Price of ivory / MOP over wood handle?

Joss

Joss

Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
7,353
Hi,

I realize this is a broad question, but hopefully I can boil it down a bit. In your professional opinion, how much cost does it add to select basic ivory or MOP (for folders) over premium wood (say grade A walnut or ironwood) for respectively:

1) folder;
2) mid-sized fixed blades (MOP not available);
3) large bowie with stick tang (MOP not available).

Please factor in the additional work and the % of wasted material due to cracks occuring during the process.
 
Are you asking how much it will cost to have a maker here do the inlays for you? If so there are several factors in the cost. First is the materials cost. Both MOP and ivory come in many colors and grades. Preban elephant with great matching grain on both scale pieces will be a fortune but you can find plenty of cheaper ivory. Russia is selling some great mamoth fossil ivory with blue bark atm for way less than it used to sell for. MOP is much the same. Color and quality are the deciding factors after size. Then there is inlaying it. I cant imagine it wouldnt be to cheap if you are after someone skilled. If you want to do it yourself I would inlay alot of other things before moving up to ivory and MOP. It think the ivory would be a bit easier to start off than MOP. MOP would be more prone to cracking and chipping unless the ivory was all dried out, in wich case you wouldnt want to use it. Sorry I cant give more speculation on actual cost of inlay work or time. I know one of the guys who does this work will chime in about that. Googling MOP and ivory will bring up tons of sources for both. I would wiegh the cost of inlays against the thought of using basic ivory or MOP. If the work will be pricey anyways save and get high quality materials for the inlays.
 
No, I'm just asking makers, on average, by how much it increases their costs to do a given knive with a ivory (or MOP) handle versus some premium wood. Is the difference $50ish, $100ish, $300ish?
 
Ahhh. k srry. I would figure that the more work you put into the piece (sculpting, inlayed, scrimshaw) the more the price would increase over the additional materials cost but I'm shure just a nice piece of handle material can fetch such an increase. Ill be quite and let the selling makers chime in. :D
 
Well, the last time I bought handle material was at Blade.One set of premium Mammoth Ivory scales cost me $100, while a premium matched set of Ironwood cost me $ 30. So that is the difference to me, as there is no real difference in labor time, just material cost.Dave:)
 
It varies greatly, but for a basic estimate of the cost:
Regular wood - $10-20
Exotic wood - $20-50
MOP - $30-75
Ivory - elephant - $75-150
" mammoth - $100-300
" walrus - $150-500
" Narwhal - $100/inch

How much you add to the finished knife depends on the knife and the work involved.
 
yeah i'm with you on this one

just look through some knife making supply shops and check out prices for materials.

some people are lucky and find stuff cheap, have a connection or something. but most go through dealers, so you can kind of judge what its gonna cost to have some variationof handle material.

though with ceratin materials there may be more work involved with finishing
takes a little more effort to work with a nice piece of MOP than it does some canvas micarta that you're just gonna leave at 220 grit.
 
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