What's yer favorite Wood?

[fudo]

Cocobolo
Desert Ironwood

 

[Danbo]

If that's the case send me your koa. I'll make you a good deal.

Can't. Haven't gotten it yet.

 

[Peregrin]

Desert Ironwood
English Walnut
Quince

I really like wood handles on my knives but I don't use them to hard.

 

[Kohai999]

Good morning All,

African Blackwood
HIGHLY figured Claro Walnut
Cocobolo
Desert Ironwood
Tiger Stripe Maple
Stabilized Thuya Burl
Stabilized Boxwood Burl
Stabilized Pink Ivory
Stabilized Curly Koa
Stablized California Buckeye
Lignum Vitae

As you can clearly see, my choices were a lot more limited until they started making stabilized woods available. Stablized woods are a very good thing, even though they can be a little "strange" to work, and require a little change to grinding than unstablized woods.

Regards,

Steven Garsson

 

[fred44]

Box elder


birds eyemaple

 

[ARtsig1]

I've had several knives with a variety of dark and light woods. But I always come back to favoring ironwood.

 

[STR]

I have used all the stabalized woods and some of the dymond wood laminated knife handle scales too and they work and machine well but tend to split and crack easily.

By far my favorite wood for knife scales and handles when glue is not needed is Lignum Vitae. It is the hardest, densest, strongest wood on planet earth at over 80 pounds per cubic foot. It is without a doubt the most durable wood I've ever used for any of my knife projects. It resists splitting, cracking, rotting, and oils and water as good as if not better than any of the stabalized woods and it polishes up on a buffer wheel with ease after some minor sanding.

The naturally oilyness of the wood keeps it water resistant so it works well for diving knives and hunting knives that often get wet or bloody. The drawback with Lignum is that epoxy and other glues don't work well with it because of the oils in the wood. Other than this I like Ironwood and my other favorite is a relatively unused wood in most knives, that being sycamore. I've found it to be very nice to work with and when cut right it takes on a very nice appearance from the wood grain. It is used in furniture making quite often but I have used it with great success in knife handles too. Once polished up and coated with cyanoacrylate it is quite durable but left untreated it will warp if left wet for too long.

Here is a pic of sycamore after sanding and before polishing of anykind was done on a knife I made for my nephew.

Here is Lignum Vitae after sanding but before final polishing

And here is dymondwood after final sanding but before final polishing.

All are nice but Lignum Vitae stands out for it's beauty in my opinion and since it is just as durable as any other wood I have preferred it over anything else for years.

 

[Easyrider]

Favorite wood? That is easy to answer. I love cocbolo!

 

[UnknownVT]

Regular non-stabilized wood -
Desert Ironwood
Cocobolo

I have found by experience that woods need to be on handles to truly judge their beauty and suitability for a knife handle - So these days I never buy a wood handled knife sight-unseen - always prefering to see and handle the knife before purchase...

This is stunning piece of Cocobolo on a
Bill "Gordon" DeFreest humpback semi-skinner -

same view different directional lighting to bring out different aspects of the wood. NOTE: I use a fairly high compression JPG so it reduces the definition a bit - but the trade off is much larger files - but I think most will get the idea......

I listed Desert Ironwood higher - but am a bit in two minds about it - some can be stunning too but visually I've seen more stunning cocobolos - although they all will darken with age....

Bill "Gordon" DeFreest drop-point hunter

Wayne Hendrix #2 drop-point hunter

back to Cocobolo -
Wayne Hendrix #10 small guardless drop-point

Hendrix #11 - satin finished cocobolo

How about some Bocote?
Hendrix #11 bocote

For example this equally stunning piece of fiddleback Hickory from the crouch of a tree from Australia - looks great in this dish/bowl, this would be great, say, on a guitar -

but probably does not translate well onto a knife handle - simply because there just would not be enough area to show off the fiddleback pattern ......

In Stabilized woods where spalted and burl woods can now be used due to the infusion of expoxy to strengthen and seal them -

Hendrix California Buckeye on a model #1 semi-skinner -

Fred Slee folder - Stabilized spalted maple?

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net

 

[Bob W]

I like any natural wood, but cocobolo is my overall favorite.

-Bob

 

[twisted bits]

Well, thanks for the replies.
I actually didn't think ironwood would come up so much because it's such a pain in the butt to cut - I use hand tools; and also surprised about cocobolo because of the potential hazzard to many (a lot of people are unknowingly highly allergic to the dust).
It does appear most gravitate to the naturally oily and denser woods for obvious reasons and stabilization is creating quite a market for otherwise 'less useful' woods.

UnknownVT - nice pics by the way.

 

[Burtess]

I really prefer sugar maple for pork butt, but occasionally use hickory.

For beer-in-the-butt chicken I like hickory, but you have to be careful because poultry really sucks up the smoke.

Just a touch of mesquite when I grill steak, makes all the difference in the world.

Burt

 

[backwoodsman]

like osage

 

[SpyderJon]

ironwood and spalted maple, bar none.

sincerely,
Anthony

 

[Boozoo Chavis]

Natural woods-Desert Ironwood, Osage Orange, (Bois D'Arc here in Texas ) and I love Cocobolo but the dust hates me. I only work it with a garage door open and a stout fan blowing the dust away from me.

Stabilized wood-Curly KOA, Birch burl, highly figured Bocote, Redwood burl. I also love Snakewood but have pretty much given up on it because of high prices and some bad experiences with splitting.

 

[knife7knut]

Personally I like,"Barry Wood";folders that is! Actually I prefer the burls such as Circassian walnut but they don't translate well for knife handles.They look pretty good as cigar humidors or grips on a SA Colt,but the checkering required to ensure a good grip kind of mutes the burling.Zebrano walnut is a very straight grain but beautiful coloration and would be my second choice.One wood that would(no pun intended)probably be pretty decent for scales in an unfinished or maybe just oiled state is red oak.The grain is really rough and would probably provide a nice gripping surface.

 

[cmd]

So far, my favorite for looks is bubinga but for touch and feel how it wears with plenty of usage it is cocobolo.

However, I have a knife on the way with redwood burls. My guess is that it will soon be my favorite, but this is the first knife I've ever purchased without handling personally - who knows.

Has anyone ever seen handles or scales or inlays made from pecan wood? There are a couple of nice pecan trees in my back yard and they are a real treasure. Just wondering...

Chris

 

[twisted bits]

I think I have a piece of stabilized pecan somewhere. Very nice. Consistent tan brown with veins and streaks of black running through it.

 

[cmd]

I think I have a piece of stabilized pecan somewhere. Very nice. Consistent tan brown with veins and streaks of black running through it.

Interesting, thank you - might need to make a handle scales with a downed limb.

 

[cmd]

I have a knife on the way with redwood burls. My guess is that it will soon be my favorite, but this is the first knife I've ever purchased without handling personally - who knows.
Chris

Got my new knife this afternoon and without a doubt redwood burl is my favorite, especially when it is inlayed into a large regular sebenza!

Chris