Has anyone used old furniture for knife scales?

Seems like you can get decent stuff from old furniture, but you have to be very picky in your selection, and even then it involves a good bit of luck. Compared to the amount of work that goes into a nice knife, the handle material is relatively cheap if you use medium grade handle material. Keep in mind that the handle material has the second biggest impact on the aesthetics of your knife, right behind craftsmanship. Well, maybe third if you count overall design separate from craftsmanship. If your cash strapped and it's for a rough service knife of your own, it might be a good choice.
In the end, will you be satisfied with the results, or will you look wistfully at the knife, knowing you could have done better? Or would you feel bad every time you used such a pretty blade for hard tasks? It all comes down to personal taste.
Just my 2 cents. If it's worth even that much.
 
Wyo Coyote said:
How about something from an old cutting board made from maple, etc. from a thrift shop?
Click to expand...

A proper cutting board will be end grain and that will crack as a knife handle.


The best wood I saw was thyua burl.
It came from those shops that the natives make crafts and are imported and sold here as some sort of fair trade cooperative
 
I looked up "burl" on craigslist yesterday and found this for $80.
Photo on 2016-03-27 at 10.30 PM.jpg

Its 2.5x 32x18." There is enough here for me to make 9 native american flutes and at least 15 nice sets of knife scales. I'm pretty pleased.

Look around, you will find something nice.
 
In Canada, Windsor plywood and Lee valley will have a selection of exotics.

Padauk, walnut, Purple Heart, cocobolo, bubinga, and katalox would all be good choices for unstabilized handles. Maple would work too.
 
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