Shoe Polish for Bone Handles

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kootenay joe
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Shoe Polish for Bone Handles

Post by kootenay joe »

I have a new GEC knife, the "English Whittler" in bound. . Handles are "Burnt Orange" jigged bone which GEC has used previously on a few patterns. This time the dye seems to not have penetrated as well and some have areas of off white/grey visible. The previous runs of this Burnt Orange came out with a most pleasing warm orange hue.
Mine is actually one of the 'better ones' but if you enlarge the pictures you can see it has a bit of a dull 'flat' look, not the warm inviting look of earlier runs.
Has anyone tried to enhance the look of dyed jigged bone using old fashioned shoe polish ? I'm thinking of "Ox Blood" color shoe polish.
The pictures of the #38 are from the seller. The #98 "Texas Camp Knife" also has Burnt Orange jigged bone handles and shows the richer 'hue'.
thanks, kj
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rea1eye
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Re: Shoe Polish for Bone Handles

Post by rea1eye »

I would think the dye may take but is the shoe polish color close enough to match the current color?
We are talking hue here...I don’t want to ruin your knife. I have never owned a GEC - is the bone
sealed with a substance? In that case color probably will not be added.

Interesting question. I had thought about using black shoe polish on my “new to me” Camillus
electrician knife but Smitty responded it was never really shiny to begin with. ( post from a few days ago)
( that knife handle was a plastic though, not bone)

Bob
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orvet
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Re: Shoe Polish for Bone Handles

Post by orvet »

It's been my experience and also what I have read that bone varies in density and because parts of the bone are denser than others less dye will be absorbed into those areas leaving it lighter in color there. I am not sure that leather dye will work, it will probably depend on what type of dye you use. Normally I would an oil-bas dye, But I might see if I can find an alcohol-based dye for your particular job. As a general rule oils are considerably more viscous than alcohol. Because it is a thinner liquid like alcohol may be able to penetrate deeper into the bone.
Coloring something like this is largely a process of getting penetration of pigment deep enough so the color isn't polished off when you buff it.

Because of how dense the bone is, I doubt will do much more than make a surface coloration change. I have tried it and the color doesn't get very deep at all. That's in however it often answered very interesting highlighting effect on the bone or the Stag.
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btrwtr
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Re: Shoe Polish for Bone Handles

Post by btrwtr »

Water based dyes won't penetrate but merely lie on the bone surface and will be easily removed. High viscosity oil based dyes will only penetrate if the bone is boiled in a lighter oil used as a carrying agent.
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kootenay joe
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Re: Shoe Polish for Bone Handles

Post by kootenay joe »

Thanks for your help. I am not wanting to do anything complex or potentially harmful. My desire is to get the bone to 'shine' a little rather than look a little dull.
When the knife arrives I might try some shoe polish on a rag and rub vigorously. It might not change the look but i cannot see it doing any harm.
Has anyone tried shoe polish on bone ? The shoe polish i am referring comes in a flat round tin that we used as boys to shine our shoes. I still have some, tucked away, somewhere.
kj
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