Traditional folder handle material/color/jigging and your interpretations

D

Dixierust

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May 3, 2016
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So what is it that makes one pick wood over bone ? Stag over jigged bone ? Red or blue ? Tell me your thoughts and why you choose what you choose . No hidden questions , just discussion for fun.

Me personally, i like natural colors and stag but they camo pretty well in natural environments which is why i tend to get bright colors for users , its funny . If you asked me my favorite color id probably say blue but i have knives with red , green , orange etc. That i just happened to like for whatever reason . Seems to me i should have a drawer full of blue knives but i like other colors , just in knive handles though , wierd huh.

I dont really like wood because when wood gets wet it warps , i know knife handles are usually treated but the stigma is in my head and i cant get it out that if i get it wet its gonna warp . Plastic or bone just seems more durable to me (although this is questionable)
 
I actually prefer the look and feel of wood, but love the durability of a man made material or stag. I have a huge variety of cover materials represented in my collection so I can't really name a favorite for every instance. So... I would say that my material choice depends on the knife!
Just for fun we have a representative from my variety of covers:

Celluloid, bone, horn, Ivory, celluloid, plastic, metal, stag, and pearl:)
 
My favorite color is blue, but I don't have a knife in that color either......
I don't like mottled blue, lIke camel, but the electric blue that came on the Indian River Jacks was really beautiful and it does stand out. There have been a couple of S&M runs with a uniform good royal blue that I liked as well, but like you, none to my name.
Dixierust said:
So what is it that makes one pick wood over bone ? Stag over jigged bone ? Red or blue ? Tell me your thoughts and why you choose what you choose . No hidden questions , just discussion for fun.

Me personally, i like natural colors and stag but they camo pretty well in natural environments which is why i tend to get bright colors for users , its funny . If you asked me my favorite color id probably say blue but i have knives with red , green , orange etc. That i just happened to like for whatever reason . Seems to me i should have a drawer full of blue knives but i like other colors , just in knive handles though , wierd huh.

I dont really like wood because when wood gets wet it warps , i know knife handles are usually treated but the stigma is in my head and i cant get it out that if i get it wet its gonna warp . Plastic or bone just seems more durable to me (although this is questionable)
Click to expand...
 
I would like to say that I have a preference but I really don't if I'm being honest. For me it's an "I'll know it when I see it" type of thing.

I mostly only use my knives to cut dry materials so the blades and handles rarely, if ever, get wet or moist. Just about any material works for me as long as I like the knife and the way it looks. Same goes for colors. There is one material that I will never buy and that's celluloid.
 
I like them all and have samples of just about every handle material that I can think of. In regards to wood, my experience has been the opposite. Older plastics weren't very stable and would gas out or become brittle with time. Bone is my favorite but it tends to break/chip with decades of use and age. Please understand that I'm referring to very old and vintage knives. I have rarely seen properly stabilized wood warp from moisture found in everyday use. I have 100+ year old folders with ebony that still look fantastic. Plus wood can easily be treated as it ages where as bone is not as simple and plastic is, well, plastic. I love some of the modern acrylic handles from gec and I have no doubt that they will last a couple of lifetimes, but their bone and wood handles will as well with proper use and care.
 
I typically gravitate towards smooth bone or wood. I go with wood because it can have a ton of character and is much more durable then bone. I love smooth bone because it's classy, feels great, and ages nicer than any other material(in my opinion of course). However, I cracked my 77 Barlow in smooth bone, so I'm a little leery of picking up another bone handled knife without end caps.
I left out jigged bone because I can be very picky about the patterns. I typically don't go for the more uniformed jigging, but I absolutely love a good random jigging.
Colors of bone and wood type usually don't matter to much. If I have a choice in woods then I'll usually go with something rich like cocobolo, but ebony is always a safe bet. I prefer my bone in natural or dark colors. I can do a blue, red, orange, etc, but I like it best when they are very dark with highlights of the color.
I have yet to pull the trigger on something in stag. It is really growing on me, but the added cost has kept me away for so long. Hopefully I can fix that soon though.
But all in all, the covers are secondary to the knife itself. If I like the pattern/ blade setup I can be pretty flexible with the covers.
 
