Just curious..

[ExtraBaconPlease]

If you could only pick one handle material that was on all of your CPK blades, forever, what would it be?

 

[ManOfSteel89]

Unbuffed canvas for me. Terotuf is a super close second for me though.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

I may be old school ...and I think G10 and Micarta have their places and can be useful for grip ... comfort maybe even at times ...

but if there were only one it would be wood for me ... aside from prefering the look of wood ... it can be absolutely beautiful ... it is easier to clean it doesn't absorb blood (and since I hunt alot that's a consideration) ...

so although I'm really glad we have options for different uses ... if forced into one ... for me would have to be wood.

 

[91bravo]

I'm a micarta huzzie, so micarta it is!

 

[TommyGun56]

For a Chopper I will take TeroTuf! For a smaller knife Linen which BRINGS UP THIS QUESTION-Is the Westinghouse Antique edge cut Micarta " Linen, or Canvas"? I am guessing Linen

 

[jackal_727]

I picked unbuffed canvas micarta, but truthfully this is a bit of difficult one to answer. Intended purpose would have a lot to do with my answer. Small knives with ergonomic handles such as the edc, provide a good grip regardless of handle material, so I would in many cases pick something a little more refined. Buffed linen micarta, or a nice wood of some sort. Moving along to larger knives where chopping and batoning comes into play, I'll take the grippiest material available. In this case terotuf. I know a lot of people whine about a super grippy material on a chopper due to the hot spots it can create. My answer is suck it up buttercup. Hot spots are just baby blisters from using parts of your hands that you normally don't. But blisters turn to calluses eventually so just play through it and everything will turn out fine.

But in the end if I truly had to pick one material for every knife regardless of its intended use, it's back to unbuffed canvas micarta. It's just a nice middle ground.

 

[TRfromMT]

Wood.
Of course.

 

[Casinostocks]

Antique micarta for me, since I received my first ever one. Don't get me wrong, I love the cocobolo scales on my UF but I would not think of it as practical in every knife. Nathan's antique micarta has hit the right spot for me and as Nathan had stated before, "it is the GOOD stuff".

 

[MikeKu825]

Buffed Canvalinecartawood.

After that, Unicorn Horn and Smurf skin micarta.. in that order.

 

[betzner]

None of the above, You forgot to distinguish the edgecut antique micarta from the list.

 

[jackal_727]

None of the above

And just like that, someone throws a wrench in the whole operation lol

 

[TRfromMT]

This thread is useless without pictures

 

[JustinFournier]

Wood4lyfe.

You also forgot paper micarta for people who want something completely solid with no concerns that come along with canvas.

Number one has to be wood. Not just any wood. Something hard and stable like Ironwood, Osage, Rosewood etc. Otherwise it's gotta be stabilized by Nicholas. Yeah, wood.

Then Westinghouse Butterscotch paper micarta and finally edge cut vintage micarta (probably Westinghouse as well).

Unless it's a chopper then it's got to be unbuffed canvas or TeroTuf.

Since I'm forced to pick only one.

 

[Casinostocks]

None of the above, You forgot to distinguish the edgecut antique micarta from the list.

I thought that they were intended as one of the same. TBH, I'm not well versed on the two different versions. Time for you to whip out some photos please

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

For a combination of attractive and functional: good Osage Orange, antique Micarta, Desert Ironwood, the old African Blackwood that was really dark not the new brown stuff (which is also nice, but not quite the same to me).

My personal knives tend to be natural micarta or Osage orange. Durable, grippy and light.

The knives I produce tend to be micarta because it has the best combination of performance and value, which is how I make design decisions, but it's hard to compete with the beauty of natural wood. I've been smitten by this antique micarta because it combines the grip and durability of micarta with some of the beauty of wood. I got all of it I could find. I'll be sad when it's gone.

 

[ATJ999]

Those are tough choices. I am really liking Terotuff for my larger blades. I am a fan big of natural Micarta, but I LOVED that Antique Micarta HDFK Nathan put up for sale recently. That handle looked amazing!!
Aways been a fan of wood handles as well. Some burls look amazing.

 

[Casinostocks]

Can you please explain and illustrate the differences between edgecut antique and then just the antique version?

 

[betzner]

I'm pretty sure I have seen at least one set of scales on a CPK knife that was the antique micarta, but rather than being edgecut (which shows all of the delicate stranding), it was flat cut just like the standard cuts you see in non-vintage micartas. Until that point (can't remember how long ago that was) I think I presumed all of the vintage stuff was being edge cut. Without the pic(s), I can't do any better in explaining it.

 

[Casinostocks]

I hope to see the pictures Bob.

 

[betzner]

It's entirely possible I am wrong, and Nathan has produced some flat cut antique micarta - and if so, perhaps he would have image comparisons between it and edgecut. Otherwise, you will probably never see any unless someone else shows them.