Outdoor knife for my galley

[Jan Z]

absolutely love some of the new super steels we're seeing in knives these days.
I own a few now with M390 and S30V steel an the stuff is great, Holds an edge forever and is rust resistant.
I purchases an SOG huntspoint S30V boning knife for the kitchen. (Amazon $66.00)

However I didn't quite care for the handle, I've got large hands and the grip just didn't feel stable so...

I decided to put a new set of grips on. I had a piece of Osage Orange wood I'd saved from a tree I cut down, great hardwood with a dense tight grain, the wood has a bit of a yellow cast to it but is easy to work.

After some layout and cutting I ended up with a comfortable new hardwood handle that fits my hand better than the stock grip on a really great knife for my kitchen.

I stained the wood with some Minwax dark oak oil based stain as a finish, it soaked into the wood but left the surface of the wood with enough grain up to give a secure grip. This thing is perfect for dismembering a whole chicken. and the S30V steel hardly ever needs more than a light touch up on a XXF diamond hone to be shaving sharp again.
Here's the end result.

 

[pease]

Looks much better with your handles great job

 

[Jan Z]

That Osage orange wood is interesting, I was going to use some desert iron wood but it's harder than my exwifes heart and finishes very slick and that's not what I wanted in a kitchen knife handle