Official 2018 BF Knife: Poll 5/8: Handle Materials

Choose Handle Material Grouping (comment color/type)

  • Group 1: Micarta, G10 | $

    Votes: 53 17.7%

  • Group 2: Delrin, Paperstone | $

    Votes: 5 1.7%

  • Group 3: Diamondwood | $

    Votes: 5 1.7%

  • Group 4: Carbon Fiber | $$

    Votes: 4 1.3%

  • Group 5: Buffalo, Elk | $$

    Votes: 59 19.7%

  • Group 6: Stag, Ram Horn | $$

    Votes: 44 14.7%

  • Group 7: Snakewood, KOA | $$

    Votes: 26 8.7%

  • Group 8: Burl, Ironwood | $$

    Votes: 89 29.8%

  • Group 9: Shell, Mother of Pearl | $$$

    Votes: 3 1.0%

  • Group 10: Jigged Bone | $$

    Votes: 11 3.7%
  • Total voters
    299
  • Poll closed .
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I just had a brain wave: skblades skblades , do you happen to know how Buck sources their antlers for elk/stag knives?

It's early days for this poll, but as elk/buffalo is in the lead by a decent margin it might turn out to be my make-or-break for this knife, so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.
 
Sabercat said:
Maybe this was asked before in one of the original threads, but if there's anyone who can speak to the thickness of Buck's stag or elk I'd appreciate it. I'm okay with variations, but I am not a fan of the super thick handles that can occur sometimes.
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I agree, just wanted to add I was really hoping for a polished option...polished elk or stag would make for a slim profile. Nice combination of traditional and unique.
 
Dadpool said:
The samples were fantastic, for sure! :thumbsup: For me it's more the gamble of, say, burlap micarta that looks and feels more like simple acrylic vs. the sort that has many layers of burlap, giving it more depth. I'm not sure I'm describing it well -- and hey, maybe it's not even a gamble in this case.



I looked into this when I was deciding to avoid animal materials in my knives, because that was my understanding as well. What I found was that while antler covers should come from naturally shed antlers, it's difficult to be sure if that's always the case (and likely that it is not always the case). That was enough uncertainty for me.
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I can check on this with Buck. I think I've asked this before, though I'm sure that Buck uses only natural sheds from a few places around the Pacific Northwest.
 
I was all about the Burlap Micarta until I saw an option for Koa. This has to be one of, if not my favorite woods for handles...

Absolutely beautiful, with tons of chatoyance and character.
images.jpeg Aaaaa-Hawaiian-Curly-Koa-Knife-Scales-9338.jpg 2018-05-15 16.09.23.jpg
 
SV-97 said:
skblades skblades maybe it would be wise to actually restart with different categories.
As has been said many times by now the Elk/Buffalo ram/stag options are a bit unlucky. Also most(If not all?) of the people that voiced themselves in favor of some kind of wood said they'd also be fine with the other ones so maybe group all woods together. Further it seems like people like micarta but G10 not so much so a split here may be a good decision.

I don't want to seem ungrateful or anything for you running the polls, but IMO it would probably give a more represantative result in the end. And since the people that already voted probably are the ones that frequent the forums often anyway the chances for someones vote being lost by restarting aren't that great I'd guess.
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I agree. Since we're going to be voting on the final material in the next round anyways, it seems to me like it would make more sense to vote on broader groups here based on type of material (wood, synthetic, elk/stag, bone/horn, for example). Just a thought. I know it's a pain to have to re-work the whole thing.
 
btb01 said:
I agree. Since we're going to be voting on the final material in the next round anyways, it seems to me like it would make more sense to vote on broader groups here based on type of material (wood, synthetic, elk/stag, bone/horn, for example). Just a thought. I know it's a pain to have to re-work the whole thing.
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Still thinking about this. It just adds more weeks to the voting is all. I can see 3 passes at least to figure it out if I reworked it for broader, then smaller, then smaller still. People just need to be vocal in the comments about what they want. If things get too crazy, then we'll make another pass at it.
 
56E4D1C7-1626-44C9-94D6-4FCECC4706B5.jpeg

skblades skblades Stephen, I believe all you need to do is combine the vote totals for groups 5 and 6 as one category and combine groups 7 and 8 in a second category. It seems that most of us are leaning toward some type of wood or some type of horn/antler.

Bucks stag, as shown above, does not look like the stag we have seen from GEC recently. It is more white and not as gnarly, almost like the elk.

I would love to see this knife in Ram’s Horn! I will try to find some examples.
 
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Just another amazing bit of fuel to throw on the fire, @Dopic1 has offered to donate a supply of Bocote to the forum knife. I am conferring with Buck on how they might be able to accept this into the factory. Initially they may want to do tests on it. I don't know how exactly to get the word out about this one, but I'm seeing another round of polling highly necessary. Let's see where this one falls over the next few days. In the mean time, what are your thoughts on the extreme generosity of this forum member? It would save money for sure, and how cool would a knife be with such a nice material donated by one of your own?
 
Right now synthetic 1, 2, 4, 9? = 33 votes
wood 3, 7, 8 = 45 votes
horn/bone 5, 6, 10 = 68 votes

So horn/bone is far in the lead. I'm OK with anything that isn't fat.
 
ea42 said:
For those of you voting for elk, realize that elk has a very thin dark layer that is easily buffed off. On a thin knife like this you might just end up with mostly white handles that look more like bone.

Eric
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That's why I opted for ironwood.
 
skblades said:
Just another amazing bit of fuel to throw on the fire, @Dopic1 has offered to donate a supply of Bocote to the forum knife. I am conferring with Buck on how they might be able to accept this into the factory. Initially they may want to do tests on it. I don't know how exactly to get the word out about this one, but I'm seeing another round of polling highly necessary. Let's see where this one falls over the next few days. In the mean time, what are your thoughts on the extreme generosity of this forum member? It would save money for sure, and how cool would a knife be with such a nice material donated by one of your own?
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That is awesome! Thanks for the donation, @Dopic1! And thank you for running such an excellent polling and discussion process around this knife, skblades skblades ! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
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