wenge and walnut

[Skipmaster1]

I have made a few complete knives in the past and made handles from various woods and antlers before. I decided to make a few more from blades I have already finished and from a few blades I bought online. While asking around about different woods this week I came into a pretty good supply of what I believe is wenge and what I know is black walnut.

Any pros and cons to using these woods in knife handles? I know they are porous. What would be the best way to seal these for a hunting knife and still really show the grain?

thanks

[gudspelr]

I don't have a ton of experience with Wenge, but have tried a few handles out of it.  I really liked the look of it, but those pores pretty much drove me nuts...  I think taking the sanding to a fairly high finish can help a bit.  If you try to finish it out with a buffer and some wax, it can fill in those little pores and look fairly lousy.

I think I saw another guy use it on a knife and he did a super glue finish, which would close up those pores, then you could sand and re-apply if needed.

Good luck with the knives and post pics.

Jeremy

[Jon Shade]

I finished a knife off with wenge with in the last year. I just cleaned it down with acetone and coated it with shellac. Then I went back with a final sanding and finished with tru-oil. It came out great! Jon

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good luck Greg. bet they will look great!

[gables]

One option would be to send it off and have it stabilized. For open pur woods I have done the following. The wenge I have used very quickly oxidezes to a purply/brown color after cutting.

Two coats of shellac, sanding lightly between coats. Wet sand two coats of Minwax wipe on poly with 400 grit. A slurry of fine saw dust and poly will mix to fill the pores. Sand with 400 when dry. Apply 2-3 coats of poly, sanding lightly between coats when dry. Buff with paste wax.

Fine woodworking magazine did a comparison on finished a few years back. The wipe on poly was the editor's pick. Great stuff.