Today I finally picked up a genuine ebony scaled 2019 110. The ebony is perfectly flushed with the brass bolsters. Since I live in an equatorial country with close to 90% humidity at times, I will be carrying my new 110 over the coming months and put to test his claims of the ebony "swelling". Don't really expect it to, though.
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New Ebony 110 scales swelling ?
- Thread starter dunc5
- Start date
Old Hunter
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2012
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- 9,796
I bought the first new ebony handled Buck 110 I saw last winter - it's been through a downeast NC summer and fall (meaning high humidity) - it hasn't swollen yet. OH
Put my new Ebony handled 110 through the works during a camping trip in our hot, wet and humid equatorial forest last weekend, including doubling up for camp kitchen duties. Literally worked hard & put away wet, so to speak. No worries, no sign of any swelling of the scales at all. And for a so-called lower grade steel, the 110's 420HC punches way, way above it's weight.
And at said camp, managed to speak at length with someone who is knowledgeable about our local timber species. He said Ebony is basically the same as our Malaysian Blackwood (Kayu Hitam in Malay), which is naturally durable Grade A heavy hardwood. Expensive too, it seems. Apparently this type of wood is so dense that it doesn't absorb oiling nor can termites attack it in it's natural form. Many of our timber species need to be pressure-impregnated with preservatives against termites, but Grade A timbers are naturally durable and cannot even be pressure impregnated due to it's density. Asked him about the likelihood of my 110's ebony scales "swelling" and he said haha
And at said camp, managed to speak at length with someone who is knowledgeable about our local timber species. He said Ebony is basically the same as our Malaysian Blackwood (Kayu Hitam in Malay), which is naturally durable Grade A heavy hardwood. Expensive too, it seems. Apparently this type of wood is so dense that it doesn't absorb oiling nor can termites attack it in it's natural form. Many of our timber species need to be pressure-impregnated with preservatives against termites, but Grade A timbers are naturally durable and cannot even be pressure impregnated due to it's density. Asked him about the likelihood of my 110's ebony scales "swelling" and he said haha