momentum. I needed to wrap my head around handles eventually and I've always wanted to make something with wood. I got a cheap belt grind and got to work.

@ashy2classy had a big lot of wood for sale and I approached him about buying it all. He sent me a 35 lb. Box full of stabilized wood and spacer materials. There are some absolute stunning pieces of wood. After trying out on a test piece on some pine, I got the cheapest pieces of the bunch to make a handle. My stock handle on my Shindo was friction set, so I popped it off and made a handle for it.
I was originally going for an elongated octagon but I messed that up so ovalized rectangle it is. The weight worked out and I got it balanced at the pinch. It's far from great but isn't a bad first I think.

Claro walnut/spalted maple burl.
 

Attachments

  • 20240310_161348.jpg
    20240310_161348.jpg
    2.1 MB · Views: 0
  • 20240310_161357.jpg
    20240310_161357.jpg
    864.2 KB · Views: 0
  • 20240310_161418.jpg
    20240310_161418.jpg
    919 KB · Views: 0
  • 20240310_161340.jpg
    20240310_161340.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 0
pitted_soul said:
Ok, please be gentle. This is my first ever woodworking project or handle. I am super pleased with the results. There's a small cavity in the wood I'm going to have to fill.

I have taken some beginning blacksmithing courses but broke my hand on Thanksgiving. Lost that momentum. I needed to wrap my head around handles eventually and I've always wanted to make something with wood. I got a cheap belt grind and got to work.

@ashy2classy had a big lot of wood for sale and I approached him about buying it all. He sent me a 35 lb. Box full of stabilized wood and spacer materials. There are some absolute stunning pieces of wood. After trying out on a test piece on some pine, I got the cheapest pieces of the bunch to make a handle. My stock handle on my Shindo was friction set, so I popped it off and made a handle for it.
I was originally going for an elongated octagon but I messed that up so ovalized rectangle it is. The weight worked out and I got it balanced at the pinch. It's far from great but isn't a bad first I think.

Claro walnut/spalted maple burl.
Click to expand...

Great job!

My first one inadvertently became oval-ish as well and I honestly love the feel of it.
 
Alright got this one finished up today to eventually go on an Okubo Santoku. The handle is shield shaped with a maple burl body and an elforyn and brown canvas micarta ferrule. After these photos, I lengthened the tang hole higher.

I learned a lot with this one and made some good progress. I've got a couple more I've got lined up.
 

Attachments

  • 20240320_122944.jpg
    20240320_122944.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 0
  • 20240320_122948.jpg
    20240320_122948.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 0
  • 20240320_122954.jpg
    20240320_122954.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 0
  • 20240320_123000.jpg
    20240320_123000.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 0
cotedupy said:
Well this is gonna make some pretty things innit!

Spalted Hornbeam. I think I’m in love…

View attachment 313201

View attachment 313202
Click to expand...



A question for any of you woodworking / handle making types out there (@enchappo, @RDalman, @birdsfan, the legendary @Carl Kotte, et al.)...

I've not worked with this kind of very light colour spalted wood much before, which is a shame cos it's pretty much my favourite look on a knife handle. What kind of oil or finish would you recommend to keep the wood as white as possible, and not darken or yellow it? I assume straight mineral oil might be a good option? But even that I think will make it darker. Any other suggestions...?
 
cotedupy said:
A question for any of you woodworking / handle making types out there (@enchappo, @RDalman, @birdsfan, the legendary @Carl Kotte, et al.)...

I've not worked with this kind of very light colour spalted wood much before, which is a shame cos it's pretty much my favourite look on a knife handle. What kind of oil or finish would you recommend to keep the wood as white as possible, and not darken or yellow it? I assume straight mineral oil might be a good option? But even that I think will make it darker. Any other suggestions...?
Click to expand...
Walnut oil is a very clear drying food safe oil, don't buy grocery walnut as it has its proteins intact, buy the stuff specifically to finish wood. Or raw unboiled linseed would be by next choice followed by tung oil.

All oil finishes will darken tho.
 
cotedupy said:
A question for any of you woodworking / handle making types out there (@enchappo, @RDalman, @birdsfan, the legendary @Carl Kotte, et al.)...

I've not worked with this kind of very light colour spalted wood much before, which is a shame cos it's pretty much my favourite look on a knife handle. What kind of oil or finish would you recommend to keep the wood as white as possible, and not darken or yellow it? I assume straight mineral oil might be a good option? But even that I think will make it darker. Any other suggestions...?
Click to expand...
It's softer and a bit punky indeed. It will drink a ton of oil and mineral will not harden - I don’t like handles that "sweat" oil. I'd use tru-oil but you might need many many small applications. Might even be best to consider sending it to knife & gun for stabilizing before handle making.
 
I love the look of those blanks. I know you will do some beautiful work with them! I have to agree with Robin on this one. Spalted wood often has some structural compromise. Stabilization would make them a lot sturdier. It could possibly darken it up just little, but you will definitely retain that great contrast.
 
cotedupy said:
A question for any of you woodworking / handle making types out there (@enchappo, @RDalman, @birdsfan, the legendary @Carl Kotte, et al.)...

