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Best wood handle?
- Thread starter Maymay
- Start date
If you mean Desert Ironwood, it's tough, very attractive, makes a good knife scale and has good hardness.
Sonoran Desert Ironwood, its official name, scores 2980 on the Janka ball test for hardness....out of 4500 for lignum vitae wood. So it's pretty high up there for hardness.
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Desert Ironwood is a particular favorite of mine. It is on the pricey side. But it's a tough, beautiful, and fairly lightweight wood. Here are a couple of mine (the second pic shows a Desert Ironwood Burl):
I just edited my post above yours to read "very" attractive instead of "fairly" so. Those are beauts, man.
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Desert Ironwood (burl).
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Just kinda wondering myself.
Where would Osage Orange fall in the hardness scale? I've seen very few handles in this wood. But I like it.
This is some nice Koa. One of my favorite also. As far as "The Best" is just kinda depends on what you like. I guess.
Where would Osage Orange fall in the hardness scale? I've seen very few handles in this wood. But I like it.
This is some nice Koa. One of my favorite also. As far as "The Best" is just kinda depends on what you like. I guess.
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Desert Ironwood (burl).
Cheeze Whiz, dude! Can you give us the story on that one?? I looked at the edge and noticed I was bleeding....
2320 on the scale. Not bad. Still a good, hard knife scale wood. I've seen some beautiful examples.
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This was commissioned by Clinto. last year... I still consider it to be my masterpiece. Double edged. Mosaic pins. All hand made. Ground freehand unsupported on a1/3hp 1x42 belt grinder.
$400 tied up in materials ALONE.
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Ya'll ought to have a lot more Osage out there in Nebraska than we do here in Alabama. Never knew what it was until I lived, for a while, on Lay lake. And in the spring these fruits would come floating down Cedar Creek. "Googled 'em" and found out they were Osage Oranges. The old farm up the creek had, apparently, planted them and then attached barbed wire to them and used them as fence posts. Probably.....50 years ago or longer? Probably plant them close enough and use them as a fence with no wire?
Just kinda wondering myself.
Where would Osage Orange fall in the hardness scale? I've seen very few handles in this wood. But I like it.
This is some nice Koa. One of my favorite also. As far as "The Best" is just kinda depends on what you like. I guess.
Just....wow.
And you're right about "the best."
So someone else owns it? it was supposed to have gone to me.
It IS your masterpiece as far as I'm concerned. Finest knife I've ever seen you post. And, for my taste, one of the very best I've ever seen.
Bravo. Bravo again.
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Yea. Well this knife is for sale in the Knifemakers forum. I just was thinking "Koa" and there it was. It's for sale for $450 and, to my eyes anyway, worth every penny. I'd by it myself except...let's see...my dental bills last couple of mo's $1,700. Girlfriends $3,100. So gotta get the $4,800 paid off before any more knife purchases. Dammit.
Yeah, the thing about Koa is it's about the most expensive beauty wood out there it's so rare now--the curly is practically unaffordable. A bit soft too and not that rot resistant for a user. Australian Blackwood is about the best substitute for it and nearly identical.
Frankly, the best use of Koa ever was when Fender made the Telecasters and Stratocasters in veneered limited editions.
Right now I gotta hide my wallet and get out of here. This thread is gassin' me.
Frankly, the best use of Koa ever was when Fender made the Telecasters and Stratocasters in veneered limited editions.
Right now I gotta hide my wallet and get out of here. This thread is gassin' me.
lambertiana
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What properties in the wood do you value?
For absolute hardness and toughness, lignum vitae is virtually unbeatable. It was used to make submarine propeller shaft bearings during WWII.
Other woods that have stood the test of time for being tough and durable are ebony (macassar and gabon being the most common), cocobolo, and desert ironwood. Desert ironwood is a bit more brittle than the others, but is beautiful wood.
Osage orange is also quite tough and water resistant (osage fenceposts last up to 100 years planted in the ground in the midwest, and the wood finds local use for tool handles).
Cocobolo, desert ironwood, and lignum have so much oil that they it is difficult to apply any kind of preservative finish, and they don't need it anyway. Ebony and osage don't need it, either.
Osage starts as a bright yellow orange and over time mellows to a honey color. Cocobolo very frequently turns so dark that some people mistake it for ebony.
For absolute hardness and toughness, lignum vitae is virtually unbeatable. It was used to make submarine propeller shaft bearings during WWII.
Other woods that have stood the test of time for being tough and durable are ebony (macassar and gabon being the most common), cocobolo, and desert ironwood. Desert ironwood is a bit more brittle than the others, but is beautiful wood.
Osage orange is also quite tough and water resistant (osage fenceposts last up to 100 years planted in the ground in the midwest, and the wood finds local use for tool handles).
Cocobolo, desert ironwood, and lignum have so much oil that they it is difficult to apply any kind of preservative finish, and they don't need it anyway. Ebony and osage don't need it, either.
Osage starts as a bright yellow orange and over time mellows to a honey color. Cocobolo very frequently turns so dark that some people mistake it for ebony.
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Thanks, buddy! They're particular favs of mine.
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Ditto that, lambertiana. Lignum Vitae is super durable, with a dense heavy feel in hand. It's not necessarily the prettiest wood, and the color can vary dramatically, but it'll stand up to some seriously hard use. Pictured below is my Bravo-1 and "matching" firesteel - both in lignum vitae - and I have used the heck outta both of them.
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Desert Ironwood is a particular favorite of mine. It is on the pricey side. But it's a tough, beautiful, and fairly lightweight wood. Here are a couple of mine (the second pic shows a Desert Ironwood Burl):
Beautiful knife.
I hadnt seen a picture of that one yet. Masterpiece is the right word. That is just outstanding.