Recycled Materials

peter nap

peter nap

Joined
Nov 27, 1999
Messages
3,745
We've beaten the subject of recycled steel to death. I haven't seen much on recycled handle materials though. I try to find materials that will go to waste. This not only applies to knife handles but to most things I build. Several months ago I ran across a boat going to pot in a field. I asked the owner who said, Help yourself but everythings rotten. It did appear to be. Many rot resistant wood will show UV decay on the surface but be fine just below the surface.
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After Cutting a strip from the edge you can see the good Mahogany inside:
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This is a board after it is planed:
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This little trip netted several hundred board feet of Teak and Mahogany. Other times I've been able to get Walnut, Chesnut, Maple and Oak. It seems to pay to scrounge.

I don't have any knife handles out of the Mahagony right now, but just to show the color of the wood this is the motor mount I built for my canoe:
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Peter, that's righteous! I hate to ask what kind of boat was laid to rest in a field but I'm sure glad you have given her new life. That's nice clean wood, too. Good score.

Dave
 
Ah, man. My grandparents used to have an old Chris Craft, they'd run us around the Missouri river in the summers. At the time I didn't appreciate how special the experience was, but it's stuck with me my entire life. I love those old wooden boats. But they're not for poor boys!

Dave
 
Incredible find, Peter! I had to purchase some teak a while back to repair the transom on an old fiberglass boat I had, it was NOT cheap. A lot of Japanese motorcycles come shipped on pallets made from some species of mahogony, not real pretty, but very durable stuff.:)
 
Some of it is not bad Richard. I found out that many coffins come packed in Mahogony and started collecting them from the local funeral homes. They were just dieing to get rid of them.:D I made a Very nice Hunt table for my wife from them.
 
On the subject of re cycled wood check out your
Catapiller dealer for oak the factroy uses the best
oak thay can bye to creat crank shafts and large
heavy parts. I know that oak is not the favorate
handel meterial but it if treated right it is a
good product and some of this stuff is great Gib
 
A friend of mine got some purple heart from a pallet one time, and I've seen some of the best looking red oak you ever seen on crates.

Anouther thing to look for is old electricle boxes, the larger ones sometimes contain brown or natural mycarta. I've heard someone cuts up old bowling balls, and then there is corian. My favorite is to look through a farmer's bone pile and get any large leg bones.

If you can find a place that de-horns cattle you can usally talk them into giveing you the horns.
 
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