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Favorite Handle Material
- Thread starter winstonknives
- Start date
- Joined
- May 9, 2000
- Messages
- 29,205
There is another material that I like a great deal, but it is from endangered species so you can only use material taken from old brushes, combs, mirrors, etc. Real Tortoise Shell is absolutely stunning on the right knife.
- Joined
- Jul 9, 1999
- Messages
- 3,316
Wood. Any nicely figured, fairly oily, naturally stable hardwood has my full attention.
Favorites are Cocobolo, Desert Ironwood, Bocote, Zericote, Amboyna Burl and Rosewood. Other faves are Birdseye and Curly Maple, Lignum Vitae, Olivewood, Para Kingwood, Osage Orange and Amazon Bloodwood.
I also LOVE Snakewood and nearly ALL burls but seldom get to use them.
There are others I like, but that list would be somewhat long to compile and would just bore you anyway.
BTW, the knives in my avatar have handle scales of Amboyna Burl(top knife) and Cocobolo(bottom blade).
All the best,
Mike U.
Favorites are Cocobolo, Desert Ironwood, Bocote, Zericote, Amboyna Burl and Rosewood. Other faves are Birdseye and Curly Maple, Lignum Vitae, Olivewood, Para Kingwood, Osage Orange and Amazon Bloodwood.
I also LOVE Snakewood and nearly ALL burls but seldom get to use them.
There are others I like, but that list would be somewhat long to compile and would just bore you anyway.
BTW, the knives in my avatar have handle scales of Amboyna Burl(top knife) and Cocobolo(bottom blade).
All the best,
Mike U.
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2002
- Messages
- 5,868
I like:
-Carbon Fiber
-Apple Coral
-Tiger Coral
-Titanum
-Stag (bone)
-Linen Micarta
-Wood
-G-10
In that order for the most part.
Edited to add:
On most knives, Lanyard holes are a must. Scale liners are nice, but not required and your fluted wood would be bumped up from my wood rank up to the Carbon Fiber's slot
-Carbon Fiber
-Apple Coral
-Tiger Coral
-Titanum
-Stag (bone)
-Linen Micarta
-Wood
-G-10
In that order for the most part.
Edited to add:
On most knives, Lanyard holes are a must. Scale liners are nice, but not required and your fluted wood would be bumped up from my wood rank up to the Carbon Fiber's slot
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2002
- Messages
- 1,419
I like any material that is durable and suited to the use of the knife, ie.- ?? display type art knife or is it a hard-core bash-em-up user ??
My favourite for a using knife is bead blasted contoured canvas Micarta above all else, but some really tough woods also do well. Most are stabilised but the inland Australian timbers, rosewood-family (Kingwood, Rosewood, African Blackwood) make awesome handles for hard use. Stabilised bone is also very tough. Regardless of the material, the handle needs to be comfortable to use and secure in the hand during use.
My favourite for a display type knife is still some super-exotic wood. I like the design to be very clean. 416SS bolsters and fittings can make the difference.
My favourite for a using knife is bead blasted contoured canvas Micarta above all else, but some really tough woods also do well. Most are stabilised but the inland Australian timbers, rosewood-family (Kingwood, Rosewood, African Blackwood) make awesome handles for hard use. Stabilised bone is also very tough. Regardless of the material, the handle needs to be comfortable to use and secure in the hand during use.
My favourite for a display type knife is still some super-exotic wood. I like the design to be very clean. 416SS bolsters and fittings can make the difference.
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2002
- Messages
- 3,834
Definitely MOP--presentation grade white is my fav, but any color is cool. Follow that with a nice piece of curly koa or desert ironwood. I like lanyard holes on fixed blades, but doesn't make a difference to me on a folder. I like the fluting that you (David) do on your knife handles. It really adds to the look of the knife.