What's yer favorite Wood?

T

twisted bits

Joined
Nov 6, 2001
Messages
152
To start - I like anything with interesting color and grain and which finishes naturally.
While I originally liked all natural woods I'm gravitating towards the stabilized products because of durability, (some) colorization and strength.

Anyway, my favorites: Maple/Spalted Maple/Birdseye Maple, East Indian and Honduran Rosewood, Kingwood, Bubinga, Cocobolo, Desert Ironwood, Buckeye, Wenge, Ziricote.
 
Wow, maybe you should have listed the wood you don't like. :)
I really love desert ironwood and also black walnut.
 
Of the dark woods, whether stained dark or dark naturally, I like the ones with chatoyance like fiddleback maple, curly birch, and walnut. With burls, I prefer the wood to be lighter in color, and among my favorite wood burls are buckeye, quince, box elder, and black ash. I also like ironwood when it's more on the blonde side with dark swirls.
 
Cocobolo, macassar ebony, and Gabon ebony. Although I am starting to develop a yen for desert ironwood. African blackwood isn't so bad, either.
 
The first knife I ever got with any decent wood is a Benchmade 710 that Frank Recupero customized with desert ironwood scales. I've been hooked ever since. I now have two more, a custom finger-hole knife made for me by Günter Böhlke and a version of ATC's Brend Hatchet that was customized by Justin Gingrich.

Desert ironwood isn't flashy, but it has a beautiful deep grain structure and it seems to be nearly indestructible. And I like the way it feels in my hand. :)

--Bob Q
 
Cocobolo
tulip
desert ironwood
kingwood
not much grain but I love the color of padauk
mexican zircote.
 
I LOVE the way a good piece of wood looks, but I dont care for wood on a real using knife much. That being said, Cocobolo is about as nice looking and tough as wood gets.

Take Care
Trace.
 
Ebony for violin fingerboards, and Rosewood for guitar finger boards. I've never found myself leaning toward a knife with a wooden handle.
 
Wow, that's a tough question. My first wood love has to be Desert Ironwood for it's strength and depth of grain. I had some slabs that had beautiful golden streaks of chatoyance with rich chocolate and almost black streaks running thru it. So beautiful it'd almost hypnotize ya when looking into it in the sunlight.
I'd love to get some more of that tree's wood. {sigh}

Other favorites in order are:

Amboyna Burl
Cocobolo
Bocote
Various Maples like curly, bird's eye and quilted
Para Kingwood
Beefwood
Tulip Wood
Brazilian Rosewood
Amazon Bloodwood
Zericote
Purple Heart

These are all woods that have been used on my knive's handles.

Woods that I have BIG envy for but haven't used yet are:

California Buckeye Burl
Black Ash Burl
Maple Burl
Thuya Burl
Ringed Gidgee
Box Elder Burl

While synthetics and various antler, horn and bone material have their place, I love a good wood on my knife handles. I guess, to me, a nicely figured wood handle seems like it belongs on a knife's handle. It's lovely and warms nicely to the touch. It's fairly easy to maintain and can outlast it's owner's lifetime if that bit of maintenance is adhered to.
Sure G-10 is nearly chemical and weather proof, but it is just plain butt-ugly. No matter what color you dye it. You can put make-up on a pig and name her Petunia, but she's still a butt-ugly pig named Petunia. :barf:

Gimme wood for my knife's handle, if you please. :D
 
misque said:
Wow, that's a tough question. My first wood love has to be Desert Ironwood for it's strength and depth of grain. I had some slabs that had beautiful golden streaks of chatoyance with rich chocolate and almost black streaks running thru it. So beautiful it'd almost hypnotize ya when looking into it in the sunlight.
Click to expand...

Wow, you are the first person I've ever seen use the word "chatoyance" in the last 20 years (and the only person I've ever seen use it on wood rather than stones like tiger-eye etc.) Agree with you there... adds a lot to the beauty of certain woods!
 
I like it when my wood is stiff. :D


Kiawe, I think you guys might call it mesquite. You can use it for fuel, and it looks good too. I rescaled a pairing knife with the stuff. And use it to smoke pork. :cool:
 
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