How To Restore Old Knife Handles Quickly And Easily
2 Materials
$10
15 Minutes
Easy
Are you old knife handles dingy and lost their luster? Mine was too, but the knives still cut perfectly, and I knew there had to be a way to save them. I found an easy way to restore old knife handles, and I’m excited to share this easy tip with you.
I have two good sets of steak knives that I wasn’t ready to part with yet and discovered an easy way to restore them back to looking good once again. This tip works great on any wooden handle knives you have. I decided to use a top coat I had handy called Gator Hide, but you can use any top that works well as a sealer.
Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat is another great choice to use to restore old knife handles. It’s especially good because it protects against water damage and food stains and dries to a beautiful matte finish.
You can also use Teak Oil Sealer too – teak oil is usually a mixture of linseed oil, varnish, and mineral spirits.
The process is so easy and the paint dries very quickly. I have this one Farberware knife that I love and had for years. The handle was so badly deteriorating that you can feel actual splinters!
I know this was caused by the dishwasher which is awful for any wooden handle knife. We all get forgetful or lazy and end up running our wooden handle knives in the dishwasher which is not a good thing to do and will most definitely ruin them.
All it took was one quick top coat and my favorite knife is saved! I love how it even restored the color back too! No more splinters and I can safely place it in the dishwasher now as its protective coating will now keep the handle safe.
While I was at it, I decided to add a top coat to a set of one of my favorite wooden handle steak knives too! This is what it looked like before the top coat application. After seeing how great this work on this set of knives, I can wait to try them on my set of J.A. Henckels knives too!
The before and after speaks for itself!
The paint dried so quickly (about 5 minutes) and felt brand new once again after applying the top coat.
Tip: Place the bladed edge of the knife into a book with the wooden handle exposed to the air to dry!
And now, the after! I love how the color is deeper like the original color. You can paint over the metal too or you can use a Q-Tip and gently wipe away the paint over the metal areas.
I always easy hacks that work great. Be sure to check out my other household tips and tricks too!
I hope you get to try this awesome hack to restore old knife handles too! I love saving money and the fact I get to upcycle my knives too!
Please stop by my blog for more images and product details! I know you will find some inspiration for your projects too. The link to this post can be found below.
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Comments
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4 of 7 comments
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Brilliant restoration idea for old knife handles. I have a steak knife set this stain idea will work perfectly for and I like how you point out afterwards the knife handles are dishwasher-proofed. Fantastic!
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They look ok SO nice. I suppose that you could even put a little wood stain on first if you wanted an even richer color. Then the other would help it stay on.
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Thanks so much, Sidney! Yes, you can totally do that too! What a great idea. I was thrilled to see I can upcycle my good knives and now, I love them even more as they look brand new once again! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year!
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