I hand sand somewhere close to 1K, then buff it on a buffer. Last set of knives I made using Bois d' Arc (sp?) for the handles I finished the handles with Mothers carnuba, rubbing in the wax like I would tongue oil until it was at that tacky stage with no more slipperiness. I set it down and did the same to 5 others. I then used an old t-shirt to hand buff the wood & repeated two more times. Turned out nicely, but never subjected them to water like pixelfixed is talking about & I trust his word. Bois d' Arc is yellow, so if there was any whitening it didn't show. Same guy ordered five more knives...