What are the precautions to take when working with Desert Ironwood

Question

I have little to no knowledge on wood and woodworking. That's why I'm here. I got my hands on a piece of Desert Ironwood that I would like to use for a knife handle. I am worried since this wood is extremely hard.

1. What precautions should I take before/while cutting it? (It's a pretty small piece and all I have to cut it straight is a table saw.)

2. Since I would like to make my knife handle as tough as possible. I wonder what I should use to treat the wood in order to protect it as much as possible while still keeping the beautiful grain that Ironwood has.

Please excuse my lack of knowledge and my bad English. :)

Answer 1

Cut slowly. Watch out for kickback. Be aware that blades/bits will dull faster than they would on a softer wood.

I'm not sure what family "desert ironwood" belongs to, but Ipe (the most common "ironwood" sold in this area), like many tropical hardwoods, can cause allergies in some people due to the same chemicals that make them naturally resistant to insects and rot. Use dust collection, use a mask, shower afterwards to get the sawdust off your skin. I believe the issue is mostly sawdust, since that's the extended contact over wide surface area; as far as I know your knife scales should be OK.

(I haven't run Ipe thru my table saw yet, but the guys using it as decking seem to do OK with carbide blades, and it bandsaws reasonably so far. Ipe is being used for decking due to its rot resistance; it has the advantages of real wood while lasting as long as the plastic/composite solutions. If you want more detail you should probably ask over in Home Improvement ... But this means you can sometimes get small offcuts of Ipe free by asking a decking team for their scraps before those get dumpstered. I have a few cubic feet obtained by cleaning up after a ramp was built in a local park.)

Re retaining the natural color: Wood tends to bleach under UV light. Look for a spar varnish or similar transparent topcoat that contains good ultraviolet blockers. Though realistically, a pocket knife spends most of its life shaded.... and the decking seems to regain a lot of its color when wet, so this may be mostly a surface effect.

Answer 2

As said above make sure you are cutting slowly. I do have other things to say on that along with his answer on the blade dulls fast. My neighbors have worked with it and have talked about how it even caused a spark, be true or not. Take cautions. Have protective head over blade, use push sticks with both hands. (Unless you have at least 8" from the blade to the fence then I would say fine. But keep the stick on the side of the blade). If you are cutting a little peace I would suggest not tempting right off the saw. I would try getting as thin as possible but keep it at a safer range. I do 1/4". Then just go over to a belt sander (if you have one) and what I do is I flip it upside down. Your more than likely not going to have a variable speed but I keep mine just fast enough where it still spins while keeping some pressure. Then keep going till you have hit your desired thickness. Of course I am only implying if you are doing something that thin. And listen to what Keshlam says about the allergy and the covering of the knife.