Cutlery Proposals for the Bladeforums 2015 Knife

I tend to agree bozack, but would add this. I like Ebony a lot but I feel it would actually look dull or lifeless on a Shadow pattern, it needs silverware (not brass) to really set it off. Consequently, a more eye catching or grained wood is called for. Lot of people are lately keen on Osage Orange, this would be killer but I hear it's a mare to work with (hard). Bird's Eye or Burl Maple looks wonderful so does Zebra as I've written before. As for Bocote, not so sure , it can look leaden and a Bark River knife I had in it soon developed shrink and curl, it never looked that much even from day one so I've got prejudiced against it.

The right sort of micarta with distinct grain would be a gasser:D:thumbup: but I'll have one of these CS offering for sure, wood or mic. It's a distinct and individual pattern nicely interpreted, the GEC offering is pedestrian and dull in contrast.
 
CUTS LIKE A KRIS said:
I'm good to go as it is, with the current CSC offering as this model is great so far! For those wishing for micarta due to durability issues- are your fears founded in experience or conjecture? I have and use many bearhead or shadow knives in ivory, wood, MOP, that exhibit no adverse effects,
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I have a nice Hoffritz shadow corkscrew jack in rosewood. While wearing it in cargo shorts one day, i spun around and it wacked into a file cabinet. Now there's a crack from the end to the pivot. Granted, it's a small diameter pivot which may have acted like a stress riser. I had written off shadows until Kerry Hampton convinced me to take the plunge with micarta scales.
 
I believe the original pic that Eric showed us was in reclaimed American chestnut, which is one of CSC's standard handle materials.
 
jc57 said:
I believe the original pic that Eric showed us was in reclaimed American chestnut, which is one of CSC's standard handle materials.
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John, they were all bocote, chestnut's too soft for a shadow IMO. Wood such as bocote, cocobolo, ebony, the ironwoods are all just fine for shadows. They're very hard and durable, and loaded with natural resins. Plus each one's unique.The burls are cool but way too expensive for the price point, unless luck was on our side and someone was selling a load CHEAP. Osage orange is nice but very similarly grained to oak, and it burns very easily when being hafted. believe me I pored over all of them but the bocote just seemed to pop on this pattern. Micarta is ok but geez every knife will look identical! :eek:

Eric
 
Bocote is OK with me. :) Thanks for the clarification. Love your work, by the way. My Eric's Jack is about the nicest knife I own.
 
My pleasure, heck it's you folks who helped me convince the boss to go with a pinned through (old school yeah!!!) shield. That's a minor miracle in itself and I thank you! :D

Eric
 
Birdseye maple is too soft, and purple heart is hard but can turn brown. Ebony doesn't have much action.
I'm just sort of unmoved by the bocote. Cocabolo could be nice though, and I have some I could donate to the cause.
I wonder if any photoshop wizards here could take the CSC and show it with different woods?
You know what might look great, would be some stabilized karelian birch! I might have some I could donate too. That has lots of depth and character!
 
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Not to question Eric's wood wisdom, but I'm gonna see if I can find or make pics of some wood options for this puppy - placeholder post


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Well I can't find my plank of cocabolo darnit. Must be somewhere. My stash of karelian birch is too small to make a difference for 300 knives. I'll keep looking.
Lignum vitae is cool but not sure I favor the greenish color for this application.
 
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bozack said:
Birdseye Maple



This would look killer on the CSC knife.
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What knife is that? I had birdseye maple grips made for my 1911. Would be an awesome pair.

On Eric's sample I actually think the darker wood makes the rest of the knife stand out nice. I like that it is dark but not ebony or something else without much pattern. I would gladly take it as is, but would probably prefer a little different shield and stainless. Seems like we are headed towards the CS unless something drastic changes.
 
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I would be good with any wood but black wood or ebony! I would love to see something with lots of character:)
As for voting- this is just my opinion- we should vote on GEC vs CS and then vote on the versions of the knife (if there are any)
 
At the risk of repeating myself, Lignum vitae would be a fantastic wood for a shadow pattern handle. I don't know if it's too expensive for the price point, but functionally speaking it's hard to beat.

