Exhibition desert ironwood

[pmike5869]

Used some scraps and leftovers I had laying around here to put together a folder and added a few attempts at filework.

[jonet143]

nice work, mike!

[Hukk]

Very nice work Mike! Thanks for sharing! The Ironwood looks like a piece of burl with all those "rays" in the wood. Good filework also! Just curious, what kind of steel did you use for the bolsters?

Excellent work!

[pmike5869]

Sorry, can't lay claim to either the liners or bolsters. I had them left over from a Case Trapper (Blue Boy) where I previously made the liners and bolsters for. Also, the blade was a Spay left over from that Trapper. The only thing I had to do was attach/shape the handles and the filework. Still a lot of fun and looks decent for a cobble handed old fart like me. Humble thanks for the comments.
Comment about that Desert Iron wood tho, that stuff will not take boiled linseed oil no matter how long I let it dry,,, it just doesn't!!! Had to spray clear poly and not too happy about it but had to have a high sheen to show off the grain. This was my second attempt to use linseed oil and had the same result. The Iron wood is just too oily.

[Diligence]

darn - that's nice wood!

good job!

D

[muskrat man]

thats some nice ironwood. I cant get it to take oil either, I usually just buff it and it shows the grain pretty well. Nice work.

[justacowboy]

Great looker.
I had the same problems with trying to get it to take oil. settled on using a couple coats of
paste wax (bowling alley wax) then buffing it.
A friend did suggest putting the scales in a jar large enough to lay flat ,add oil. Then put the jar into a double boiler. It should shoe signs of bubbles as it heats up , remove from the boiler and screw the cap on tight. as it cools it will create a vacuum and soak in.
The wax was way easier.

[orvet]

Nice work Mike!

I finish desert Ironwood by sanding it very fine (2000 to 8000 grit) and then buffing on a couple coats of carnauba wax. I use a hard bar of carnauba on a loose muslin wheel.
It gives it a nice shine.

Great looking knives.
Dale

[pmike5869]

think I'll try the wax
Thx fellas, you guys are great!!!