Favorite Traditional Knife Handle Material?

Alnamvet68 said:
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.
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That's very interesting, might try that on the latest Forum Knife....I dyed mediocre stag with strong tea&salt with excellent results.

For me it's Sambar stag, but quality does vary but when it's good it's the one! But I'm keen on Ram's Horn, Ebony, Jigged Bone, Smooth bone the usual suspects plus some acrylics and micartas. This is what's so compelling about Trad knives the wealth of handle options.

Thanks, Will
 
Ebony & Stag not necessarily in that order.

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I'm into ebony for the most part. With my newest acquisition in jigged bone I'm very interested in what the aging process will be like.
 
I would say wood is my first choice, but interestingly about 80% of my collection is jigged bone and only 2 stag handled knives out of the whole lot. I like wood to use and worry in my pocket but when I shop I get drawn to the pretty coloured bone like a magpie.
 
I have many types within my collection; nice stag is the best looking, but I prefer jigged bone for everyday carry (also carry a fair number of Delrin handled knives). OH
 
Too early for me in the game to know which will ultimately be my favorite, but I really like all that I have so far, which include: wood, bone, Delrin, stag.

Delrin is a sturdy knockabout product for my inexpensive CV Case knives.
Wood is just so earthy.
Smooth bone feels wonderful in the hand.
Jigged bone comes in so many cool colors.
Stag has character and class.

But since we're picking one, for today it's smooth bone. This one in particular.


Stag oozes class.
 
Jigged bone or African Blackwood. Don't like Stag at all, the scales are too fat which is a huge negative to me. I like my pocket knife THIN and sleek, not bulging at the sides.
 
For me it is tied between Ivory and Sambar Stag, both really do it for me. probably if I had to choose just one it would be Stag (really knobby stuff, not the smoothed out junk). Steven
 
arizonaranchman said:
Don't like Stag at all, the scales are too fat which is a huge negative to me. I like my pocket knife THIN and sleek, not bulging at the sides.
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I also like slender handles and hate fat stag, but fwiw, not all stag is ridiculously thicker than the knife bolsters

here are a few stag knives pictured that are not all fat
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/949622-Why-is-the-Pile-side-Stag-Better-looking

I always ask for a spine shot of a stag knife so I know. I currently own zero jigged bone, am not attracted to modern versions of it, but have several smooth bones I love. Im also a big fan of some Mother of Pearl, depends on the sample.

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Jigged bone is my favorite but I also love the more modern materials (g10, Micarta, carbon fiber) on traditional patterns.

I also love case's pocket worn bone.

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Stag, jigged bone, any good rich warm dark wood. It will be fun when the wheel comes round and beautiful/tough wooden scales for knives like the Becker's become available.

No love for stacked leather as a 'traditional'? I love the worn old-beloved-boot feel of my old school Ontario USAF Pilot Survival Knife grip. And the warm varnished glow of my KaBar USMC leather grip, 1990s but not handled much and almost like new.
 
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