What is your favorite wood handle?

I think you have to take each piece of wood on an individual basis. But saatisal can certainly look good.

 
I agree! Satisal is a great looking wood and nice and tight grained. Nice handles Kamagong. Whats the one lower right? Love it! Looks fossiliferous:D:thumbup:
 
From the top -

walnut
Arctic willow
koa
birch bark
curly birch
w/ saatisal on the far right
 
Sandal wood would be great. The smell is just amazing and stays forever also the texture is very uniform and smooth.
In India they sell blanks which are normally ground into paste for some religious functions. So the size is just too small for any normal size handles and bigger pieces are only available in government stores and already processed and turned into expensive art.
Then you can get sandal wood from the guys on the street but it's always fake wood sprayed with some sandalwood perfume which wears off after an hour and then smells like urine.
Wife's grandpa had a few big sandal wood trees on his farm but while they were not at home for a day some guys cut them off and must have sold them somewhere.
Would love to have handles made from that material but it's probably pricey and close to impossible to get a hold of. :(
 
mtngunr said:
Pops, on the last photo of my KLVUK in my thread, the one next to the ruler, is the handle after a good rubdown with my wax/petrolatum/mineral oil goop....as you can see, not much effect....a hard, light, close-pored wood which does not darken much anyhow....laurel, rhododendron, etc all closely related....biggest thing you can do to keep it light is keep grime out of the wood via a hard seal....i probably will be going that route myself directly after a light sand to get to thoroughly clean wood and just past shop grinding residue....meanwhile just the goop for moisture....no protection except water....
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. I had to leave town, when I get back I'm going round two. I appreciate the tips.

Pappa
 
Rather than going to specific woods - I'd say I prefer wood that had enough time to set before it is carved into an handle. Some take much longer than others to dry properly. Anything less than two months will tend to shrink too much.
 
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