anyone ever use cedar on handles?

J.McDonald Knives

J.McDonald Knives

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i was just curious if there is any demand for cedar handles or if anyone has used cedar on handles. seems like it would make a good looking handle and i know for a fact that cedar withstands the elements alot longer than alot of other woods out there. if there is any demand for it i have cedar readily available to me. also i can cutup a block and ship it to anyone who wants some. i have logs sitting in my yard taking up space.
 
Send me a chunk of cedar and I promise to stop callin' you PimpleSqueeze :D

Seriously, I don't know anyone who uses cedar but what you're saying makes sense to me. It's pretty and resist rot VERY well. Might be a tad soft, though.

Email me if you want to send a piece for me to mess with!
 
I was wondering the same thing. I do a lot of carving/sculpting with cedar and it's a beautiful wood.

I suppose if you sealed or infused it with a hard epoxy, it should stand up.

I'll have to try it and find out I guess.
 
let me know about the results. i figured cedar would be good on a hunting knife or kitchen cutlery. the grain is fairly consistent and has a beautiful redish brown color to it. would be very different from the other woods out there. has more of a natural look to it in my opinion.
 
and whats wrong with that? cedar has a wonderful smell to it. just not when its burning. burned cedar for 4 days about a month ago.
 
I think it would work. Maybe stabalizing it would help toughen it up some. I think the reason you dont see it is because it would seem plain to many custom knife buyers. Not that is should but cedar just doent have the ring of desert iron wood or cocobolo. I think on a reasonbale price knife it would sell np, maybe even on a shelf queen if it was a stellar example and maybe inlaid with some silver or something else to make shure people werent underwowed.
 
That's a good point, BigJimSlade, buyers really like nice figure. I used to think my cabinet-maker uncle was real picky about grain... then I got into high-end guitars... I don't think folks realize how difficult it can be to find a piece of wood with such noticeable grain that it shows up on a piece as small as a knife handle.

Your comment about maybe dressing up "plain" wood with inlay or etc. is a good one.
 
people just hear the word cedar and think cheap or hope chest or "why do i want a knife with a handle made from the same stuff i fenced my yard in?" but the thing is cedar has that rich red color. ive even thought about using mountain laurel for scales. its a nice bright white wood. whats funny about alot of custom knife buyers and even alot of the knife buyers that like their knives to have big words or words they dont hear very much is that they dont know how cheap alot of the materials we use really are. the majority of the price of the knife is the time and effort put into them. if i saw a knife with a cedar handle i would be intruiged. its something thats different and would then become a rare find. same with mountain laurel. i think that if the cedar and mountain laurel look good then we should start a trend. i have a few mountain laurels in my yard as well as cedars of different sizes and can easily get more cedar. i have enough logs in my yard to make about 100-200 pairs of cedar scales.
 
big words or words they don't hear a lot?

what about Kanuka, Rimu, Kauri, Totara, MakoMako, Manuka, Kaihakatea, Puriri.

:D and thats just a few of the woods i can find here in NZ that I doubt you canmanagetofind in the states. I sent a package of Rimu and Kanuka with a bit of puriri to a woodcarver in illinois once, the same woman I sent my first knife to, she really drooled over the Rimu.
 
I have used slabs of aromatic cedar (closet liner) scraps I had on hand for a machete I made out of an industrial band saw blade. The wood has nice color. I varnished it. No splits so far.
 
Hello Mr. McDonald:

Using wood for handles can be a tricky thing. The wood needs to be stabilize first. The only problem I see in using it would be it splitting when you attempt to utilize your pins. The reason for this statement is most knife makers use a hammer for setting there pins and doming the heads. This may cause a problem with the wood splitting. I personally like utilizing Stag, Horn, Bone and so on. You want to thnik about this first before attempting this stage. Are you currently making knives at this time. I have read your postings and from what I can gathered you are not at this time. You are researching all the possibilities of knife making and that is good. Hang in there you maybe one of the best one day. Hope this was helpful to you. And tell IG is said hello.
 
I have seen some of it with both the red and the white-ish colour. That is very atractive!
I haven't seen much over here in Holland, to me it is an exotic wood.

I find it amuzing, what some see as exotic is very plain to others :)
 
My second knife I used cedar because it was all I had around. Slabs took the shape , sanding and drilling fine. Came out nice red color/blonde color that I am not unhappy with. I don't think I will be using it again because dust was extremely fine and irratating despite face mask respirator and got into everything (sneezed for days)
 
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