Favorite Handle Material for Working Knife?

Favorite Handle Material on Working Knife

  • G10, either black or colored

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Carbon Fiber, black or colored

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Fancy Wood, could be any kind

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Titanium, anodized or beadblasted

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • MOP

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I prefer checkering or texturing directly on the metal

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I prefer plain beadblasting on the metal

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Zytel

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Stag

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Jigged Bone

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
Peter Atwood

Peter Atwood

Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Messages
2,468
What's your favorite handle material for a hard use working man's knife. Could be an overlay on a folder or handle slab on a fixed blade. What qualities do you look for and why? Since you can't edit polls and I screwed up as usual, let's pretend that MOP is Linen Micarta! :)
 
Sorry guys, MOP is Bead blasted linen micarta for all intents and purposes. Maybe the moderators will change it?
 
Folder-Titanium. No muss, no fuss, easy to clean.

Fixed-micarta, same reason as above. I love wood handles, but I have chipped, damaged them before. Less likely with micarta.
 
I thought MOP was Mother Of Pearl! :p

I would have to say bead blasted Micarta as well. :D
 
I am one of those zytel people. kraton is great for FB. wood and micarta are both great. except not too polished.
 
I almost exclusively go for some sort of textured metal, usually steel. I like aluminum too. In cases where bare steel might be a poor choice due to extreme hot or cold I prefer cord wraps.
 
Black G-10 for folders. (REKAT Sifu)
Canvas Micarta for fixed. (Camillus Cuda CQB-1&2)
 
Holy crap, three votes for stag! I thought you could only vote once with this software, Phil!:D OK OK, one of them is probably from Lifter4him...:)
 
My preference is sheep's horn. I fing that it is really tough, is not affected by temerature and does not get slippery when wet. Overall a tremendous handle material.
 
Dang Keith, there's always something else isn't there? I would have never thought of sheep's horn mostly because it's not a material that I've ever seen except for pictures in books of Ed Fowler's beautiful knives. Is the horn solid I wonder....

Anyhow, G-10 is looking pretty popular which is good since that's what's going to be on my next folder. :) It seems to be one of the best in terms of durability and resistance to chemicals and such. Anybody have a preference for colors or is black alright with you?
 
I prefer wood handled hidden tang knives (read puukkos) as my working knives. Wood doesn't have to be fancy looking but curly grained wood is usually more durable so I prefer it. Curly grained wood is generally considered fancy looking...
 
I really like the tri-colred Dymonwood (spell), but understand it is too "soft". If I commission a knife, I would just inform the maker that I would love a bluish-green-burgundy-slate colored handle material and leave it to his expertise understanding MY intented use for the knife. I just do not have the knowledge of each materials characteristics other than "how they appear to ME".
I hope some go on to explain the woods, like Stabilized, dymanwood, etc so I can better understand their durability as a handle material.THANKS.....wolf;)
 
I'm with Keith, looking for the Sheephorn category and had to select the Stag one...but not to worry, Polls are just a trap as I have come to find out! I'm forever leaving something off!!! But the friendly folks on the forum will certainly drop by to point out those shortcomings :), and so it's my turn...:D

G2
The attached image is one side of my WD Pease small fixed blade with BEAUTIFUL Sheep horn...so it's not always have to be Fowler type hidden tang handles...:)
 
You're a cruel man Gary...... I had to just go and change my shirt on account of the drool! :D That is absolutely beautiful. I seem to recall you posted a complete picture of that knife fairly recently. A wharncliff if I remember correctly and a REALLY nice one at that. That sheep's horn looks to be very grippy with the added benefit of being a natural material, always a plus in my book. Of course there's also that nice fob to complement it. Well done!

G10 really seems to be coming out a winner on this one. I'm wondering if everyone votes before reading the thread and so they don't realize MOP is Linen Micarta. Anyhow, Gary, you are right that posting polls is always fraught with leaving off something both obvious and essential to the question at hand.
 
I'm kind of surprised that several people have indicated a preference for aluminum but no one has chosen textured metal in the poll.
 
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