What particular scales don't you care for on a traditional knife?

Depends on the rest of the knife.
IMO I can't think of a cover material that doesn't look good on some particular design.
By the same token, some cover materials don't fit well with many designs.

For instance, I don't care for metal handles on a trapper, but I don't mind them on an SAK.
 
I just don't care for plain looking covers. At first I was gonna say smooth covers, but smooth is OK if it has "character," as with this appaloosa bone.

BHMooseApp.jpg~original


Smooth wood is OK too, as long as it has a nicely figured grain, like this curly zebrawood.

CattleKingOpen_zps2c20c5a5.jpg~original


Solid black ebony or smooth bone, smooth synthetic covers of any single color, these are my least favorite.
 
I really don't dislike any material for scales, but I'm not really a fan of G10 or carbon fiber. I carry a traditional for that reason, its a traditional. A well made knife from the good 'ole days and modern materials kinda kill that for me.
 
Nothing is off limits for me. Some patterns look great in a nice interior rams horn and others look great in micarta.

My collection covers the entire spectrum from ivory, horn, and stag to celluloid, g10, carbon fiber, and kirinite.

I love them all.
 
I don't know what they are (plastic maybe?) but the don't care for the red scales on my swisschamp. Wish I could change them…
 
I'm probably alone or in a huge minority on this, but I don't care for mammoth ivory or brownish bones/jigged bones (chestnut, pioneer, motley, saddle brown).

I thought I didn't like carbon fiber, but NETim showed me a Davison with blue lightning strike carbon fiber at the GEC Rendezvous that was just awesome.

On the other hand, I love light colored materials like smooth ivory bone and ivory. I also love very dark colors like ebony and darker woods.
 
ALLHSS said:
I'm probably alone or in a huge minority on this, but I don't care for mammoth ivory or brownish bones/jigged bones (chestnut, pioneer, motley, saddle brown).

I thought I didn't like carbon fiber, but NETim showed me a Davison with blue lightning strike carbon fiber at the GEC Rendezvous that was just awesome.

On the other hand, I love light colored materials like smooth ivory bone and ivory. I also love very dark colors like ebony and darker woods.
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How bout yellow bone?
 
knarfeng said:
Depends on the rest of the knife.
IMO I can't think of a cover material that doesn't look good on some particular design.
By the same token, some cover materials don't fit well with many designs.

For instance, I don't care for metal handles on a trapper, but I don't mind them on an SAK.
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Pretty spot on for how I feel.
I'm not big on Delrin - but on a Case Sodbuster it's a good fit.
I can either love or hate stag - depends on the character of the stag & how it feels in-hand.
Acrylics - depends on the pattern. I'm not a fan of the garish colors, but a Tortoise Shell acrylic is great.

All that said, I just don't like Buffalo Horn. I've yet to see any on a knife I like.
 
Ivory is my least favorite, and is the only thing I can think of right now that I wouldn't want on a Traditional(or anything else).
 
I echo the sentiments that it depends on the knife. The only two materials I have seen on a traditional pattern that really turned me off is carbon fiber, and that awful rainbow colored "pakka wood". Those don't belong on anything traditional, particularly the rainbow pakka as it lends such a gas station feel to anything it is on. Pakka the way Buck does it on the 110s and a couple of others is OK.

I think some muted acrylic patterns are good on smaller gentleman's knives, but on larger knives they look like the old "gimme" promo knives of yesteryear, just cheap. I saw the "tomato" pattern on several knives at a gun show, and the acrylic was pretty, but pretty awful to me on a really nice knife. It was the most appealing acrylic I had seen to date and looked pretty good on the smaller patterns, but the larger the pattern, to ME the worse it looked. The dealer did allow that he had the larger patterns for sale for a while at that point.

Robert
 
I don't think I have a handle that I specifically don't care for. I've had all kinds. For me, its more about the knife and why I bought it and if the handle type works for its intended function. I like MOP but wouldn't put that on a work knife for example. Same for some smooth handles on a work knife. Otherwise, I kinda like them all.
 
Ken44 said:
Ivory is my least favorite, and is the only thing I can think of right now that I wouldn't want on a Traditional(or anything else).
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I'm with you on this one, for good reason...

But I actively dislike Pearl or MOT, then there's that stuff made out of dead sea-snail :barf:

This is an interesting thread for the reason that Traditionals are very much about aesthetics, and they're always subjective, thankfully:thumbup:

Quite a lot of acrylicphobes here I note, can be great stuff but only in my book:D

Thanks, Will
 
cards94 said:
How bout yellow bone?
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It depends. The "motley bone" and "calico bone" that GEC uses is yellowish, and I don't care for them. On the other hand, their "yellow rose" and "smooth yellow bone" covers look amazing to me.
 
I hate synthetic handles,except for Old Timer sawcut delrin and Case Yellow handles,and Buck sawcut black delrin scales on my 1987 Buck (Camillus)307.I really like Case's South American jigged cattle shinbone in my 1982 Case 6318hp.A stag handled CV bladed 6318 I bought in 2004 was way,way thicker.Give it away.
 
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