Handle Material

D

DustinHall

Joined
Dec 31, 2008
Messages
687
Where is the cheapest place to order handle material from, particularly exotic wood blocks?

Thanks.
 
You might not be interested in purchasing entire boards, but if you are I've always been very happy with Cook Woods. They describe their products accurately, ship quickly and package the boards very well. If you have access to a table saw, buying lumber is a great way to build up a long-term inventory of handle material. But that's another addiction all on its own... :D
 
Dustin, I've scored some nice scales off eBay for as little as $2/set at times...don't get much cheaper than that.
 
I think that cheap and exotic wood blocks don't go well in the same sentence :D

Pop has good prices and tons of material. He doesn't post individual pieces on his website, but he's one of only a handful of people that I would trust to pick out material for me. AKS has good deals on exotic woods from time to time and they often have the best prices for G10, Micarta etc, if they've got the size that you want. Tracy Mickley is also a good source for materials.
 
Most knife suppliers have good selection of exotics, I'd stick with a company that has a knifemaker like Pops, Tracy or AKS for wood that I don't get to see, I know I can trust them to get what I'm asking for. I usually cruise ebay for interesting pieces and buy lumber, mainly from cook-woods, they're great people and if I come up with a few hundred dollars there are some HUGE pieces of lumber I'd love to have that would set me for my lifemaking life.

Like someone said, cheap and exotic don't go together in the same sentence. I just dropped $50 on a very nice piece of ironwood :(
 
Alpha knife supply is great because they have pics of both sides of each piece. They are some of the nicest people you will ever meet and if they don't have what you are looking for they will find it or tell you who does carry it.
 
I guess I should have said it different. I meant "good deals" on exotic woods or even just american burl. Right now I'm broke so I'm just looking for one handle size block for this bowie that I'm making. But, thanks for the help guys.
 
Look for bowie blocks in the clearance section at AKS. My orders always go out fast and ship inexpensively.
 
If you want cheap, you can't go with pre-cut blocks. Buying exotic lumber is much less expensive for the quality. Sometimes lumber yards have usable scraps. It's possible to pick these up for almost nothing.

The cocobolo burl in this knife came from the $1 scrap bin at Gilmer Wood.
2825998780_a737794fee_o.jpg


Phillip
 
Dustin,

From my perspective I have found it cheaper to buy most handle material directly from a reputable knife supply house or someone that specializes in handles. If you buy boards or whole burls or even logs there is a tremendous amount of waste and work getting them to handle size. If you find a really nice block or scale set you know what you have for the most part. I have dealt with Cook, Gilmer, Alfa, K&G, WSSI, and others. Done the while board etc bit and wound up selling it off caus it was driving me out of my shop. Just my opinion, take it for what its worth, bout .02.
 
I don't have any lumber yards around here that have special woods.

Has anyone ever ordered from exoticwoodgroup.com?
 
DustinHall said:
I guess I should have said it different. I meant "good deals" on exotic woods or even just american burl. Right now I'm broke so I'm just looking for one handle size block for this bowie that I'm making. But, thanks for the help guys.
Click to expand...

Yard sales, flea markets, craigslist, ebay, furniture makers, musical instrument makers, wood crafters at park side craft fairs, arborists, roadside deadfalls, knifemakers (got stuff to trade?), etc...

I've found that wood workers (crafters, instument & furniture makers) often have drop-offs they will let go of for fair prices. Some of them peddle on Craigslist. EBay is a crap shoot. I've gotten some fairly good stuff, but a whole lot of crap too. I've done a bit of trading with knife makers for wood and stag. Maybe you have something you could swap for a piece? You could give it a try on the For Sale: Knifemaking Supplies & Tools forum.

Good luck, Phil
 
DustinHall said:
I don't have any lumber yards around here that have special woods.

Has anyone ever ordered from exoticwoodgroup.com?
Click to expand...

I've ordered from them several times. Great customer service. If I remember correctly, they ship on Tuesdays and Fridays. Speak to Lisa.
Just so you know, most of their stuff still has some (a lot of) moisture in it.
You may have to wait a year or so before you can use it.
 
Troop said:
I've ordered from them several times. Great customer service. If I remember correctly, they ship on Tuesdays and Fridays. Speak to Lisa.
Just so you know, most of their stuff still has some (a lot of) moisture in it.
You may have to wait a year or so before you can use it.
Click to expand...


Ohh. Well, thanks for letting me know.
 
If you don't buy wood from knife houses, you're almost guaranteed to get "green" wood. It's what most turners and the like use.
 
Well, I found some cocobolo blocks on ebay for a good deal. Have to wait and see what they look like when they get here. Thanks everyone.
 
Lumber yards don't usually carry hardwoods of any type let alone exotics.
Call a couple of local cabinet makers and find out where they get their hardwoods. Odds are that their supplier has at least some exotics and pretty much all of them will have some figured American hardwoods.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top