Refinished and Restored Chef Knife Set

 
Turn your tired, old kitchen knife set from a functional eyesore into custom cutlery.
  
 
Hey everybody. I really wanted to add this post because I think there are  a lot of people out there who, like me, have an old wood handled knife set that has seen better days. This is a great trick to spruce them up a bit and give them new life. The set I’m showcasing was a knife set that my father had given to me when I bought my first house. He had picked it up at a yard sale years before for $10 and had been using it at his camper.
With some elbow grease and some patience you can take worn down knives like these and turn them into something beautiful that you can be proud to display on your kitchen counter. It’s really easy and the results are truly amazing. I hope this post highlights the fact that you don’t always need to spend a lot of money to have really nice things.
 
Below are a few more pics of just how raggedy these knives looked before I set to work on them. You can see that there is practically no finish left and the wood is starting to crack. Unfortunately these knives weren’t always treated properly and were thrown in the dishwasher often.


The first thing to do is make sure that the knives are very clean and very dry. Don’t try to rush the drying aspect. Wood is much easier to sand when it’s dry.
Next. Sand down the handles of the knives.
*WARNING* Knives are sharp. Duh. Be careful and read the disclaimer.
I used 100 grit sandpaper for the first pass and finished up with 180 grit. Using a higher grit can actually impair stain absorption by the wood and is really unnecessary in this instance.
Apply the stain to the wooden handles and let sit for as long as the directions on the can tell you. **This is another step that can not be rushed.** Apply the stain, wipe off the excess, and allow the wood to dry EXACTLY as your particular stain instructs. Failure to do so results in less than stellar results and who wants that.
Depending on your particular tastes you may decide that one coat of stain is enough. I wanted a richer color so I stained my knives twice.
Once the stain is dry i wet a rag with mineral spirits and very lightly wipe down the stained wood. This helps to wipe off any excess stain and also remove any dust particles prior to you sealing the wood.
Now comes the most important part, the sealer. I used an oil based polyurethane. I find it’s easiest to apply the sealer with a foam brush. It eliminates brush marks. If you keep your eyes open you can find them on sale at a craft store for ten cents a piece. Again, follow the instructions for your particular sealer to the letter. Failure to do so will yield subpar results.
 
Now your knives should be looking sharp, pun intended. After the sealer is fully cured you can try a trick that I stumbled upon to really give your finish a beautiful luster. There is a product called synthetic steel wool. It comes in grits similar to sand paper and is made by 3m. It’s essentially a scrub pad like one might find in their kitchen sink. Although unlike the common green pads these are white and equivalent to 1000 grit sandpaper. It’s not a necessary step as these pads are not easy to find and do not come cheap.
Take the synthetic steel wool and a small amount of water and buff the surface of the wooden handle lightly. Polish and buff until you’re satisfied with the luster on your beautiful *new* knife set.

Toy Box

So our little guy is amassing an arsenal of toys at an alarming rate. I have no idea where he gets them all, but I do know where he keeps them......in small scattered baskets all around the house. This brings us to my next wood working project and the first one I'll be discussing with all of you. Wifey has tasked me with making a Toy Box. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I don't want to just slap something together quickly and call it a day. I want something that will be lovingly passed down throughout the ages. I want something my kids can fight over when I'm gone. It needs to be strong and sturdy, yet safe for little fingers. I want it to be classy and classic. Something that won't look out of place in a kids room, but not necessarily something that would stick out in a living room. So I did what I always do when pondering a plan. Scour the Internet! Man, there are a lot of plans out there. Many are nice. Heck, some of the finished ones are selling for a whole lot of money. None of them are exactly what I'm looking for though, so it's time to get creative and make some magic of my own.

I'll be making this Toy Box out of red oak because it's tough as nails and looks amazing when stained. I want this piece to last and last and not get nicked every time one of my kids smashes a car into it. Pine is much softer and won't wear as well as I want it to although it is much easier to work with than oak, so if that's important to you perhaps it's something you should consider. I also want to use solid wood boards for this piece instead of plywood. Don't get me wrong, plywood and edge banding can look beautiful for a piece like this, I just want to round all of the edges with my router when I finish and besides, I prefer the look of joined boards to plywood.

Now I think of what I want the design of the Toy Box to look like. Luckily I'm not reinventing the wheel. I'm just adding a little of my own flair to a simple box design. I want the piece to sit flat on the floor. To me, any small opening underneath the box is an invitation to lose toys and who wants that. I'd like the top to double as a bench of sorts, but also a play surface. Soft close hinges are a must for me, as are rounded edges all around with openings around the lid to further prevent squished fingers. I also want to ensure that I include cut outs for handles. It's a small thing to consider but when you're trying to move a piece of solid wood furniture a set of handles can be a real finger saver.

The next step is to make a nice sketch of what I hope the finished product will look like and get the measurements drawn to scale before I start. Check back soon for more.