Fixed blade handle material??

[pinkfloyd101]

I am sure this has been asked a million times. But what do you guys prefer between natural wood handles and something like micarta or G-10? Will wood still be tough and strong for a user or hunting knife? How does micarta or G-10 feel in the hand? THANKS

 

[Gaulois]

they talk about it here:http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731055

 

[pinkfloyd101]

If you like wood handles...what type of wood is great for tough use that doesn't crack easy...THANKS

 

[Ankerson]

I like Micarta or G-10 on my fixed blades.

Micarta is more comfortable though.

 

[sweet_hitch-hiker]

micarta is the bomb.com

 

[FlaMtnBkr]

If you like wood handles...what type of wood is great for tough use that doesn't crack easy...THANKS

If you get a stabilized wood then you get the look and feel of wood and durability more along the lines of a synthetic. Iron wood and cocobolo (sp?) should both be strong crack resistant woods. I have an issue with woods though because while they are pretty, a tree that can be rare has to be cut down. The amount of ironwood still in the wild is dwindling because of its popularity. One day in the probably not too distant future it will be just about impossible to find. I don't have a problem using synthetic and letting the tree stay where it is. Call me a tree huger, hugger, hug-er if you must.

 

[Leftoverdj]

+1 on the stabilized woods. They give the best of both worlds. I would not worry much about the trees except in possible extreme cases because so very little wood is used for knife handles. One tree will make hundreds, even thousands, of knife handles. Such woods as walnut, cherry, and olive are routinely harvested from commercial orchards as the trees are replaced near the end of their crop bearing lives.

I've nothing against the synthetics, either. For pure durability and utility, they can be hard to beat, but there are so many synthetics and they are so variable, each must be evailuated on its own.

 

[mdauben]

My favorite handle material is probably linen or canvas micarta. Durable, attractive and with a nice grip to it. G-10 is nice too and my second choic. The other common synthetic, Carbon Fiber, comes in a distant third for me (it looks nice, but I seem to hear a lot of complaints about cracking and chipping on CF).

Regular wood I don't care much for. The plain stuff is just too... plain and the fancy stuff seems more for show than go. The only exception may be stabilized wood. I don't have any knives with SW handles, yet (got one on order!) so I can't comment on it, but it sounds like a great material with the looks of fancy wood and the durability of synthetics.