Knife handle wood: help a nooby!

My parents do have a massive pile of wood in their backyard... I have no clue how I'd even begin to try and identify it though, ha ha.
 
I found a really nice gnarly piece of wood on the beach that had beautiful grain and spalting in it. I just liked the look of the wood and cut some up and had it stabilized. I think it might be maple...but I don't know. Looks beautiful so I used it. You don't have to know the woodpile to find nice wood in it.

Here it is on a couple handles my students did.
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lessismore said:
I agree that ironwood would be a good choice for what you're looking for.

Now for an opinion that you didn't ask for....;)



I hear what your saying, I would reconsider limiting yourself before you get started. Sometimes a design or idea comes out of a piece of wood.

Merely a suggestion, but I'd try not to lock into any plans yet, personally, knifemaking has opened a world of creativity that I never had before. Buy the ticket, take the ride. The imagination is best left unfettered.
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I could not agree with this more! I have Started with a design idea, and got into and said, man this knife is begging for an awesome piece of Burl. On my hard working knives, camp choppers, etc etc, I like to use iron wood, cocobolo, and micarta. Stacy said something recently in a post, and it really hit home with me. Your knives will travel a long way after its initial sale. Through trades, selling and what have you. You want a knife handle that is going to stand the test of time. You dont want your mark on a knife and someone to go, man that handle is rough! My take away from his comment was, use quality material, dont skimp.
 
bodog said:
Ironwood, kingwood, cocobolo, and ringed gidgee.

But after a year I'm still waiting on the black and white ebony from Ben Greenberg.
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[/url]image by Wjkrywko, on Flickr[/IMG]

Black and white bony is gorgeous. I cured this for 7 years before using.
Padauk is one of my favourites. I like walnut, ebony, cocobolo, and even Wenge for easy to get woods that are ok without stabilization.
 
If you are looking for specific, precut blocks you can check the for sale section, as many dealers and makers sell their extra stock.
 
I would say the choice of wood defines a knifes character as much if not more than the choice of handle material. You can stick to one for most projects but I am thinking you will get tired of it. Trying new things is the most exciting things to me about knife making.

I wont name any vendors specifically but google stabilized wood and get a few pieces that catch your eye. If its stabilized its probably safe. Have fun and dont be scared to try new things.
 
I think you have put the cart befor the horse so to speak in that you have not made a blade yet. I'm not saying your question is wrong I'm just saying the timing is off. Get some steel and start building up your skill level and then get some simple wood and work on handle shaping. After you feel confident in your skills then you can start looking at spending more on wood. There is no point in wasting money on good wood while learning. You never know you might try knife making and quit. It's a lot of work and you have to be addicted to keep doing it :foot:. Not to mention alot of wood out there will cost more then you can expect to get for your knives starting out. I'm a sucker for ironwood as well but I like the figured stuff. Was looking at a set of scales of ironwood burl that was $115. Now if only I can sneak them past the wife lol. But it's not uncommon to spend $30-$75 on wood for a single knife. So I say get your toes wet and see how you like it first befor you make "only use one wood" kind of choices.
 
JTknives said:
I think you have put the cart befor the horse so to speak in that you have not made a blade yet. I'm not saying your question is wrong I'm just saying the timing is off. Get some steel and start building up your skill level and then get some simple wood and work on handle shaping. After you feel confident in your skills then you can start looking at spending more on wood. There is no point in wasting money on good wood while learning. You never know you might try knife making and quit. It's a lot of work and you have to be addicted to keep doing it :foot:. Not to mention alot of wood out there will cost more then you can expect to get for your knives starting out. I'm a sucker for ironwood as well but I like the figured stuff. Was looking at a set of scales of ironwood burl that was $115. Now if only I can sneak them past the wife lol. But it's not uncommon to spend $30-$75 on wood for a single knife. So I say get your toes wet and see how you like it first befor you make "only use one wood" kind of choices.
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30 bucks a set of scales is pretty darn close. I like to hit up Mr. Greenbergs sale lists lol. Im a cheapo kind of guy.

However, Some knives demand, the good premium quality materials, and when you make the call to get the good stuff, you really really dont want to mess up a 30-50 dollar set of scales. JT is right, I am all about planning and details, and I pester the heck out of my customers when they order something from me, because I want to have every detail ready before i ever hit metal.

To practice handle making. I went out into the woods on my farm, found some oak, maple, and cherry that I had cut down, and was good and seasoned. Then I cut it down into rough scale dimensions, and went to town. I made handles for knives, I was never making. You wouldnt believe, just how hard the wood working aspect of this is. At least it is for me anyhow.
 
The way I see it, wood prices break down into a couple major categories by price.

5-20 dollars: this is things like wenge, bocote, and unselected stabilized woodd. I actually find there is almost no interest for this. I offered unselected blocks of stabilzed figured walnut, maple and cherry along with cocobolo and kingwood for 15 dollars and NO ONE was interested

20-45 this is well figured woods, most domestic burls, figured exotics and high quality exotics like African blackwood or ebony. Where I do most of my business

45-75 high quality woods, mostly very nice domestic burls, very will figured woods or figured exotics like snakewood. I have been moving into this market.

