1/4 vs 3/8 Stock Handle Material

Stark Knives

Stark Knives

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Mar 19, 2010
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Which thickness do you guys prefer on general use knives, such as bushcraft, EDC, and other knives? I was going to put .06 liners between it too FYI. :)
 
It depends on how much you contour the handles. If all you do is round off/chamfer the edges then 1/4" is fine. If you fully round off/contour the handle then 1/4" will be too thin and you'll need 3/8" to maintain enough circumfrence. The steel thickness matters too as do the thickness of your liners. With 0.06" and 3/16" steel you're probably thick enough to do a fully contoured handle with 1/4" scales.

Get yourself some cheap balsa and layer it up to make mock scales. It takes little time to shape it and there's nothing better than being able to handle the knife to tell you how thick the scales need to be.
 
I make a playdough handle (I have small kids, it is a plentiful substance) and go off of that.

But generally speaking I have found 1/4" works for small simple stuff and 3/8" is necessary for larger shaped work.
 
I don't use anything under 3/8 because my handles tend to have a thick butt. It depends on what you design up.
 
I am working on a bunch of neck knives and just rounding the corners so they are getting 1/4", but most of my knives I really try to have a lot of shaping and contours so I use more 3/8" for scales in all. I also normally do not work with steel thicker than 5/32" except for customs.
 
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