Looking for Laminated Wood for Handles Source -

R

rlinger

Joined
Mar 29, 2002
Messages
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What I have found so far by Googling is Dymondwood. I've not yet made a handle of laminated wood and am looking for good advise.

Thanks.

RL
 
I think Dymondwood is just thin pieces of various dyed woods laminated together, so that's probably it. Some of the natural looking ones look okay, actually, although the bright colored stuff is a turn-off. All of the suppliers have tons of the stuff with some pics of it sort of finished. I've used it a handful of times and it is easy to work with, takes a nice finish, too.
 
I use it most of the time. Does not have the deep luster of real wood, but is cheap and last a long time. Heres a couple pics of it. The first is turquiose and the second is walnut. Polishes up real nice with no sealer needed.
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Roger, Is it a customer request? Just get a few pieces from one of the knife supplier. I would think it would need finished with a clear coat of some sort.
 
Chiro75 said:
All of the suppliers have tons of the stuff ....
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Not all suppliers! :p

Roger,

E-mail me offline. I have some dymondwood left over from when I tried knifemaking twenty years ago. I'll give it to you or offer something better. Friends don't let friends use dymondwood. ;)
 
The times I've used it it's just like a synthetic material and there's no shrinking/expanding or anything. I have a knife I put it on years ago... probably 5-6 years ago... and it's never expanded or contracted. Looks the same now as it did then, too, as a matter of fact. I think they impregnate it with so much junk that it basically stabilizes and plasticizes it. I have some green-ish stuff that isn't bad and some natural stuff that actually looks pretty nice. If you want some just email me and we'll make arrangements. I have more than I'll use, so if someone else can get something out it you might as well!
 
i've used the coco-bolo, rosewood and walnut dymondwood and i think they look pretty good. durable, too.
 
Roger, I havent used it for a while but what I do have was purchased from Jantz. Turns out nice and pretty easy to work. Ive never sealed it with anything and dont believe you need to. Its some messy stuff though. Hopefully you have a good dust collection system :-).

Shane

www.shaneivieknives.com
 
rlinger said:
What I have found so far by Googling is Dymondwood. I've not yet made a handle of laminated wood and am looking for good advise.

Thanks.

RL
Click to expand...

Most of what they, (Dymondwood) sell is laminated birch. Birch really soaks up the analine dyes used to color it, hence all the garish color combinations. The problem with birch is it is not a strong wood. In addition when they laminate Dymondwood they run the grain in the laminations all the same direction. This makes a product strong in one direction but very weak in another. I have used it in the past and dropped a piece on a concrete floor and knocked a 1/4" chip out of the piece. Dymondwood will not make a good handle for a hard use field knife. It does not flex like plastics and real wood. You can special order Dymondwood made of hardwood veneers like walnut, cherry and maple. but it is a special order and costs more... lots more. The colors they sell called walnut or cocobolo are just birch died to simulate those woods.

On the plus side there is no finishing. Just sand to the desired roughness. If you want a high gloss finish just sand to 600 grit wet and then buff it with any buffing compound made for plastic.

Another plus is the price. It's cheap as handle materials go.

I like the look of some of it but it's many failings make me avoid using it.
 
his was discussed in another thread earlier this year. Maybe on another forum, I can't remember. But Dymondwood and the other related Pakkawood etc. are actually quite functional handle materials that are pretty durable and on the eaasier spectrum of working for the "synthetic" range of handle materials. Their reputation has been tarnished by the use of horrible colour combinations and the association with cheap China/Taiwan-made crap hunting and folding knives. Many makers still use the cocobolo / walnut and other one-colour versions which are must more tasteful.

Another option to the usual run of Dymondwood product is any other industrial grade "Densified wood" I came across this when shopping around for alternatives to Micarta and "brand-name" phenolic resins. It is often sold by places that distribute electrical insulator components for machining switchboards. You only get one colour but because the grain of the layers is pretty random, there is a lot more character in the resulting handle. Not sure if you can get it where you live, though.

I am using it on some of my kitchen knife range. Here's an example. You can see what I mean, re :- the "grain". Cheers. Jason.
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Thanks every one but I really am looking for a good source for laminated wood for knife handles and it does not have to be Dymondwood. Dymondwood is what I was able to find using Google and that is why I mentioned it.

Thanks for all the testimonials.

RL
 
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