Wa handle smells bad *help*

[Sas]

Rosewood is notorious for it's smell, some people love it and others do not. Wipe it down with alcohol like methylated spirits, it removes some of the natural oil from the surface of the timber and will help start to dissipate the scent. It also evaporates and won't do as much damage as soaking it in water. Then oil, something that cures hard will seal in the smell and also stop it transfering to your hands.

So that would not be a board butter but smth like tung oil?
Any recommendations that won’t take ages to harden?

 

[mahwen]

You can get friction oils and gloss waxes that will get you out of trouble. I use a food grade carnouba wax and aussie oil friction polish both dry inside of 30 mins

 

[Corradobrit1]

Micarta and G10 also smell. As for woods Sucupira is supposed to smell like something one steps in. Cocobolo and Ironwood have an odour when worked too.
Just has another look at the pics and the handle looks a lot like it was made from the aforementioned poopy wood.
760 × 450

 

[Justinv]

I have had a couple that smelled bad and both were fixed by leaving it in the basement until the smell went away. One that smelled rancid took 6 weeks to be acceptable. A regular JNS purchase took a couple weeks.

 

[Johnsmyname]

I’ve had multiple Shun handles smell like formaldehyde. That never seems to go away but gets less over time. Can you tell if it’s stronger at the collar or handle? Wondering if it’s wood or maybe a resin?

All the above ideas of using alcohol to wipe clean then apply “board butter” type oil wax combo sound like solid ideas to try.

 

[jaydee]

Any recs on something quicker than tung oil to lubricate/hydrate the handle?

Despite recommendations and (complete) drying times:
when I use tung oil first time on a handle, I don´t touch the knife for about 24h but afterwards use it and wash it and never had any problems.

Linseed-oil-varnish should dry much faster and is also (at least here) easier to get and much cheaper than tung oil.

I also often just use plain linseed-oil (does not properly harden and so you have to repeat application once in a while)
mainly because we use it on potatoes (potatoes with curd cheese and linsee oil) and it quickly becomes bitter so the rest of the bottle is used to maintain wooden surfaces or similar.

 

[Transmaster]

You mention Tung Oil. There is what they call Tung Oil, and than what is actually Tung oil. I do gun stocks. Tung oil is a long-used finish for them. Here is my long-time source for pure unpolluted Tung oil and other natural finishes and waxes. They have an Orange oil citrus solvent that I have used on smelly cutting boards. Their Tung oil has nothing added to it. I notice they have added an all-natural cutting board oil to their offerings, going to order some.

https://www.realmilkpaint.com/shop/​