Alaskan Coral as handle material

Daniel Koster

Daniel Koster

www.kosterknives.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2001
Messages
20,978
I found this knife on eBay a few weeks back.

The maker is Virgil Campbell from Seward, Alaska.

The knife handle is made of Alaskan Coral.

Here are a few pictures:

AlaskanCoralDamascus.jpg


AlaskanCoralDamascus2.jpg



Has anyone else ever worked with this material or have other examples of its use as a knife handle?

How about contact information for Virgil?

Any myths or legends...:rolleyes: :D

Dan
 
Never used, or even seen it before now. It certainly is nice looking. Looks like burled wood of some kind, think it could it be petrified wood? :confused:
 
It does not resemble any coral that I know of, either fossil or modern. Coral is tropical today, it does not grow in Alaska.
The rock the knife is resting on looks like a shelly limestone and the handle could easily be some type of limestone, It does make a great looking handle.

Steve Hayden, Professional Geologist.
 
Virgil W Campbell
Moose Pass, AK 99631
(907)288-3616

I have not met Virgil.He has a little knife shop in a beautiful spot on the road to Seward.I stopped in once and he was not in.There is coral from Alaska.I know there was a company making jewelery from it about ten years ago.If I remember right it is not legal to collect it any more.
Chuck
 
And I have used "brown coral" (common name there, I don't know species) from the Carribean that looked real similar to that, sort of wood grain effect when worked. I got the whole coral stalk, so know it was coral, not something else. It held up well as a knife handle.
 
akivory - thanks for the contact information.


skyman - do you still have a current source for similar coral?
 
You're right, I looked it up and the solitary types of coral do have a much wider occurrance than I thought.
The Alaska state game and fish has some statistics on line about taxonomy and distribution. Ain't Google great?
 
Is any coral still available as a handle material?

Has anyone else worked with it?

Dan
 
Pendentive,

I only got a small quantity when I was in the Dominican Republic and don't know how to get any more. It did make a pretty handle and the knife went quickly. They also had black coral and tortise shell for sale, but I knew better than to try and bring those back.
 
I have a very small piece of black coral that I bought in the Cayman Islands years ago. Been waiting for a chance to use it in something, probably an inlay.
 
I made this knife about a year ago and it is in fact a piece of Alaskan tree branch or pink coral. The pink name comes from it's color when first removed from the water. It is definitly coral and not wood.It's a little hard to work with and gives off silica and clorine when you grind on it. The base for this piece was taken right from where it broke free of the ocean floor, complete with small sponges and scallops.
I get this material from the local fishermen who catch it on there halibut and cod gear. They try to stay clear of it as somtimes it tears up the gear if they get on a big piece.
I do have a knife shop 20 miles from Seward Alaska and my brother has his shop on the Sterling highway so we have the area covered rather well.

Hope I didn't ramble on too much, I look forward to posting more in the future.

Virgil
 
Virgil - Welcome to Bladeforums!

Thank you for the information. Coral as a handle material is fascinating. Did it require any special finishing process (other than grinding at a terribly slow pace)?

Please stick around - there's much to be shared and learned. I'm sure we could all benefit from a discussion on hard materials on handles - especially exotic materials like coral.

Dan
 
Legend has it that that knife was SOOOO sharp, Virgils Wife Dawn, cut the leg off her sheath sewing table when the shadow of the blade pssed over it. Sure glad she got that sheath made. :-) :cool:
Hi Virgil and friends. Keep your fingers off the contact wheel!

Gordon D.
 
The only thing you need to work this coral is a ton of super glue. As it dries it kind of separates so just flow thin set and hit it with hardener.

I tried to have some stabilized it didn't turn out as well as the super glued or I didn't think so.

I do usualy turn out the lights afetr sharpening. An old trick taught to me by Gordon. :p

Virgil
 
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