Low sheen super glue finish

[Aaron Gouge 16]

Good morning all,

       This may be somewhat of a silly question but do any of you do a low sheen or non-polished superglue finish on knife handles? I’m working on a small hunter with  Wenge and African Padauk. Up to this point I have always used pure tongue oil cut with citrus solvents on my knife handles. But because of the open grain poors in these two woods that’s a bit of a concern. I guess I just don’t like those little holes open to be filled with crud and gunk.
      I’m not a huge fan..... OK the superglue finish looks amazing on certain knives with the high polish but that’s not what I’m wanting. I’m wanting the pores filled and a little bit of a more natural polish to the wood and that’s it.
     Thoughts? Insight?

Thanks 

[Brian Myers 134]

Easiest way is just to give it a light scuffing with steel wool after its allowed to cure for a bit. That should remove the shine and leave a mat finish.

[Garry Keown 1,265]

Or do a 600 grt wet sand with your tung oil the same way the open pores are filled on the best rifle stocks. after the pores are filled and dry then your normal finish will work as well as it will on any other wood. I do the same for my wood handles that have any need of filling.

Edited October 16, 2020 by Garry Keown
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[Aaron Gouge 16]

Garry, 

    Are you using pure tung oil of a tung oil finish? 

[Garry Keown 1,265]

42 minutes ago, Aaron Gouge said:

Garry, 

    Are you using pure tung oil of a tung oil finish? 

I have done on rifle stocks (have made 35+ from the blank) but now use a equal parts mix of pure tung, refined blo, vege turps (gum turps)  and marine varnish and get just as nice a finish visually but more water protected with the part marine varnish which the vege turps takes deeper into the wood and along with the drying oils creats the moisture barrier where the tung oil allows for moisture penetration. The old gunmakers recipe called for a coat a week for a month, a coat a month for a year and a coat a year for life so while tung oil makes for a beautiful finish it is not the best for long term use and has been superceded by some of the newer finishes.

Edited October 16, 2020 by Garry Keown

[Aaron Gouge 16]

Garry, 

    I like that idea if wet sanding but here’s the catch. With the two wood colors that could go south real quick. 

[Garry Keown 1,265]

Run tape round one end to stop at the join and carefully wet sand the one end, change the tape and do the other end. The you can dry sand the actual joint.