Let's talk about wood handled traditional folders!

I have a garden bench made from teak. Teak is classed as a hardwood, but it's very light, not as light as balsa, but light enough for a middle-aged man to be able to move an 8ft bench made from it, around the garden, unaided, if needed. The teak was salvaged from an old British ship which was captured by the French at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. After being recaptured, the ship was put back into service, and sank on two occasions. After being decommissioned, it was broken up, and at the beginning of the 20th century, some of the teak timbers were made into garden furniture, such as benches and tables. My bench is of the type that graced England's public parks at one time. I have had it about 13 years, and it sits at the front of my house. It's never been varnished or treated in any way. Seems to be doing OK. The same could be said for my old wood-handled knives, the covers are often in better nick than the blades :thumbup:
 
Jack Black said:
The same could be said for my old wood-handled knives, the covers are often in better nick than the blades :thumbup:
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I was thinking this as I just pulled out my old Winchester lockback that's pictured above. I had no knowledge of how to care for a knife, and no respect for the knife itself. I beat the snot out of that knife in every conceivable way, in it's use, storage, and how I carried it. The bolsters and blade both show obvious signs of mistreatment. The wood is in surprisingly good condition.

I'll have to try to get pictures of some of my great-grandfather's tools that my father still has. They were made by my great-grandfather in the late 1800s, and all have wood handles. He used them daily in his line of work, and they all look to be in serviceable condition to this day.
 
Wood is a very durable material, in my opinion. Used in our homes, flooring, our furniture, wood handled tools, pocket knives, kitchen knives, fixed blade knives, rifle and shotgun stocks, handgun stocks, boat stringers, ships, and on and on. Probably the worst thing you can do to wood is leave it soaking in water. My very favorite natural material.

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I like wooden handles for fixed blades, but for slipjoints I prefer something more visually and texturally interesting. I've managed to pick up this pair along the way though.

 
All cover materials have their upsides and downsides.

Bone is heavy (can be a good thing or bad thing) and can look fantastic, but it can easily crack if it is dropped onto a hard surface, and it tends to lighten in color over time as your pockets polish it all day long, and wear away the jigging.

Stag is most traditional for knife handles, but perhaps less suited to folders than fixed blades due to the preference most of us have for evenly matched slabs on each side. Stag is tough, but the interesting colors wear fairly rapidly with pocket carry, unless you have a piece with deep valleys or popcorn, to let all the wear accumulate on the high points. It also has a tendency to discolor in a greenish way from the brass pins and liners. Bone will do this too, but most bone is darker so you can't see it.

Micarta, Delrin, G10, Kirinite, and all the other various acrylic and synthetic materials have their tradeoffs. They tend to be very scratch, dent, and wear resistant, retain their color well (or be easily refinished) and dimensionally stable ...but they're lighter in weight, and some people would say, soulless or less interesting than natural materials.

And then we come to wood. It can be very pretty, and can possibly remain so for a very long time. It tends to darken over time, because it readily absorbs oils and moisture. If it's the right sort of wood and prepared well by the maker, it will be very dimensionally stable. In terms of functionality though, it's hard to beat. It's likely to lightly dent or be superficially scratched rather than catastrophically chip or crack, and I'd say it's the material most likely to still be fully functional and looking more or less the same in decades, provided reasonable care is taken. Good material for a work knife.
 
Cory Hess said:
I'll have to try to get pictures of some of my great-grandfather's tools that my father still has. They were made by my great-grandfather in the late 1800s, and all have wood handles. He used them daily in his line of work, and they all look to be in serviceable condition to this day.
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What a fantastic thing to be able to see :) I'll look forward to this :thumbup:
 
I do love the feel of wood. Unfortunately, however, being a machinist I find that wood, blasted micarta and other very porous materials get very grimy being constantly exposed to oil, dirt and coolant. I like my jogged bone much better for work.

I do not have many wood handles because of this but I have an old Klein electricians 'knife wih wooden scaled thatfeel very nice.
 
Thanks for all of the great responses and pictures! I'm looking forward to more! 👍
 
My wooden handled Tina's are some of my favourites .

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This Thier was a great knife , but it has a new home now .

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Ken
 
So in general, wood is durable. What about Snakewood? GEC had some problems with the #47's cracking. Is this wood for show and tell or can you use it as a beater knife also? I like the looks of Snakewood but I am hesitant to buy it.
 
Biggie_Robs said:
Many woods are certainly durable, but almost all will darken with age--particularly the more colorful woods. In time they almost all turn brown, some to dark brown bordering on black.
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A great example that I just spotted over in the Esnyx thread:

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Check out the difference between the old Joseph Rodgers third from the top, and the Esnyx 2nd from the bottom. Both have cocobolo handles as far as I can tell. Quite a difference a couple decades will make!
 
4thpoint said:
So in general, wood is durable. What about Snakewood? GEC had some problems with the #47's cracking. Is this wood for show and tell or can you use it as a beater knife also? I like the looks of Snakewood but I am hesitant to buy it.
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Snakewood can be brittle. Based on my own experience, observation of my antique knives, and reports from others, the following woods are your best bet:

Lignum Vitae (was used as ship and submarine propeller shaft bearings during WWII) but good luck finding a knife unless you pay for a custom
Diospyros (ebony) - Gabon and Macassar are the two most commonly encountered
Dalbergia (rosewood) - Cocobolo and African Blackwood are most commonly encountered. Cocobolo darkens a lot. Other Dalbergia species, such as Kingwood and Honduran Rosewood, do not darken very much.
Ipe - hard to find on a non-custom, but incredible wood, albeit not the most spectacular looking
Osage Orange

A good resource for evaluating different kinds of wood for durability, decay resistance, hardness, stability, and workability is here:

http://www.wood-database.com/

I have no problem recommending a good wood for knife handles. I have had very good luck with them.
 
My hardest working pocket knife is my 47 Viper with ebony covers. It's stood up just fine to any and all conditions -- moisture, oil & grease, metal and abrasive stuff knocking about in the same pocket, drops and falls... You'd be hard pressed to find any damage.





I also have a few older ones with wood covers, that I have put through similar treatment with similar results.

Schrade rope knife with cocobolo:




Wadsworth with walnut:



 
philllll said:
Check out the difference between the old Joseph Rodgers third from the top, and the Esnyx 2nd from the bottom. Both have cocobolo handles as far as I can tell. Quite a difference a couple decades will make!
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Yes indeed. Here's an old Keen Kutter with cocobolo covers. When I first saw this knife I thought they were ebony.

 
I was in the antique furniture business for a good portion of my life. From the the common man's oak to the richness of mahogany, cherry, ebony and others my experience shows that when taken care of, wood ages beautifully and can stand up to abuse. Not only that, if damaged, wood can be restored.
 
I prefer ebony to be lighter and streaky colored like the one arm jack here from 2014.
The middle two are from 2018 and the bottom from 2016.
It seems like newer GEC ebony is more uniform black 9F05AE49-8499-4173-837A-3A253C154D6B.jpeg
 
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