ebony or bone?

That knife looks awfully familiar, Neeman. :p
 
Bone probably chips easier but I wonder if wood can shrink more?

Old ebony looks really black while the newer stuff is browner,is this merely due to ageing or the type of wood?

I have some fixed blades with black walnut handles,never seen walnut on a pocket knife is there a reason? I've heard that fruit woods,apple and pear are particularly hard and durable,also heard that Snakewood is rather temperamental and shrink prone.
 
Willgoy - The color of the ebony depends on the quality of the piece. I have some antique ebony that is more brownish, and I have some modern ebony that is very very black. Look at the Queen teardrop that I had rehandled in ebony (in the earlier post in this thread). It has some fantastic ebony. I still have enough of that piece of ebony for about five more knives. And my GEC #73 is also very black.

I have an older Case with walnut handles, and Tina uses walnut on their horticulture knives.

As far as durability and hardness are concerned, fruit woods and walnut don't hold a candle to ebony. Ebony is much much harder. The only fault with ebony is that some pieces will split or crack.
 
Yes, the Ebony on that Queen Teardrop is really something! Makes me want to get my BEM re-scaled in it,thanks for the info.
 
I knives in curly birch, ash and birds' eye maple. I really enjoy the warmth of the wood. However, more care should be taken for wood than bone. For example, wood has a greater capacity to shrink and swell to due to moisture and temperature.

In Scandinavian traditional knives, they use wood for a reason. It is less like to stick to gloves during the winter.
 
I like wood over bone scales/handles in general, but it really has to do more with clean lines and symmetry of shape. Although smooth bone may contain these characteristics too.

As a corollary, it would be interested to see preferences of smooth handled vs jigged/patterned handled/scaled regardless of material.
 
For some reason, I will fork out more dollars for a bone knife rather than a wood one. I guess bone seems more exotic to me than wood when it comes to knife scales. It is my own personal preference. I do/have/will purchased wood handled knives in the past, but have probably 80% bone 20% wood. However, I have grown fond of snakewood, ebony and lignum vitae now that I am a knife nut.
 
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