Dishwashers + Custom Knife Handles = Don't Mix

This is the story of custom handled Artisan gyuto that was sent through the dishwasher by mistake....twice!

This is what it came in looking like...

Dishwashed


I had done the initial rehandle on this knife in a premium AZ Ironwood Burl and thankfully we went with a wood this hearty as I think most others would have been toast.

The left scale had buckled (shrunk) slightly away from the bolster/tang but all over the wood was reduced in thickness exposing sharp surfaces from the pins and tang as well as some minor cracking was seen at the middle pin. I decided to keep the wood and fill in the gaps & cracks with CA glue and then sand everything flush to see what I had to work with. Surprisingly, little evidence of damage could be seen at this stage so I decided to press forward.

The problem appeared in that the wood was extremely dry, so dry that when sanded I got very little of that orange ironwood like dust and little to no orange oil would appear on a wet rag. I then dunked the handle in a cup of teak oil and was amazed to watch the handle drink this stuff up like a sponge - yes literally - like a sponge. I soaked it for a couple of hours and then went to hand sanding and hand rubbing oil into the surface. I continued on this process for days, over and over again until the handle didn't want anymore oil. I can't say how many coats it took overall, something like 40+.

I finished with two hand rubbed coats of my (new) top secret oil formula-mix and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Yes it's not as orange as it once was, it's actually a tad darker too, but overall the look is nice and the feel is buttery smooth which I believe is even better in this respect than it was originally.


Rehabilitated


Now the owner can once again hang this on the wall (or in his block on the counter) with pride and his wife doesn't have to live with the shame anymore.



Dishwashed


Rehabilitated





Dishwashed


Rehabilitated

 

Spectacular save!

 

I cant tell you how comforting it is to know, that a good "D'oh" now and then cane be fixed

 

Beautiful outcome!

 

That wood is beautiful. Nice save!

 

This is like that movie with Robert Redford where he's on a boat by himself and he doesn't know how to sail and he keeps making mistakes but he keeps sailing and he only says two words in the entire movie and then he dies at the end only I didn't fall asleep this time and it didn't suck and he didn't die. That's right, he dies at the end. There, I just saved you 2 hours of your life. Your welcome.