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Blue has always been my favorite color, but for some reason, I don't like it much on knives. I only have one knife in blue, a Case peanut that I bought because it was marked way down. Other than that, I respond to the individual knife. Sometimes I get a pleasant surprise, when a particular finish looks much better in person than it appears in a tiny on-line pic.
 
Since really getting into traditionals my goal has been to find my ideal pattern and cover material for EDC. I exclusively carried a mini trapper for a long time. I have not yet accomplished this having nothing traditional in micarta or acrylic. I love jigged bone and all of the beautiful variations that exist but I have to admit that thus far I have found wood to be the most durable material. I have chipped ( luckily not cracked) a few of my knives in bone in some minor drops. The few knives I have in wood have also taken some tumbles and the end state was just a little bit of character and small ding. That said I still buy more jigged bone then anything else but wood is really growing on me.
 
love a good stag handle knife. got a whole bunch. if i could, i suppose id have more stag knives. not a big fan of "staglon" tho
 
I like stag, wood, and a nice green or blaze orange smooth or jigged bone.

for me and maybe a lot of people I just like what I think looks good on the particular knife.
Stag is always nice though ( as long as they can keep a nice look to it , without leavingit as a fat uneven chunk )
 
I hadn't handled a stag handle until the forum knife here from a couple years back. Now that I have, I'd say that's my favorite handle material of my traditional knives. I like the look and feel of the variations and irregularities with the stag handles.

The bone and wood handled ones I have look good and give the knife a more symmetric and consistent feel (vs. irregular and somewhat random with stag).

Synthetic materials have a lot of technical advantages (weather, chemical interactions, etc.), but they aren't going to have that organic look or feel of natural materials (which isn't a bad thing either - just a matter of preference for each knife).
 
My preference runs to character in knife handles. By character I mean exceptional color, texture, patterns, etc.
Here are some examples:

WOOD

Snakewood with even color and grain on both sides.
SW.jpg~original


Box elder burl with terrific color and grain, well matched.
8f110e61-63fd-433d-9113-4c917477fdb8_zpsfqpunmw0.jpg~original


HORN

I prefer ram's horn to buff horn for its color and texture, here a nice interior piece with great translucense.
SmoothRam48_zpsffd135ab-1_zpsd9e84726.jpg~original


Even better are the gnarly exterior covers with bumps and fissures.
RamMarkPile.jpg~original


BONE

Deep random jigging with beautifully rich auburn coloration.
FRbwOpen_zps3058feec.jpg~original


My favorite primitive bone with lots of color, texture and character.
IMG_0073-2.jpg~original


STAG

Nicely matched, not too thick example of the "groovy" type stag in a rich weathered looking color.
FBcutStockmancomp_zps6kdqf5nl.jpg~original


Wonderful red stag full of color and texture, and again, not too thick.
RedMarkPile.jpg~original
 
Dixierust said:
Wow , black mamba you have some gorgeous knives there . Im really digging the box elder covers
Click to expand...

I wholeheartedly agree and I'm surprised to see the Box Elder Burl Tidioute. I don't follow GEC as much as some folks and I didn't know they ever used Box Elder Burl. Stunning knives, all of them.
 
When it comes to traditionals I like everything, bone, smooth or jigged, wood, horn, pearl, plastic or all steel, doesn't matter. If I had to pick one though it would be pocket worn jigged bone, it's always so warm and....well smooth. :)

qRwndWD.jpg
 
The color blue has been mentioned a few times. Thought I would share a couple photos of a nicely done Queen Railsplitter in Blue Bone. I find the pile side particularly attractive.



 
I prefer smooth materials like wood and smooth bone. Jigged bone with the more random jigging patterns looks nice:

2dJ8ci4h.jpg


but many of the more uniform ones aren't really my thing. I really don't care for stag at all, especially the big chunky stuff that many seem to like. As far as general appearance, I like natural or more muted colors like this blue:

xMXt2JWh.jpg


Or really interesting grains in wood:

qi4Zcv1l.jpg


I do have one knife in micarta and I have admit that it's aging quite nicely:

ZE0Nn5Jl.jpg


Durability has never really been a problem for me - I don't baby my knives but I also don't use them for tasks that they aren't built for. I do have a small crack in one of my smooth bone covers but it doesn't affect the functionality of the knife. If I'm really worried about messing up the handle of the knife then I'll use my delrin workhorse. That thing will outlast me and my grandkids.
 
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