Abalone

I'm not sure if there's a "right answer" for this, but the most spectacular abalone (aka Paua) I've seen over the years has been on Case knives.

 

i only have the gecs in abalone & 2 of the 3 were really decent.if i was looking for the absolute finish on an abalone folder i would go the custom route.
dennis

 

I think all exotics (pearl, paua veneer, abalone veneer) has to go to Case. Especially their pearls are just phenomenal.

Mike Latham
CollectorKnives.Net

 

I have two Case with gold lip MOP and one with paua. All are great. I have one Queen in gold lip pearl that is fantastic. There is a fellow that has posted a white MOP Queen Copperhead that was fantastic as well. So I know those two production firms have good pearl.

I know Al Mar uses pearl, but I have not seen any examples in the flesh, but I can say that the Al Mar knives are very nice and I'm sure they wouldn't use poor quality shell on them. All of the ones I've had were white or black micarta, so I don't have personal experience with their pearl.

Ed

 

Pure abalone is darned hard to find nowadays, and if you do it's incredibly expensive. Most companies have now switched to veneers or single thin sheets of veneer with clear acrylic making up the rest of the handle (kind of like the old picture handles but the "picture" is a sheet of abalone). Couple that with the fact that it's protected off California, and most of what's out there is too small to make handles out of anymore, I really doubt you'll find any companies actually producing knives with pure abalone handles anymore.

Eric

 

I think Schatt & Morgan has some peanuts in abalone.

 

Queen just put out a QCCC Congress in pure abalone. They sold out fast. I think there were 100 of them.

 

Queen also put out this Dan Burke abalone doctors knife a couple of years ago.

 

I haven't seen the second knife, but the congress is definitely LVS. It is done well, and it is beautiful, but it is LVS. Look at the backspring, you can see the paper thin layers of the sheets of abalone. Also, on some there are seams (hard to see since it is done so well).

 

Hmmm, I'll have to re-evaluate my abalone spotting. Perhaps if I saw it in person. I have one of the Dan Burkes and can say, pretty definately, that it is real abalone and not LVS. No layers on the edges.

 

This five inch Parker has real abalone which is nicer than I was able to show here.

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Smaller pieces that are not figured a lot are single piece abalone on some occasions. But, even the big shells have a lot of curvature to them and that makes it hard to get a long straight piece.

They get all that figure by stacking very thin sheets such that you are looking at several layers and don't even realize it. Personally I like Abalone and Paua in LVS much better than the single cut pieces. I don't like obvious seams, but it depends on the cost as to whether they are tolerable.

A 9.5" x 5.5" sheet of LVS Abalone thick enough (0.125"+) to make slabs cost mite near $400. Can you image what the single cut shell would cost?

 

thanks a ton mike for heads up on abalone. this subject has hardly been discussed.
dennis