Anybody know the best way to renew wood knife handles?

[JDgreen227]

Was at Goodwill this morning, and they had a set of kitchen knives in a wood knife block, set was sold at Hudson's originally, high carbon stainless steel blades with an excellent edge on all but one knife. Whoever owned the set obviously used the dishwasher to clean them as the wood handles are badly dried out and bleached, but none of the handles are loose. Only paid $4.99 plus tax for the block, six steak knives, and four kitchen knives plus a sharpening steel. Can anybody give me their advice on the best method to renew the handles? Thanks !!!

 

[crash325]

Soak them in Hot "Boiled" Linseed oil. Even cold it will do wonders for dried out wood. It has to dry out / cook off for a while, then burnish with a coarse rag.I would do the whole treatment 3 times or more. As long as the wood will absorb more oil.
They may be a little sticky for a while, that will burnish off & go away. A little light sanding between dips will help.

I did this to my rifle stock in about 1955 and it still looks good.

 

[Redbug]

That's good advise. I do that to my wooden axe, hoe, shovel, and whatever other handles I have, too. It will darken the wood, but it replaces the natural oils the wood has lost.

 

[jerrybob]

That is good advice but requires a lot of work. If they're just dry and discolored......just rub them down with some mineral oil. That will bring back their color and grain pattern. Works well on any cutting board as well.

 

[creekbend]

Whatever method you decide to implement, please don't make the handles so slippery, that your hand slips when using the knives. Just a thought. A good looking handle doesn't warrant the increased chances of cutting one's self.

 

[JDgreen227]

Whatever method you decide to implement, please don't make the handles so slippery, that your hand slips when using the knives. Just a thought. A good looking handle doesn't warrant the increased chances of cutting one's self.

Yes, I should have mentioned in the original post that I wanted a method that would NOT make the handles slippery. Thank you for pointing that out. :thumbsup:

 

[jerrybob]

Yes, I should have mentioned in the original post that I wanted a method that would NOT make the handles slippery. Thank you for pointing that out. :thumbsup:

The mineral oil will not be slippery.....just apply and wipe it off....works great.

 

[LJH]

Anything I'm going to eat or serve food from, cutting boards, wooden spoons & such, get the mineral oil soak. All other woody stuff like shovel, wheelbarrow and axe handles get boiled linseed oil.

 

[SPIKER]

FYI: there are FOOD GRADE mineral oils and WOOD or General USE grades. There are food grade Mineral Oils in most pharmacy locations near the "helps ya go #2" stuff as a laxative that will work for counters and cutting boards where food is prepared. :x

Mark

 

[JDgreen227]

Thanks all for the helpful responses....I will pick up some FOOD GRADE mineral oil tomorrow...at my age I can probably use the stuff for purposes other than the knife handles. Thought I would post a pic of one of the knives...it shows how badly dried out the handles are. The other knife is a 1976 vintage Chicago Cutlery brand made to celebrate the Bicentennial...it has been washed at least 200 times (pun intended) but never in a dishwasher.