# NEW PIC Tiger Stripe Maple Skinner Final hand rubbed finish



## Gobbler Down (Nov 27, 2014)

Final hand rubbed linseed finish on the Tiger Stripe Maple redo.
Finished it this afternoon...thank you for all of the feedback.
This was the first ever successfully forged knife that I hammered out a few years back.  Had to keep it!
It is a trusted blade.


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## JustUs4All (Nov 27, 2014)

Much improved and, yes sir, I would keep that one too.


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## oops1 (Nov 27, 2014)

Man that did make that joker pop... Beautiful knife.. Sir


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## T-N-T (Nov 27, 2014)

Gobbler, that thing went from nice to beautiful!  Looks great!


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## Gobbler Down (Nov 27, 2014)

*My humble thanks*

Thank you all for the kind words.
My pictures don't do the scales justice...they shimmer and have a depth that I've only seen on the best Kentucky rifles.   

Now that I know the process I have another untouched set of tiger maple blanks that will adorn a neck knife before Spring.


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## bbs383ci (Nov 27, 2014)

looks awesome great job..

where can a guy get some of that from


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## IFLY4U (Nov 27, 2014)

Very nice Jim.


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## Anvil Head (Nov 28, 2014)

Yeah the AF is not a stain but has a chemical reaction with the sugars in the wood and penetrates very nicely. Chromium trioxide works the same way, but tends to have a little more grey hint to the reaction. Sure makes it pop though. Nice redo job.


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## Gobbler Down (Nov 28, 2014)

Anvil Head said:


> Yeah the AF is not a stain but has a chemical reaction with the sugars in the wood and penetrates very nicely. Chromium trioxide works the same way, but tends to have a little more grey hint to the reaction. Sure makes it pop though. Nice redo job.



Yepper.... Only I did use brown leather dye between sandings and AF because he told me that the softer, non-sugar hardened parts of the wood will absorb it more readily.  Thereby  attaining the darker appearance I was shooting for.


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## Gobbler Down (Nov 28, 2014)

bbs383ci said:


> looks awesome great job..
> 
> where can a guy get some of that from



The bottle he gave me has  trackofthewolf.com listed.  Checked the link and sure enough...they sell it!


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## bbs383ci (Nov 28, 2014)

Thank you Jim.


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## wvdawg (Nov 28, 2014)

Wow!  Very nice!


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## Anvil Head (Nov 29, 2014)

Yeah, play with the leather stains all the time as well. They also work well on bone and antler to varying degrees. You can use vinergaroon on woods that have a decent amount of tannin in them - gives penetrating shades of grey to black.


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## georgiaboy (Dec 6, 2014)

I read this when you posted and realized I didn't respond.  That handle looks great!   Would you mind to break the process down for us?  I'm assuming it's not a guarded secret but understand if it is.  OPSEC and all that haha. 

I'm curious what grit you sanded to.  I've only done a little with wood handles but intend to do more.  I picked up a few nice burl scales and Bubba stabilized some cherry burl we cut.  I sanded those with mesh and applied BLO.  No buffing, just hand rubbing (although I'm not an expert, they turned out nice).


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## Gobbler Down (Dec 6, 2014)

*Here are a few of my research links*



georgiaboy said:


> I read this when you posted and realized I didn't respond.  That handle looks great!   Would you mind to break the process down for us?  I'm assuming it's not a guarded secret but understand if it is.  OPSEC and all that haha.
> 
> I'm curious what grit you sanded to.  I've only done a little with wood handles but intend to do more.  I picked up a few nice burl scales and Bubba stabilized some cherry burl we cut.  I sanded those with mesh and applied BLO.  No buffing, just hand rubbing (although I'm not an expert, they turned out nice).



Here are some of the links to the threads I reasearched after getting a personal tutorial from a friend...

http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2313172

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=12036.0

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-423923.html

The transformation was phenomenol, I can only wonder what it could have been had I known the correct procedure at the start.  The light shimmer when rocked back and forth is mezmerizing. Go to track of the wolf to get your magic potion.


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## georgiaboy (Dec 8, 2014)

Thank you for the info, I have some reading to do.

Is this primarily for maple?   I've got some amboyna burl that might look cool at the "transition area" where the burl meets the regular wood.


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## Gobbler Down (Dec 8, 2014)

*I'm afraid I can't help with that question*



georgiaboy said:


> Thank you for the info, I have some reading to do.
> 
> Is this primarily for maple?   I've got some amboyna burl that might look cool at the "transition area" where the burl meets the regular wood.



I honestly don't know.  I would guess that if it has a sugar content it would presumably work...but I would just experiment with an inconspicuous spot first.  Seems as though the closest subject matter expert on this forum would be "Anvil Head".  I would wager that if anyone could provide a direction for you to go, it would be him.  
If it works...post a few pics here...


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## georgiaboy (Dec 8, 2014)

I'll try some out.  I had some tiger stripe maple that I was going to have stabilized but I may hold off on that in order to try the aquafortis.


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