See what I did there?

Edit to say: I find Bocote somewhat ubiquitous these days. It is a fine wood though.
 
fishface5 said:
...I'm just sort of unmoved by the bocote. Cocabolo could be nice though, and I have some I could donate to the cause....
You know what might look great, would be some stabilized karelian birch! I might have some I could donate too. That has lots of depth and character!
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This! I'm in the micarta club, but cocobolo is definitely strong enough, and Fishface, thank you for the offer and I don't want to take advantage of your generosity (thank you for the offer) but the two stag handled forum knives are two of my most treasured, not because they're stag but because a forum member's generosity strengthened the spirit of the knife.

A nicely figured birch would be great too - often seen on fixed blades, but I don't think I've seen it on a folder.
 
ea42 said:
John, they were all bocote, chestnut's too soft for a shadow IMO. Wood such as bocote, cocobolo, ebony, the ironwoods are all just fine for shadows. They're very hard and durable, and loaded with natural resins. Plus each one's unique.The burls are cool but way too expensive for the price point, unless luck was on our side and someone was selling a load CHEAP. Osage orange is nice but very similarly grained to oak, and it burns very easily when being hafted. believe me I pored over all of them but the bocote just seemed to pop on this pattern. Micarta is ok but geez every knife will look identical! :eek:

Eric
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You got my vote...........

Folk we have had ebony already

The bocote is hard and very strong grained, and as Eric says it just pops the pattern
 
neeman said:
Queen have a standard run for the past 10 years using Birds eye maple

There is nothing unique in using Birds eye maple,
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I'm not sure that awful purple/grey looking stuff they used is comparable, but I do think a darker wood would look better.
 
Biggie_Robs said:
At the risk of repeating myself, Lignum vitae would be a fantastic wood for a shadow pattern handle. I don't know if it's too expensive for the price point, but functionally speaking it's hard to beat.

See what I did there?

Edit to say: I find Bocote somewhat ubiquitous these days. It is a fine wood though.
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My vote on Lignum Vitae as well. Aside from the historical significance (being used as bearings, even before babbit), and it's unique properties in the wood world (so dense it won't float) - it's some pretty awesome stuff. Lots of color variation (streaked with greens to browns), VERY stable (not likely to crack, warp or check - or lift away from the liners), and a chatoyance not found in many woods. It has a peppery-menthol like smell too, very fragrant.

I only have 1 knife with lignum scales, but it's a modern OHO - carried a lot, but looks as good as new many years later.

Regarding price, we're talking about tiny little chunks to make scales from - it's not going to add that much, certainly no more than any other exotic (wood, bone, stag, etc...).

vry.gif




Edited to add: A few other notes about wood. Personal experiences only (I'm a hobbyist wood worker), YMMV....

Osage Orange (Hedge Apple 'round these parts) is beautiful wood. I have a particular fondness for it, especially for making mallets, axe handles and fence posts. However, it SUCKS for knife handles. It's porous, stains easily, only looks pretty when new, and is actually very toxic.

Purple heart only looks purple when freshly cut - it turns poo-brown when exposed to UV light and oxygen. It's VERY brittle and splinters easily. It would be very difficult to pin scales on without cracking, and a bare head design would be next to impossible.

Others, like maple, bocote, zebrawood, padauk, etc... are actually very soft and won't hold up to long term use very well. Cocobolo, being a nice oily rosewood, makes great knife handles - although it's very brittle as well. I don't think it would tolerate the stress of a bare head. Ebony is cool, the black & white stuff would have a unique look, but we've kind of been-there-done-that with plain ebony already.

Lignum Vitae addresses all of those issues, and would likely be one of the most durable (and, dare I say - most attractive :D) knife handles ever produced. Also, I just looked at a few lumber sources - it would cost approximately $2.50 per knife for the material. Seems reasonable (and a lot cheaper than micarta).

It would be interesting to hear the knife manufacturers perspective on woods - I'm not sure how they look at it, although they all seem to offer a fairly wide variety.
 
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