How Do You Clean / Enhance Ebony, Shedua?

[Bill-in-Texas]

Hello fellow enthusiasts!
As the subject line indicates, I’d like to learn what has worked for these two wood types, specifically.
Buck fans can probably guess that I have 1970s-vintage 112s and 110s. As far as “enhancing” goes, I’m referring to cleaners that also replenish the wood, or whatever follow-up to cleaning works best.

Thanks for your help!

[doglegg]

I don't have any suggestions but a before and after photo would be super. Good luck.

[jerryd6818]

An online suggestion:


Ebony is a hard wood with a variety of uses, including furniture making, sculpture carving and musical instruments. Ebony is a very dark-colored and tightly grained wood that reacts poorly to furniture wax. Over time, wax can build up and make the wood appear dirty and feel sticky. To avoid this, use lemon oil as a natural cleaner; it will not damage the ebony and will remove dirt and grime.

Apply lemon oil to a rag.

Wipe the ebony wood with lemon oil. Apply more lemon oil to your rag as needed.

Allow the lemon oil to soak into the ebony for 5 minutes. This will keep the wood moisturized and will stop it from cracking and splitting.

Wipe off excess lemon oil from the surface of the ebony with a clean rag.

[Mumbleypeg]

I haven't tried this on knives but I do have some experience cleaning and restoring antique wood furniture. Murphy's Oil soap, and lemon oil are both excellent products. If the wood is really dirty or greasy use the Murphy's as directed on the bottle. After it dries thoroughly follow up with the lemon oil. If it's not too dirty the lemon oil alone will suffice.

Ken

[Montanaman]

I use Formby's Lemon Oil Treatment on all my wood. Tony Bose recommends it for stag also.

[kootenay joe]

This brings up questions i have had for a long time:
Does ebony with it's very tight grain require treatment that differs from other hardwoods ?
And, for treating wood handles is a wax (beeswax, Minwax, Renwax) better than an oil ?
With a wood knife handle that is badly dried out and dirty, i clean it using warm water dish detergent and a toothbrush (not mine !) and then allow it to dry for a couple of days. I use boiled linseed oil and apply at least 3 thin coats a few hours apart. Handles look brighter, fresher and are not sticky in hand. I don't recall using linseed oil on ebony handles.
Are there any reasons why i should not be treating wood handles this way ?
kj

[Lansky1]

Buffing wheel brings out maximum shine on all knife side material, including wood.

[Lansky1]

Buffing wheel using the usual wax based buffing stick brings out maximum shine on all knife side material, including wood.

[orvet]

Some Ebonys have a very fine, tight grain and they can be very brittle, especially when they get dried out. I don't believe you can take a piece of wood that is dried out for years and restore the moisture to it in one or two easy steps.

The cleaning first of all should not be too challenging, it is after all wood. If all else fails use a very fine sandpaper on it to remove dirt and stain.
However, before I tried the sandpaper I would try a product I have used successfully in the past the cleaning product is Formbys Build-Up Remover. I've used it on furniture, gun stocks, and lots of knife handles. It doesn't instantly clean everything off of it the handles, you might have to apply it a couple times and use some elbow grease, but it does work quite nicely.

As far as getting moisture back in the wood there are two products I generally use, the first is Formbys Lemon Oil Treatment. I would say it is good for putting a little moisture and a little shine on a dry wood handle. If you handle is dry and damaged especially if it's to the point of starting to crack I would use Howard's Feed-N-Wax. I would apply Feed-N-Wax every day until the wood begin to to come back to life.

I hope this is helpful.

[kootenay joe]

Dale, is there a reason you do not use the wax if the wood is just a little dry ? i.e. is there a need for the lemon oil ?
kj

[Montanaman]

I use these two waxes, the walnut oil, carnuba, and beeswax I use on my end cut maple coutertops; and Georges(refined beeswax and mineral oil) I use on some knife handles but mostly wood bowls, spoons and other various wood kitchen implements. I have found that Walnut oil and wax is the best for me.

[jerryd6818]

Reading this thread proves to me that just about anything works better than nothing.

[Meridian_Mike]

Reading this thread proves to me that just about anything works better than nothing.

Yep....
I think wood is sort of like Opal..... If you let it just sit and dry out, it will come apart.
Wood needs some sort of moisturizing (and I don't mean water.....LOL).

[jerryd6818]

Although, I have a Hibben "Kenpo Karate" (NOT one of the first run serialized units) with a 'Stamina wood' handle (plywood) that I don't worry about.

[Meridian_Mike]

Although, I have a Hibben "Kenpo Karate" (NOT one of the first run serialized units) with a 'Stamina wood' handle (plywood) that I don't worry about.

Stamina wood.....LOL.
I first read real quickly and saw Stamia wood..... I was just about to google this special type of wood and saw my error.....LOL.

[muskrat man]

Some Ebonys have a very fine, tight grain and they can be very brittle, especially when they get dried out. I don't believe you can take a piece of wood that is dried out for years and restore the moisture to it in one or two easy steps.

