Japanese White Oak / White Oak as a Handle

tritiuminator

tritiuminator

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Feb 20, 2009
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This is probably a dumb question but would you use White Oak as a handle on lets say a fighting knife?

Well Japanese White Oak is really US White Oak they don't havest oak in Japan. But wondered if it is a suitable handle for a fighter?


Hope you guys could help
 
Like any other wood there is some bits prettier than others, I imagine you could find some nice White Oak. I got a nice hefty chunk from a buddy, seems like it is nice wood.
 
I really like the oak family. Red oak is a very common wood, but white is less seen in these kinds of things (artwork/knife handles) and if you find a nice piece, it would look wonderful as a handle, and be fairly strong, as oak naturally is.
 
White Oak can be a very pretty wood. It was the favored wood for "Arts & Carts" era furniture. The best figure in a piece will usually be found on a surface that's oriented in a radial plane (one that runs through the center of the tree). The tannins in Oak will react with iron to form a dark stain if the knife gets wet, (assuming the blade's not stainless) I would probably stain or fume the oak dark preemptively to deal with that problem. Oak is a bit porous, so you'll need a finish on it to buff it to a high gloss
 
i seen some one time that was quarter sawn, and stabilized, it looked nice
 
Ok... help a dumb hick out.
What does 'quarter sawn' mean? i know it is partaining to the direction of the cut, but what direction? Is it basically a 45 degree cut against the grain?
 
hickbob said:
Ok... help a dumb hick out.
What does 'quarter sawn' mean? i know it is partaining to the direction of the cut, but what direction? Is it basically a 45 degree cut against the grain?
Click to expand...

So that when you cut the boards they are cut perpendicular to the grain. In oak this displays where the rays end nicely, and prevent warping.
 
Japanese white oak is a very different critter than US white oak, most importantly is isn't ring porous, second of all it's a real bear to split, and third it is much harder. Their red and white oaks are more like our "live oaks" (think Old Ironsides).

For things like wooden plane bodies, chisel handles, and tool handles in general it's really great stuff. They use it for handles like we use hickory - actually hickory is probably the readily available equivalent
 
I was at a gun show in NE Ohio once, and their was a guy there that had a piece of curly oak and a piece of curly purpleheart. I was able to talk him out of the purpleheart. I ended up getting about 20 knife handles out of the purpleheart over the years. If my memory serves me, it cost me about $50.

I really tried to talk him out of the curly oak, but he wouldn't give in. It was an 8" x 24" x 2" board. It had the wildest swirling wood pattern, with an overlaying curly striping to it. It was the most fantastic piece of oak I've ever seen. It was definitley oak too. I got up to $150 and he still wouldn't budge. They say that every man has his price, but I don't think he did on the oak. He wanted to use it for a gunstock. I'd like to have seen the result when he was finished.
 
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