advice on using wood for handles

L

libladeguy

Joined
Jul 6, 2016
Messages
13
My old man just cut down some beautiful oak and cherry at a job site of his. was thinking about taking a few logs to get milled to eventually use for handles. any tips for doing this? I know milling and drying must be involved, just want to get the dialog going. I realize I probably would not be able to use the wood anytime soon but if at all possible would love to use at some point in life if it is at all worth it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm a wood guy but have not made knives with wood handles. I have made file handles and chisel handles. most of the cool guys will use a round branch so the core is where the tang is. That way it tends to srink around the tang rather than curve away from it or some other weirdness. That is assuming one drives the tang into a bored or milled hole or slot ala the Japanese style. See this text for some info.

Wire wraping is an interesting way to hold the wood on a tang; here is a photo of one of my efforts. Worked great. The end of the wire is bent and soldered to the other wraps.

The top file handle I made. The second one down is a factory made handle. Note they are bare wood for the reasons mentioned.



That is probably not the info you wanted but . . .

These cool guys tend to leave the wood unfinished for better grip. Some times the tools come from the maker with finish on them so it ships well or looks good in the store but it is understood that the end user will strip the finish off before using.

I suppose the knife makers here inject the wood with a thin epoxy under pressure and basically turn the wood into a plastic fossil, or like a mosquito in amber, I have no hands on experience with that but for all day use you are looking at poor grip and blisters where the bare wood may be kinder to the hands and more controllable in use.

anyway that's something to read until the cool guys come along.
 
I have some experience with milling and drying wood for flute making and furniture making.... a tiny bit for knife making.

First up. drying wood. Rule of thumb for air drying is 1yr /inch of thickness. Can be sped up with a fan and different other possibilities. Cut your slabs and paint the ends to reduce checking (cracks).

When I am finding wood for knives I want something that is cool and eye catching. So just plain cherry or oak is meh. But find a piece that is gnarly, bent, or rippled and cut it and you have a good chance of finding some really beautiful looking handle wood. The crotch of branches cut into slabs that are still y shaped often have some great rays and grain patterns.

There is a good thread around here by greeberg about the different woods and weather or not they should be stabilized. Basically it is cheaper and easier to send them to a place like K&G for stabilization. Cheap too...Like $6 a handle. Basically stabilizing infuses a resin completely through the wood that hardens and makes the wood stronger, less able to pick up moisture, easier to finish, and not as susceptible to stains or marks.
 
File handles and such are great ways to use oak. Try to look fo irregularities (knots, burls, crotchwood)
rather than plain straight grain. Here's one in oak with a sort of crotch burl finished with Super Glue. Ken.
 
Last edited:
kc custom said:
File handles and such are great ways to use oak. Try to look fo irregularities (knots, burls, crotchwood)
rather than plain straight grain. Here's one in oak with a sort of crotch burl finished with Super Glue. Ken.
Click to expand...

Ken, that is stabilized oak in that handle? Looks beautiful.
 
Randy beat me to it. I'm not going to write out all the steps for milling and drying your own wood. We have google for that.

I will say what I tell everyone when they say "will this piece of wood make a knife handle"

Yes. Pretty much anything CAN make a knife handle. The japanese use poplar and alder for their handles all the time. Walnut, maple or oak all make workable handles. The question is is it attractive. I've seen literally thousands of board feet of redwood. 99.9 percent of it would make an ugly or at the least boring handle. So instead I use that 00.1 percent and come out with this
A0hLEjB.jpg
 
What Ben said. You are making a keeper. Make it look amazing with that little slice of wood that looks beautiful is my suggestion. I just cut up 4 big crotch pieces of white walnut and I have 3 blocks that I will use for 3 handles. The rest is on my wood pile. I had 3 blocks of maple that produced nothing I want.
 
Its not ugly. I love the look of plain maple. Just not on a knife handle.

To me, a knife handle is the perfect size for an exotic wood. Its big enough to see all the beauty and figure and colors of the wood, but small enough you can get a perfect piece of almost any wood and not go broke getting it.
 
treewizzard said:
not everyone thinks straight grained wood is ugly....
Click to expand...

and in some places it is the perfect wood. Sometimes when I look at damascus patterns it strikes me that a busy multi colored wood grain might not look as good a a more straight grained dark colored wood. I just want something that looks good and is unique. There are thousands of feet of straight grained wood in most species, but like Ben I think that the little unique piece that has a look that is one of a kind really steps it up.

Just my 2cents. Sounds like you have access to lots of possibilities there. Pick something that speaks to you.
 
Ripping, Long cuts is a stronger piece of wood that cross cut.

It will be a couple of years before the wood is dry enough to use. Generally 1" per year
 
This is all great. Im ok with waiting to use the wood. just want to do it correctly so I don't waste it.
 
I don't mean to hijack this thread but I have a number of black walnut stair banisters that I rescued out of an old demo house. Does walnut make a good knife handle? Sorry for butting in and thanx for any info.--KV
 
kvaughn said:
I don't mean to hijack this thread but I have a number of black walnut stair banisters that I rescued out of an old demo house. Does walnut make a good knife handle? Sorry for butting in and thanx for any info.--KV
Click to expand...

Absolutely, yes. Walnut is not the hardest wood known to man, nor is it always the fanciest, but it has been used for knife handles and gunstocks for centuries, in large part due to it's strength and more importantly it's stability. Some natural woods tend to move around a lot as temperature and humidity levels change, but walnut stays pretty uniform. This is the primary reason it was always prized for gunstocks. You really don't want that thing to twist and warp on a cold winter hunt after getting it zeroed in during indian summer.

Walnut today is relatively abundant and inexpensive, so most knifemakers that use it seek out nice figured pieces of curly or crotch walnut. A traditional oil finish can also really make the figure pop.
 
Thanx for the info. I'm thinking of using a little to re-handle some old butcher knives.--KV
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top