# Scorched / burnt finish pine saya



## milkbaby (Oct 3, 2016)

First off, thank you to Mert Tansu for sharing his experience with working on burnt pine, weirdly enough at the same time I was working on this, lucky coincidence! I was intrigued by scorched or burnt wood finish when google-ing wood stuff a few weeks ago. Since I'm limited to hand tools right now, making sayas out of exotic wood blocks is a bit out of my comfort level because it's tough to freehand saw a long straight cut in a block of wood big enough to make the sides of a saya. But I though a burnt finish would be a step up from the stained finishes I did with balsa and basswood sayas made out of craft planks. 

A couple of weeks ago I bought pine and poplar planks then did a test scorch of the pine with a propane torch. It burnt okay but the wood warped severely, rising in the middle about as high as it was wide. It was discouraging, but I still followed through with scraping the burnt finish with a wire brush to raise some contrast in the grain, then set it aside thinking it wouldn't work. 

This weekend I decided to see if ironing the unburnt side would flatten it out, and that actually worked decently. Woohooooooo! 










So then I traced the blade and penciled the shape of the saya and cut two pieces out with a coping saw. The interior slot was chiseled out by hand with a little xacto wood carving chisel. I kept checking the fit until the blade was okay going in and out as the two sides of the saya were held together by clothespins. 














These two pieces were lined up, glued with Gorilla brand wood glue, and clamped with clothespins for thirty minutes. 









I let the glue cure overnight then did a little sanding to relieve the sharp edges. The finish was completed with homemade wood conditioner made of mineral oil and beeswax, the same exact stuff I make for my cutting boards. The color got really nice and rich after conditioning. I'm tempted to apply a polyurethane coat for the finish to be permanently rich and lustrous but haven't decided yet. 





























This is only my third saya, and each time has been very fulfilling to finish and use the final product, even as amateurish as they look. I doubt that I will ever buy another saya ever again unless it was a special match for a specific knife or came with the knife already.

Thank you to all the people who post their work here, I'm continuously inspired by all the knives, sayas, and handles you make! I'm always in awe how beautiful your work is!


----------



## chefcomesback (Oct 3, 2016)

Looks great man , I am glad if I gave any inspiration , very clean work


----------



## preizzo (Oct 3, 2016)

Nice work


----------



## Dave Martell (Oct 8, 2016)

I love it!


----------



## strumke (Oct 8, 2016)

About how long did it take to do the chiseling? This looks way too simple not to try out.

Also, how thick were the planks (and where did you get them)?


----------



## aboynamedsuita (Oct 8, 2016)

Looks really good! Reminds me of shou sugi ban.

I've always wanted to do this but have had difficulty finding wood the size I want, so maybe I'll try with some cedar grilling planks lol. Nice to know you don't need to invest in a lot of tools either


----------



## milkbaby (Oct 9, 2016)

strumke said:


> About how long did it take to do the chiseling? This looks way too simple not to try out.
> Also, how thick were the planks (and where did you get them)?



I think it was an hour or two, you could do it a lot quicker with better chisel or dremel with barrel sander. I'm thinking of buying a small box plane that might speed things up. It would be easier to make a three part laminate saya with cut balsa or basswood spacer in the middle, but I like chiseling out the middle like Japanese traditional saya making. 

The planks were 1/4 inch craft pine from Michael's arts and crafts store. I found red oak and poplar 1/4 inch thick craft planks at Lowe's home improvement store but their pine started at 1/2 inch thick. 



tjangula said:


> Looks really good! Reminds me of shou sugi ban.
> 
> I've always wanted to do this but have had difficulty finding wood the size I want, so maybe I'll try with some cedar grilling planks lol. Nice to know you don't need to invest in a lot of tools either



Shou sugi ban is probably the original inspiration for the western burnt finish that inspired me. I totally dig what I've seen of it. 

The wood thickness is my issue too as I only have hand tools, so it would be exceedingly difficult to hand saw a bigger piece of wood lengthwise straight in half. Hope to see pics of your new cedar saya soon!


----------



## aboynamedsuita (Oct 10, 2016)

I wouldn't hold your breath on the saya, but it is on my todo list. If you search this subforum you'll probably find the western to wa conversion I started then said F-it and sent it to Dave Martell.

Good to know about the pine from Michaels I often go there with their 50% off coupons for random things (got some turpentine and brushes for the jnat lacquering :cool2: ). I thought cedar since I have the salmon grilling planks and they're a decent thickness, but am not sure how they'd be to carve out.


----------

