Q about tigerhide handles

JediKnight86

JediKnight86

Joined
Jul 9, 2003
Messages
1,702
I'm seeing much variation in the colors of tigerhide micarta handles. I have an ASH1LE and the handles are a light green/sand color that looks faded and kinda ugly, and I've seen this in some pictures.

But I've also seen pictures with much darker and more colorful tigerhide. My handles look darker and more colorful when wet, but not remain like that. What's the deal?:confused:
 
That is the deal. Oiled or treated with Tru-Oil gun oil will make em dark. The latter semi-permanently.
 
If you like them that wet color, just use mineral oil on them. If they get too dark with the oil, then just use water to wash some of the oil off to taste
 
And note that the mineral oil will dry up or leach out over time.
 
They were variances in the Tiger on the ASH LE's. Some like the first one I sold were bright an orange. I got another off the exchange that was the very muted type without much color, which I prefer. The SFNO LE's had them as well.

Like others have said put the mineral oil to it and see how you like it. If you don't like it can be removed easy. You can wash it off with soap and water. I use a degreaser/Q-tip.
If you like the Mineral Oil look you will have to apply many times before it will stay, then touch it up every now and then, or let your hand oils keep it dark.
 
Aside from wetting or oiling, canvas Micarta color consistency has always fluctuated on Jerry's knives.
Just consider the variations in black/grey/green on the ergos and straight series. Jerry's has also mentioned that the Snake Skin (aka "Camo") will never be produced again because of the difficulty in repeating the color results at manufacture.
I can only imagine that the Tiger also experiences this issue also;)
 
What does the mineral oil do for the feel of the grip ?
Sounds like it would make it slippery.
 
Not slippery, but you can definitely feel it. I scrubbed the mineral oil off of mine because i didn't like the feel. Now it's back to it's original dry feel.
 
Not slippery, it tends to soak in. Different feel, that's true, but it's more like "tacky" than slippery. I like mine oiled and then partly washed off with water. Nice combo. Brings out the scale color more, but not as dark or oily.
 
When I got my SH-E, used, off of the forum the previous owner said that it had been his 'truck knife' and had been sitting in the bottom of the truck box. The handles were slightly uneven in color darkness but I started using it after a quick sharpening. It was with me in the field for about three years before I though it needed a good cleaning and with a short soak in dishwashing liquid and a scrub with a nylon scrub brush the handle actually looked green like the safe queens I've seen instead of almost black.The texture changed slightly for a while but after about a month back in the field it was the same texture as before but still the green color, not dark. I'll have to see how the NMFBM LE smooth Tigerhide grips do over time but I'm not in the field as often now so it may take a while.
 
I was just wondering about these type scales and the coloring today myself. Does the Ren' wax feel as slippery as the mineral oil on the scales? If the scales are made of micarta how does any product 'soak in'; when I thought resin was inpenetrable?
 
Good question. If it's impenetrable, it sure ain't smooth, and the oil seems to get into the "pores" of the material. Haven't tried the RenWax, but I love RenWax as a product, so may try it out.
 
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