75and up: top quality burls, rosewood burl, koa, so on
 
Greenberg Woods said:
The way I see it, wood prices break down into a couple major categories by price.

5-20 dollars: this is things like wenge, bocote, and unselected stabilized woodd. I actually find there is almost no interest for this. I offered unselected blocks of stabilzed figured walnut, maple and cherry along with cocobolo and kingwood for 15 dollars and NO ONE was interested

20-45 this is well figured woods, most domestic burls, figured exotics and high quality exotics like African blackwood or ebony. Where I do most of my business

45-75 high quality woods, mostly very nice domestic burls, very will figured woods or figured exotics like snakewood. I have been moving into this market.

75and up: top quality burls, rosewood burl, koa, so on
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I tend to stay in the mid grades as well. I just cant do the 75 and up stuff. Also, I have steer away of rosewoods, because I found that I have a pretty nasty allergy to them... Which stinks, because coco was one of my absolute favorites, still is really, but I just cant use it. I have also found that is is typically cheaper to buy a block of given wood, instead of buying scales. Not always the case, but it seems to work out that way for me.
 
I think the more you make the pickier you get. I used to drool going to woodcraft and now its almost all bleh. Part of the issue is scaling, you find a piece that is 3' long and 1' wide and all figured but you place your blank on it and there is hardly anywhere that has great or even decent figure. That is why you pay as much as Ben quotes.
 
Find a local vendor and go browse. Look at woods on others knives. Explore.

I started with curly maple, than walnut, some carbon fiber, stag and even some cocobolo. All have some artistic value. And wood do not have to be stabilized, as most hardwoods do just fine with some Tung Oil and a good polish, even polyurethane is good.

But I would start locally.

Larry
tinkerer
 
Thats what a lot of people dont get. Most big box wood stores online that sell knife handles are just taking a big board of wood and chopping it into 1.5-1-5 blocks. The reason wood from someone like me or Mark is so much more expensive is we take a piece of wood or burl and mark out where the blocks are going to be. I know I average between 15 to even up to 80 percent waste on some woods because i prefer to get 1 fully figured block rather than 2 half figured block. That extra waste comes from cutting only the nicest parts of a slab or burl.
 
Greenberg Woods said:
Thats what a lot of people dont get. Most big box wood stores online that sell knife handles are just taking a big board of wood and chopping it into 1.5-1-5 blocks. The reason wood from someone like me or Mark is so much more expensive is we take a piece of wood or burl and mark out where the blocks are going to be. I know I average between 15 to even up to 80 percent waste on some woods because i prefer to get 1 fully figured block rather than 2 half figured block. That extra waste comes from cutting only the nicest parts of a slab or burl.
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hey man completely off topic, is the bocote blocks you have on clearance stabilized? If so how many do you have?
 
Another vote for Walnut. I harvest mine with a chainsaw from the woods and either allow it to dry over a few months in scale size pieces or force dry it in the microwave if I'm in a hurry. It has interesting texture and light to almost black coloring. It's hard, been used for high quality furniture for centuries and is easy to work. Sometimes I'll stabilize it myself in a homemade vacuum chamber I made from a canning jar and a pump used for wine bottles (build instructions are easy to find on youtube). The only real cost is if I stabilize and then one bottle will last for many knives. Once stabilized and sanded it can be buffed to an amazing finish. So, very cheap, durable, looks great and easy to work....what's not to like?
 
JTknives said:
I think you have put the cart befor the horse so to speak in that you have not made a blade yet. I'm not saying your question is wrong I'm just saying the timing is off. Get some steel and start building up your skill level and then get some simple wood and work on handle shaping. After you feel confident in your skills then you can start looking at spending more on wood. There is no point in wasting money on good wood while learning. You never know you might try knife making and quit. It's a lot of work and you have to be addicted to keep doing it :foot:. Not to mention alot of wood out there will cost more then you can expect to get for your knives starting out. I'm a sucker for ironwood as well but I like the figured stuff. Was looking at a set of scales of ironwood burl that was $115. Now if only I can sneak them past the wife lol. But it's not uncommon to spend $30-$75 on wood for a single knife. So I say get your toes wet and see how you like it first befor you make "only use one wood" kind of choices.
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You're absolutely right, and iI was thinking the same. I honestly plan on making 10 or so knives with mystery steel and wood for the back yard, just to get a feel for the process and figure out how much time I want to spend on this. If i stay as interested as i have been for the past few months, then I'll move into putting more care and effort and money into the process. Then I'll get good steel and make good choices about wood and get some more adequate tools set up.

I'm almost ready to get to it though! My cheapo 1x30 grinder and some belts are on their way. Then I'll go to the scrap yard and hope I can pick out something hardenable, haha. If it doesn't end up being, then my first handful will just be bevel and handle making practice :)
 
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