I've not worked with this kind of very light colour spalted wood much before, which is a shame cos it's pretty much my favourite look on a knife handle. What kind of oil or finish would you recommend to keep the wood as white as possible, and not darken or yellow it? I assume straight mineral oil might be a good option? But even that I think will make it darker. Any other suggestions...?
Click to expand...
Soft spalted wood tends to have weak spots just due to the nature of it being essentially rotting. All the finish treatments I can think of in terms of oils will darken the wood. To keep it light colored while maintaining good structural integrity, I'd +1 to Robin and Fred and suggest sending to K&G (or other reputable stabilizer), then leaving it without any finishing oil. The density will likely increase though, so keep that in mind in case you want a super lightweight handle.
 
Just a simple walnut handle for the Edd Works. Took me a hour from scratch, so it will need some fine tuning, but had to se how the knife reacted to a longer handle.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0200.jpeg
    IMG_0200.jpeg
    4.1 MB · Views: 0
  • IMG_0201.jpeg
    IMG_0201.jpeg
    3.2 MB · Views: 0
xsmx13 said:
I fecking hate working on western handles... so my significant other has a friend who owns a catering company and wanted his Mac to get a nice new pair of pants. Knowing he loves this knife, I couldn't say no. It's not quite done, but almost there:
Click to expand...
For someone who doesn't like working on westerns, you're dang good at it. BRB, buying a catering company....
 
cotedupy said:
A question for any of you woodworking / handle making types out there (@enchappo, @RDalman, @birdsfan, the legendary @Carl Kotte, et al.)...

I've not worked with this kind of very light colour spalted wood much before, which is a shame cos it's pretty much my favourite look on a knife handle. What kind of oil or finish would you recommend to keep the wood as white as possible, and not darken or yellow it? I assume straight mineral oil might be a good option? But even that I think will make it darker. Any other suggestions...?
Click to expand...
I can't add anything too helpful to the excellent comments from @Simon082 @RDalman @birdsfan and @tostadas above, especially as I've never tried spalted wood. But I will say that I've stopped using Tru-Oil as it just feels too unnatural too me, and I have had a good result - in terms of keeping the wood very pale - using tung oil on birdseye maple. But then on another batch of birdseye maple from a different source it brought out some darker orange tones that I don't love at all, so ymmv (and again, not spalted).

It looks like you're likely to have some offcuts from that middle piece... could experiment first before pulling the trigger on getting it stabilised.
 
tostadas said:
Soft spalted wood tends to have weak spots just due to the nature of it being essentially rotting. All the finish treatments I can think of in terms of oils will darken the wood. To keep it light colored while maintaining good structural integrity, I'd +1 to Robin and Fred and suggest sending to K&G (or other reputable stabilizer), then leaving it without any finishing oil. The density will likely increase though, so keep that in mind in case you want a super lightweight handle.
Click to expand...


Oops, I meant to @ you as well obviously. Well done for spotting my question nevertheless, and thank you and everyone else for the thoughts!

From the name I'm guessing Knives and Guns is probably not a UK based operation. ;) But no matter - we do have a stabilizing setup at work, which I might have a play with that at some point.

I actually bumped into our handle guy yesterday, and apparently the handles they're making from this wood are not going to be stabilized, and finished with some kind of wax rather than the osmo we use on most other stuff. So might try that too. Will report back...
 
Uncle Danny said:
Just a simple walnut handle for the Edd Works. Took me a hour from scratch, so it will need some fine tuning, but had to se how the knife reacted to a longer handle.
Click to expand...

That is a spectacular drilling/fitting job on a no-dowel mono handle. Kudos!
 
Uncle Danny said:
Just a simple walnut handle for the Edd Works. Took me a hour from scratch, so it will need some fine tuning, but had to se how the knife reacted to a longer handle.
Click to expand...
Agree on how well done the execution was for this fitment. I just did my first monowood and it sucked doing and didn't turn out nearly as well. It's good experience, screwing up that is.
 
I think she's done! There was some pitting on the blade that would have taken some serious thinning to get out, but considering this was a 9.5" MAC Pro that had seen considerable commercial kitchen use, I think she came out pretty well. Sanded to 1200 grit, buffed, then soaked overnight in mineral oil with a final hand polish with sunshine cloth.

1000007098.jpg
 
Last edited:
pitted_soul said:
Agree on how well done the execution was for this fitment. I just did my first monowood and it sucked doing and didn't turn out nearly as well. It's good experience, screwing up that is.
Click to expand...
Believe me… I’ve had to do over many… many… times before getting to something near acceptable. Just keep at it and always remember to have fun. Can’t emphasise this enough ❤️
 
xsmx13 said:
I think she's done! There was some pitting on the blade that would have taken some serious thinning to get out, but considering this was a 9.5" MAC Pro that had seen considerable commercial kitchen use, I think she came out pretty well. Sanded to 1200 grit, buffed, then soaked overnight in mineral oil with a final hand polish with sunshine cloth.

View attachment 313849
Click to expand...
Just gorgeous finishing. Looks like a whole other knife now. You really brought it out of the wood.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top