Favorite Traditional Knife Handle Material?

Hey guys i have a question, its probably dumb, but is Alox a handle material? and for that matter is it traditional?
 
Back to knives. Stag is my one weakness. I'll buy a knife I don't need if it has great looking stag. I need to figure out the knife scanning thing so I can share a few.
 
For pics, here is an example of decent gabon ebony
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If we're going to wander off topic with 1911s, although I like gabon ebony on slipjoints, for larger things I like macassar ebony (I made these handles myself, by hand):
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And bringing it back to knives, more macassar:
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Let's remember where we are posting. It is called BLADEforums, not GUNForums. Please post accordingly.
 
Sorry Frank, I started the tangent by admiring the koa grips on Christian's 1911. I should have asked him about the wood outside this discussion.
 
Gevonovich said:
Come on Jake ...The whole picture now...the suspense is killing me!!
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Sorry, Gevonovich. That's an old photo and the original is not on my laptop. I may have to take another photo.

MattyLav said:
Hey guys i have a question, its probably dumb, but is Alox a handle material? and for that matter is it traditional?
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If it's not a handle material than the 1961 Swiss army knife would have no handle... and there would be nothing to hold... except the tangs of the blades. ;) Fortunately for those Swiss soldiers, alox is a handle material. I don't know that "traditional" has been clearly defined... alox was not used as early as other handle materials such as wood... which by the way was used on the early Victorinox "soldier's knife".
 
No dumb questions that I have seen. Alox is the trade name used by Victorinox for their aluminum scales on certain slip joints such as the Farmer. I am guessing that the Alox term stands for aluminum oxide, which the scale finish resembles. I wouldn't consider the Alox scale as 'traditional', but that is just me.

As for some of my favorite handle materials, I would have to say, Sambar Stag, smooth bone such as Camel Bone and I have always been a sucker for Desert Ironwood.
 
Thinking of wood handles, I really like the different woods used on my two French knives, curly birch and juniper. I don't have a pic yet of my birch handled laguiole, and this pic of my juniper handled LeThiers isn't that good but they look great and feel good in the hand:

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Juniper even smells good :D
 
Most definately sambar stag. A slipjoint is a manmade mechanical creation, all geometric lines and machined surfaces. A product of civilization.
Stag is pure natural in its random figuring and contrasting lights and darks. A product of the wild.
I think the marrying of the two concepts, manmade and natural, together make a beautiful statement.
 
Ram's horn and red/amber stag are my favorites, with lots of bark and popcorn.

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Nice jigged bone or stag bone would be a close third place.

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Tough call. For folders it's usually an eye catching jigged bone handle, preferably with a nice "worn in" look. For fixed blades, I like wood handles with a really nice grain.
 
While I prefer most jigged bone, I like a smooth white Delrin for one reason, if you want to get that aged ivory look without spending 10 times more for the scales than the knife itself, you can soak your white Delrin knife in cool black coffee for a few hours and get the look of aged ivory that will fool most folks.
 
I love the look of amber stag and dark woods and tend towards these with smaller knives that will see light use. I only care for wood handles on fixed blades. Despite this I love the feel of the case delrin, my sodbuster jr with the black delrin feels so good in the hand and the durability lends itself well to a hard working knife.

comoha said:
Most definately sambar stag. A slipjoint is a manmade mechanical creation, all geometric lines and machined surfaces. A product of civilization.
Stag is pure natural in its random figuring and contrasting lights and darks. A product of the wild.
I think the marrying of the two concepts, manmade and natural, together make a beautiful statement.
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I really like this statement.
 
I honestly don't know that I have a favorite. If forced to choose just one material though, I'd probably choose wood just for the variety of different woods available.
 
MattyLav said:
Hey guys i have a question, its probably dumb, but is Alox a handle material? and for that matter is it traditional?
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I am of the old opinion that the only dumb question is the one you should have asked and didn't.

Unless I am mistaken alox is about the same age as delrin and aluminum goes back further. You can decide what is traditional. I might even consider Corelon.

My favorite? Pass gives me a headache trying to decide.;)
 
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