What kind of wood do you like for your High End Knives?

[Kohai999]

I Blackwood, in my opinion, if to be considered premium should be very, very dark, with little, or no grain visible. Bob

What about the exceedingly rare, but spectacular birdseye, or patterned blackwood? I mean some of the very few(10 or less) pieces that I have seen in the last few years were very attractive.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson

 

[Starkman1]

I failed to mention the birdseye blackwood because of its rarity. I had the pleasure of viewing some fine birdseye blackwood on a hunter by John White.
Bob

 

[jdm61]

What about the exceedingly rare, but spectacular birdseye, or patterned blackwood? I mean some of the very few(10 or less) pieces that I have seen in the last few years were very attractive.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson

The trick with that wood may be to keep is from darkening and hiding the figure. My experience with blackwood is that even the streaked brown variety can eventually darken to black after a while.

 

[Burl Source]

Starkman1 asked about how figured woods are graded. The grading system varies with the different industries. Furniture and guitar building will usually grade figured wood by a system of 1A to 5A figured woods. 5A means the piece has highly visible figure over 100% of the surface. 1A barely noticeable figure over a small area. Other grades such as Exhibition Grade, Specimen Grade and Museum Grade are used, not always accurately.

My grading system steers way away from the standards.
I go by; Pretty cool stuff, Way cool, Wacko, Bizarre and some other rather colorful terms. Tends to embarrass my boss sometimes when I am waiting on a customer. But I help them to find some of the most dramatic and unusual wood they have ever seen. They all leave happy.

All joking aside. Every type of wood will have countless variations that can be multiplied further by how it is cut. Quartersawn, Flat sawn, Rift Sawn or wven crosscut for end grain. In my opinion, the best wood is what you like best. I really like all the variations of redwood. But then I am in the midst of the redwoods and see a lot of really cool stuff.

Enough of my rambling. Some of the other knifemakers thought I should ask what the knife collectors like to see. By posting photos of knives you like, it gives them a better idea what materials to use. A block of knife handle wood can sell for as low as $5 up to over $100. But when it is going on an expensive custom knife, I'd pick the expensive unusual wood every time.

 

[Starkman1]

5A means the piece has highly visible figure over 100% of the surface. 1A barely noticeable figure over a small area. Other grades such as Exhibition Grade, Specimen Grade and Museum Grade are used, not always accurately.

It would be very helpful if you could provide pictures along with the grade. Visible figure can mean many things to each of us.

I do agree with you that we all have our own preferences and should stick with what you like.
Bob

 

[Burl Source]

It would be very helpful if you could provide pictures along with the grade. Visible figure can mean many things to each of us.

I do agree with you that we all have our own preferences and should stick with what you like.
Bob

In the near future I will take some photos showing what is meant by the different types of figure. The best feature of figured wood is the chatoyancy that would not normally appear in the wood. That is a light that moves around within the wood similar to what happens with a tigereye or star saphire.

 

[Burl Source]

You can get a lot of variations from wood that was cut from the same burl.
This photo is an example of some buckeye burl. Bear in mind it looks a lot better when sanded and finished. These are just rough blocks.

 

[Kohai999]

You can get a lot of variations from wood that was cut from the same burl.
This photo is an example of some buckeye burl. Bear in mind it looks a lot better when sanded and finished. These are just rough blocks.

Block 17 is the only one that I would consider for a knife, gun handles, or any other project, based upon what you are showing....maybe 21 if the sides were cut off. The middle three blocks might be good for pen turnings.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson

 

[2knife]

Those blocks are beautiful! Nice variations in these.

I really like Walnut, especially Black Walnut. Curly Maple too. Though, have no wood handled high end knives.

Funny how we form impressions, I ordered pair of nunchakus as a kid from cocobolo and they were as dense and heavy as anything, and after dropped a few times, cracked on me. Maple ones, in contrast, took a real beating- better by far.
David

 

[betzner]

My favorite wood for scales or handles is black palm. The more golden the background, the better. Which size "buttons" are best is dependent on the knife itself.

 

[Phillip Dobson]

My favorite wood for scales or handles is black palm. The more golden the background, the better. Which size "buttons" are best is dependent on the knife itself.

Do you prefer end grain or side grain? Also, is the material you have stabilized?

I've done little with palm, and I'm curious.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

I like highly figured woods, but also really like some woods that show very little or no figuring. I love ebony that is as close to solid black as possible. I also really like lignum vitae and osage orange.

 

[rprocter]

what is meant by "chatoyance" ? this word is not in my Canadian Oxford dictionary.
thanks, roland

 

[RogerP]

what is meant by "chatoyance" ? this word is not in my Canadian Oxford dictionary.
thanks, roland

It's the visual effect of light hitting the grain and making the grain seem to physically shift as the angle changes. A primo piece of highly polsihed fiddleback maple will demonstrate this effect very well. It can't really be captured in a photograph, though, as that gives you only one frame of what is a moving picture.

Roger

 

[dbl-edge]

what is meant by "chatoyance" ? this word is not in my Canadian Oxford dictionary.
thanks, roland

Chatoyant: " having a changeable luster or color with an undulating narrow band of white light" http://www.aolsvc.merriam-webster.aol.com/dictionary/chatoyant

You see chatoyancy in curly woods like koa and maple, and in a lot of burls. Sometimes it's in wood that comes from crotches. It is the optical effect you get when light is reflected from the underlying wood fibers. The reflection shifts as the wood (or stone) is moved around. In wood it is brought out to different degrees by the type of finish used, and in some cases by stains. Look at a handle made from curly maple and notice how the curls shift as you move the handle. If the wood is well finished you should have the feeling of looking down inside it.

David

 

[rprocter]

Thanks for the "Chatoyant' replies. upon re-reading this thread, i see an earlier post also defined it. i have many customs with Desert Ironwood (including so called "Presentation Grade") and other woods including Koa, but i don't think any demonstrate this well. it's a sunny day, i'll get them out and look to see if any Chatoyance is present.
roland

 

[RogerP]

Thanks for the "Chatoyant' replies. upon re-reading this thread, i see an earlier post also defined it. i have many customs with Desert Ironwood (including so called "Presentation Grade") and other woods including Koa, but i don't think any demonstrate this well. it's a sunny day, i'll get them out and look to see if any Chatoyance is present.
roland

The right piece of koa certainly will dance like its on fire. Ironwood, not so much.

Roger

 

[billf]

Roger is right - really figured Koa has about the most chatoyance of any wood out there - without any dye/stain etc

Nice curly maple also has great chatoyance, but really needs to be dyed or processed with acid/heat to bring it out well.

Ironwood is awesome, but not necessarily that chatoyant
Amboyna burl is similar in that respect, but both can have exquisite figuring/color contrast

Bill

 

[Grapevine]

Curly birch also has quite a bit of chatoyance when dyed/stained correctly. Curly redwood as well.

 

[the possum]

While we're on the subject of figured handle woods, I'd like your guys' opinions on a related issue I've been pondering.

Do you have a preferance on what direction the grain flows? (assuming it does have a visible grain rather than burls) I ask this because I generally prefer the grain to run lengthwise with the handle, feeling it's generally the strongest. But, I notice some vendors always cut their handle blocks & scales so the grain is almost perpendicular, and instead, it's the figured "curlyness" or waves that go lengthwise.

Some quick googling turned up one possible example of what I mean:

Not saying this is a good or bad piece of wood; I'm just wondering if you like the grain direction on these scales.