The cleaning first of all should not be too challenging, it is after all wood. If all else fails use a very fine sandpaper on it to remove dirt and stain.
However, before I tried the sandpaper I would try a product I have used successfully in the past the cleaning product is Formbys Build-Up Remover. I've used it on furniture, gun stocks, and lots of knife handles. It doesn't instantly clean everything off of it the handles, you might have to apply it a couple times and use some elbow grease, but it does work quite nicely.

As far as getting moisture back in the wood there are two products I generally use, the first is Formbys Lemon Oil Treatment. I would say it is good for putting a little moisture and a little shine on a dry wood handle. If you handle is dry and damaged especially if it's to the point of starting to crack I would use Howard's Feed-N-Wax. I would apply Feed-N-Wax every day until the wood begin to to come back to life.

I hope this is helpful.

^^^^^This ^^^^^
I keep both products on hand and use them often for wood knife handles as well as other wood item (gun stocks, grips, etc etc). both work great.

[orvet]

Roland,
In your first post in this topic you talked about "...a wood knife handle that is badly dried out and dirty..."
So I based my answer on your assumption that the wood knife handle is badly dried out. So I would use multiple coats of Formbys lemon oil and if it was only a little dried out, I would use the Howard's. If the wood is really dried out it needs moisture and oil provides moisture, wax does not.

Dale, is there a reason you do not use the wax if the wood is just a little dry ? i.e. is there a need for the lemon oil ?
kj

I use the wax to seal the pores of the wood to keep the dirt out and to keep the moisture in, also to Enhance the shine.
As long as wood is not dried out, wax is fine, but if the wood is dried out and you put wax on it you are sealing the pores of the wood so moisture cannot get in, not even humidity from the air.
Kris may know more about this than I since he appears to have made cabinets professionally, but I noticed both of the products he uses have oil in them also.


Personal Opinion regarding linseed oil-
I don't use boiled linseed oil on a knife handle unless it is a last resort. An example of that would be a wood that is so oily that a regular finish cannot dry on it, (Kingwood or Bois de Rose), even then I only use about one third linseed oil and a couple of other ingredients with the lower flashpoint so I can actually get the linseed oil to dry. Besides the smell, some linseed oil as the nasty habit of never drying completely, and I certainly don't want that on my knives!
Now, all that being said, boiled linseed oil is a good product for wood. If you don't mind the smell and the fact that it dries very slowly and some of it doesn't dry out all, then linseed oil is a great product for wood! But again I only use it when I can't find another product that will work.

[kootenay joe]

Dale, thank you for this tutorial. I will d/c the linseed oil and get some Lemon oil. The wax i already have. And thanks to The Muskrat for seconding Dale's advice.
kj

[RescueRestoreReveal]

Just to add to what Dale said about "boiled linseed oil"
The commercialy available stuff isnt realy boiled it has many additives that cause it to dry faster however the heavy metals and such are really Not Good for the skin ,never mind causing spontaneous combustion to rags used to apply it.
However originaly boiled linseed came from flaxseed oil.
You can buy food grade organic flax seed oil and adding water set it out in a glass jar then in a day or so the UV from the sun will change the oil floating on top into what is called "pale boiled linseed" there are good youtube videos all about this. Some woodworkers also will melt beeswax into this for a mixture that nourishes the wood and seals in while protecting.

Personally I have also used walnut oil and mineral oil on pocket knives as both help and are food safe if your the type to want to occasionaly cut up an apple for example.
Hope that helps
G

[kootenay joe]

Thanks G. Interesting new info to me. I will not use any linseed oil but will get some lemon oil and do as suggested above by Orvet.
kj

[Bill-in-Texas]

Thanks to all the good responses, folks!

It looks like the best initial option is lemon oil.
It’s not that any of the wood I have on my old Bucks is overly dirty, but if it makes the wood grain “pop,” then I want to give it a try.

[eveled]

I had an old wood recurve bow when I was a kid. It was dried out. I sanded it to open the pours and oiled it daily with linseed oil for months. Then I made a string for it. It lasted a couple of years. When it broke I found the linseed oil only penetrated about 1/64 of an inch into the wood. The core was dry as dust.

Just saying I don’t think the smelly stuff is worth using.

I use cutting board oil (mineral oil) on my knife handles. Mostly because the bottle is always handy in the kitchen where I do my routine sharpening. It is food safe and works about as well as anything. I sent two Buck 110’s to the factory for new blades they came back with oily wood. Pretty sure it was mineral oil.

If they are dirty I clean them first with a Lysol wipe or purel on a paper towel. Again because they are handy and work.

[JACK OF ALL TIRADES]

I have been using Ballistol on everything. Mineral oil too which may be in it.

[Bill DeShivs]

Wood doesn't naturally contain mineral oil. Mineral oils will soften wood, and it will darken it.
If the wood is in good shape, just a coat of neutral shoe polish or paste wax will liven it up nicely.