Traditional folder handle material/color/jigging and your interpretations

[Railsplitter]

That bluebone queen , wooowee

Thanks! It's a new release for 2016 that I picked up from Ryan Daniels at a knife show in January. Oddly, I haven't seen these pop at dealers yet but I haven't looked that hard.

 

[black mamba]

Thank you, Dixie and Rick T. I'm pretty sure they only made 5 of the box elder #73s as part of their factory test runs back in 2007.

 

[Dadpool]

Other than that, I respond to the individual knife.

I'm still new to collecting traditionals (a year as of this past May), and Henry hit the nail on the head for me as well: Every time I've said, "Well, now I know what my favorite cover material is!" I've been wrong, because something else has come along and surprised me.

Looking over my collection, I see a general preference for smooth covers, but nothing more strongly identifiable than that. And even that's pretty fuzzy: For the past 10 days or so, I haven't been able to stop coon-fingering a jigged (Case pocket worn variety) bone Stockman, which has a splendid mix of smoothness and texture that I just love.

I won't buy old celluloid (the type prone to outgassing), and I've become gun-shy about stag (too fat for my pocket), but apart from that I'm still experimenting with different cover materials and enjoying the journey.

 

[TsarBomba]

Well, I'm going to approach this two different ways. As far as color goes, I'm here to rep green. It's my color and I will often favor a knife that looks good in green. Muted, outlandish, antique, forest, even day-glo.





















As for materials, I do enjoy a nice slab of wood on a traditional, especially if it has a good story behind it.







If I had to pick just one material for an "ideal knife", however, it would probably be smooth or sawcut bone, like grandpappy used to carry.

















And, yes... All else being equal, make mine a Barlow.

 

[Captain O]

Bone and horn please. Some wood is great, (Zebrawood Maple, Myrtlewood). My heart prefers the bone and horn.

Thank you.

 

[Buzzbait]

I'm the outlier of the group. I'm hard on my knives, so durability of great concern. My favorite cover material is micarta (especially canvas) by a large margin. A lot of my collection is Delrin, just because scout knives are often done in Delrin, and it's a cheap tough material.

Now that I'm actively collecting GEC's, I'm buying a lot of bone and wood, when a micarta option is not available for a certain model. I sort of have to baby them, but they do look pretty. Especially a nice jigged bone. Love the look of jigged bone.

 

[jrawk]

First preference is for wood covers. They are symmetrical and I find the grain patterns visually stimulating, (yes even on the darkest of black ebony handles). I also enjoy making things shiny. So when a traditional knife has seen enough pocket time I like buffing out the blemishes and making them shiny again.

Second preference is for bright colored jigged or sawcut bone. Symmetrical enough and the jigging sawcut pattern is almost as pleasing as staring at wood grain.

Third preference is bright colored acrylic or smooth/polished bone because they are symmetrical and typically shine like polished jewels.

Fourth preference is micarta. Symmetrical still yet maybe too much. The grain of the canvas or linen is somewhat pleasing, but there is a unified pattern not quite as pleasing as wood or jigging. Micarta doesn't inspire me to keep the shiny parts polished however. So I let the patina ride.

Lastly natural stag and other Asymmetrical materials. Just not my flavor for lacking the reasons above.
Sorry no photos of stag!

 

[Will Power]

Actually, I like all the usual suspects: jigged/smooth bone, stag, primitive bone, woods notably black ones and zebra, horns, delrins and acyrlics according to colour and pattern, cell looks fantastic but it can be a Trojan Horse in your knife assortment. Like Tsar, I like Green knives too.

It's probably simpler to state what I don't like and have no interest in having:- Blue knives, MOP or MOT, Abalone and no Ivory either thank you. All the costly prized stuff leaves me cold or speechless...

 

[Duper]

I am really new here so it is still a voyage of discovery. I have owned prior knives in more modern materials like G10 or smooth molded aluminum or ALOX or checkered bone as well as ebony wood.

With that in mind I have to date in the last few months purchased GEC knives in micarta, jigged bone, smooth camel bone, acrylic and have an elk handle on order. My initial feelings are I like smooth and symmetrical so the far. Red has always been an eye catcher for me and I prefer a more homogenous colour rather than splotchy. The elk will be something totally new but I figured I best try it out. Maybe it will surprise me. My Talon is blue camel bone is equally attractive to me as my Talon in red wine jigged. I guess red cancels smooth.

So a consistent blood red smooth bone may be my grail handle.

,,,Mike in Canada

 

[Dixierust]

Thanks all for the replies , lots of interesting and varied answers here . I find it captivating finding out what makes something "special" to someone.

 

[sceva]

My favorite is Stag - BUT it must be "good" stag so I prefer to see what I am getting before purchasing if at all possible.

Next is Jigged bone - various colors but lean towards browns, naturals and reds, The jigging though is very important and quite frankly there is a lot I don't like ( Winterbottom, worm groove etc) I mush prefer the Rogers, peachseed , randon etc.) I really like some of the GEC jigging and some of it leave me un-impressed.

Wood; I like it Rosewood, Desert Ironwood