Favorite Cover Materials for Traditional Pocket Knives ?

Black mamba - nice pics of some great looking knives :) :thumbup:

Some of you guys are real photographers, as evident in this thread. My photos never turn out nearly as well.
 
For functionality, jigged bone with some texture is hard to beat.

davisonbone6.jpg


Premium stag also has an excellent feel.

bosestaglannysclip3.jpg


But old ivory is my favorite (hafted by Evan)

ivorycharlowpatina1.jpg
 
Jigged bone or wood (dark woods like Ebony or African Blackwood). I don't care for Stag generally and don't own any in Stag.
 
Wood, by a long shot. Micarta and Derlin are both nice and preferable depending.

I'm hard on my stuff and perceive bone and stag as cracks waiting to happen.
 
This old Westinghouse micarta just feels right...

It's hard to argue against some nice stag though...
 
I like them all. I love to look at and feel all the different jigged bone, smooth bone, horn, stag, ivory, abalone, sea glass, acrylic, micarta, wood and others. For the feel in my pocket, in actual daily use and durability my favorite is smooth wood of any type.
 
I have several favorites for knives for my own collection:
1. Bone. I most like either sawcut or jigged. It helps with grip and adds visual interest. I have smooth bone I like but I will always seek out the textured bone as a preference.

2. Wood. My favorite is Osage Orange because I grew up with the stuff as fence posts and fire wood and it has a gorgeous color. Other favorites are cocobolo, Boclte, Dessert Ironwood & Zebrawood. Burl is always welcome regardless of the source! I am not much of a fan of black woods for my own collection although I do have a few and like the ones I have.

3. Stag and Horn is always a favorite for it's beauty and grip.

I am not a big fan of light colored handles such as Ivory, Abalone, Mother of Pearl or their synthetic imitations. I find that these are usually too hard to keep clean for knives that get used and carried a lot. The light colored handles I have tend to become knife case queens.

Like Bob W. said, Most of the knives in my collection are Delrin handled. At it's best Delrin can be made into a rather handsome handle but most are rather ho-hum. It is on average durable, stable and takes a fair amount of abuse without showing it.
 
Wood all the way for me. Cocobolo, Gabon ebony for a truly traditional look, plus African Blackwood to round out the list.
 
woods. Ebony, cocobolo, oak, walnut, bloodwood, etc. I go on straight to synthetics , linen micarts from there. Bone then stag are last.
 
Micarta. If pressed, I would prefer canvas Micarta or other variations with coarse texture.
 
I have a strong preference for smooth handle materials (I grew up with smooth horn and SAK's), or worn jigged bone.
Wood is my favourite, then micarta.
Never carried them enough, but ivory and pearl (at least some of them) look great to my eye.

Fausto
:cool:
 
Ivory (pre-banned) ebony wood, abalone, stag. Any natural material, really, but Ivory is my first choice.
 
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