Are matching scales important to you?

mnblade

mnblade

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Feb 7, 2000
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In this thread, Morablades mentioned something I've been thinking about. He wrote that, in his quest to expand this growing collection of Case chestnut bone-handled knives, he had to search a store's whole inventory to find "some good matching scales."

Am I the only one who likes it when scaled don't match? It's been awhile since I've handled a slippie before purchasing it (most of my knives over the past several years were online purchases or swaps), but I remember as a kid in the early '80s buying two Case stockmans, a medium and a large. I went through the store's stash looking for just the opposite, I wanted bone handles that showed funky variations. The feeling was (is) that if I wanted uniform handles, I could just go for delrin instead. No, I kind of like the idea of getting a unique knife with handles not like anyone else's. Is that weird?
 
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I certainly don't mind STAG not matching, odd eh? In fact, because stag is so individual I think non matching is actually appealing! Provided they have enough gnarling and depth,flat bone line stag and crinkly stuff is not so good together but colour mis-match is fine.

With BONE it's a different story for me,they must have the same colour and jigg work otherwise it looks like some later repair,like an ill painted panel on a car! My Rough Rider Scout knife is really OK,useful and well sorted but the Amber bone scales,er...one is DARK brown(shield) and the other bright ginger(reverse) Too funky for my taste,but at 9 dollar I suppose you can't moan..I'm leaving the dark side out in the sun for a few hours a day to see if it 'mellows' Watch it warp...

On more costly knives, CASE, QUEEN; S&M etc I've had no bone mismatch at all fortunately. How about celluloid or acrylics? Don't have any but suspect they must vary a lot!
 
Mismatches don't bother me at all. In fact I have several stag handled folders with quite a bit of asymmetry which I really like. I just received a German Bull Stag Sodbuster from another forum member that has one stag slab much thicker than the other. Its quite a unique and natural look.
 
They should match, especially bone. Someone at the factory picked those scale blanks out of a big pile. If they couldn't take the time to find two with about the same color, that's just lazy. Even with stag, there's a lot of natural variation, but the price premium should be enough to be worth spending a few extra minutes trying to find a matched pair.
 
I like the scales to look close to one-another, but they don't have to be a perfect match. I have several knives with mismatched scales that I still like to carry.
 
I'll accept some variation in real stag, but factory produced jigged bone or wood scales have no excuse for not matching fairly well, other than lazy manufacturing.
 
I tried to think of one that I don't like matching...and for me its a muskrat with no shield. Not matching is certainly an asset there!
 
I have a few Queen knives that the scales match quite well on both sides but if they didn't that is OK with me.

I have, however, seen some stag handles knives that had scales of different thickness on either side (one convex and the other almost concave) that would probably bother me though.
 
artmichalek said:
They should match, especially bone. Someone at the factory picked those scale blanks out of a big pile. If they couldn't take the time to find two with about the same color, that's just lazy. Even with stag, there's a lot of natural variation, but the price premium should be enough to be worth spending a few extra minutes trying to find a matched pair.
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I've seen these folks do this operation. You can't tell what color it is till you start grinding on it. They are already on there when this happens.Many people don't understand what goes into a pocket knife, they have to get it done fast enough to make money or they would all be out of a job. I think Case knives are a fine value. You can give $60 for one and if you don't lose it they will last for 20 years under normal wear. Lazy has nothing to do with it.
 
To second what Mr Bose said, the associates at Case have no idea what the final bone colors will look like, because the colors do not come out until the bone handle is hafted and final buffed, which occurs after assembly. When I was at the factory I saw an amber bone handle slab in its basic state (jigged and dyed but not put on a knife yet) and the color looked vastly different as compared to what we know of as Case amber bone. It almost had a deep brown chestnut color.

I also discovered this collecting Case pocket knives in the 1970's. I found that I could take a dark bone handled Case pocket knife and buff the handles very lightly on a cloth wheel with red compound, and it would bring out brilliant red bone hues or on some knives golden chestnut hues even though the bone was very dark with no real color to begin with.
 
knifeaholic said:
To second what Mr Bose said, the associates at Case have no idea what the final bone colors will look like, because the colors do not come out until the bone handle is hafted and final buffed, which occurs after assembly. When I was at the factory I saw an amber bone handle slab in its basic state (jigged and dyed but not put on a knife yet) and the color looked vastly different as compared to what we know of as Case amber bone. It almost had a deep brown chestnut color.

I also discovered this collecting Case pocket knives in the 1970's. I found that I could take a dark bone handled Case pocket knife and buff the handles very lightly on a cloth wheel with red compound, and it would bring out brilliant red bone hues or on some knives golden chestnut hues even though the bone was very dark with no real color to begin with.
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Interesting

Thanks
 
I prefer they match but I don't freak out if they don't. The good thing about it is everytime you flip the knife it gives you something different to look at. Here's my best example, but I would never get rid of it any way because it was one of the last Christmas presents from my late Grandfather.
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Well fit stag has traditionally been smoother on the palm side than on on the fingertip side.
 
artmichalek said:
They should match, especially bone. Someone at the factory picked those scale blanks out of a big pile. If they couldn't take the time to find two with about the same color, that's just lazy.
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But lazy or not, I like mis-matched. I'm a freak, I admit it. :cool:
 
I like them to match somewhat. I know that natural handle materials have some variation, and that's all good and well as it adds to the beauty of a knife, but I just don't like mismatched scales. Color is one thing, and I understand it is difficult to control, but I have seen several stag knives where one side is deeply figured while the other side is nearly white. :barf: At least put some effort into matching the two sides.
 
does'nt matter much to me as you kinda get what you get. Now if I had a choice I'd like them to kinda match. The fit and finish are my concerns.
 
No hard and fast rules for me. If I like the knife that's all that matters. If I don't, well, then that speaks for itself.

Here's a couple of great (custom) knives with mismatched scales which I love anyway. The stockman (stag) is by Rusty Preston. The "Scagel" (elk stag) is by P.J. Tomes:

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Well, now I am hurting my balls and am on the fence. I used to want only matched scales. Being I now understand with order of operations and all, it is more challenging than my ignorance illuminated. Very interesting post. I will look at my Case whittlers with more admiration, the ones with mismatched scales that is...... Personal growth
 
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