Comfy covers

Favorite material

  • Wood

    Votes: 20 31.7%

  • Bone

    Votes: 22 34.9%

  • Stag

    Votes: 16 25.4%

  • Synthetic

    Votes: 2 3.2%

  • Other

    Votes: 3 4.8%
  • Total voters
    63
CVamberbonehead

CVamberbonehead

Gold Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Messages
2,218
Hi everyone, just wondering what your favorite kinds of covers are on traditional knives? I personally like bone handled knives, its practical and beautiful. Forgive me if this thread has been done to death, but I think it is interesting. Show cool pictures if you have them!
 
If I had been asked this however many years ago when I started getting back into slipjoints, I would have said, "Wood, all day, every day!" That said, as my tastes and experiences have evolved, I would say that perfectly formed and well hafted Stag rules the roost when it comes to comfort in pocket cutlery. Bone takes the throne when it comes to consistency and wood is really fine to look at.

Though birch bark would hardly be feasible on a folding knife, I do have to mention it as being one of the finest and most comfortable natural handle materials for a fixed blade.

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Do I like Wood? Bone? Stag? Synthetic? Other (Horn, stone, shell/seashell, pearl, stacked leather and birch bark, Ivory, Mastodon, etc)?
"Yes"?

I like them all. I even like smooth and engraved steel, aluminum, brass, copper, gold, and sterling silver handles, depending on the pattern/knife.
Concerning the bone and horn, I like smooth, jigged/carved, scratted, and scrimshawed. I like both bovine bone and exotic bone.

Note: Just because I like a particular material or style (Scrimshawed, carved/jigged or smooth bone, well dyed or undyed, and horn, the various shells, ivories (mastodon, warthog, walrus, whale, etc), scrimshawed or scratted bone, and exotic bone, such as camel and giraffe, does not mean I have knives with those materials.
For example, I do not currently have real or faux Abalone, tortoise shell, or ivory of any kind/mastodon handled knives.
Wood can be smooth or jigged/checkered ... I'm not picky. 😇
 
It would not be fair to vote until Ive handled or owned knives in various handles. However, certain offerings are rather price prohibitive so I suppose id go with in no particular order, wood, stag, bone and silver. Id love to try the ivories but theyre not too common. Also i see them as an unforgiving material like bone. One drop or slip and it may lead to shattering or cracks.
 
mrknife said:
It would not be fair to vote until Ive handled or owned knives in various handles. However, certain offerings are rather price prohibitive so I suppose id go with in no particular order, wood, stag, bone and silver. Id love to try the ivories but theyre not too common. Also i see them as an unforgiving material like bone. One drop or slip and it may lead to shattering or cracks.
Click to expand...
I think it's fair to call out what you like as your favorite without ever handling or owning a specific knife. Favorite can change at any time, and after all, favorite to look at is of high importance to me. We're all constantly looking, right? Everyone is at different stages in exploring knives. One might be searching for a certain combination of characteristics and just haven't found it yet. Maybe you fall in this category?
 
Bloodloss said:
I think it's fair to call out what you like as your favorite without ever handling or owning a specific knife. Favorite can change at any time, and after all, favorite to look at is of high importance to me. We're all constantly looking, right? Everyone is at different stages in exploring knives. One might be searching for a certain combination of characteristics and just haven't found it yet. Maybe you fall in this category?
Click to expand...

not really, my collection has a lot of repetition by design. I also refuse to pay the ridiculous costs for some of the northwoods and rarely trade for stuff. Looking leads to wanting unfortunately
 
A nice jigged bone handle is probably my favorite.

I like stag but I am picky about it - not too thick and with evenly matched scales. Nice texture but not heavy popcorn. I like some color in it, too. Which probably puts me in the minority when it comes to stag.

The only knife I have with any wood in the handles, not counting my kitchen knives, is a Buck 110. Soon to be joined by the 2022 BF Bunny Knife.
 
I don't have a "favorite" that's too limiting. My ebony Bose-Case, mammoth tooth Bradley, GEC stag, chestnut bone Ruple, chestnut bone Sunnfish forge (Culpper chestnut bone is sweet), and custom-jigged &'dyed bone are fine the way they are. Like with the opposite sex, variety is the spice of knife covers :)
 
Stag is great when it's great, and lousy when it's lousy; too wide a range in quality. Jigged bone is very very good when it's good, and still pretty good even when it's lesser quality. Horn is very similar to stag, but with not as wide a range from good to bad. If comparing top of the line examples, I'd take stag. If comparing average examples, I'd take jigged bone or horn. Wood and synthetics are a distant 4th place.

STAG
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BONE
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HORN
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