Whats your favorite traditional scale material?

Beard&Owl

Beard&Owl

Joined
Dec 26, 2012
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1,063
I'm sure this has been beaten to death, but a quick search did not yield much so I figured I ask away. I see lots of different knives with lots of different scale material on the forum and am wondering what your favorite is and why? Personally I almost always go with jigged bone as they make up 95% of my accumulations. I'm not sure why I'm so attracted to it, maybe it has to do with the texturing and the way it feels in hand, the aesthetics or the timelessness of it. I had for a short time a Case peanut in stag but was pretty disappointed in it as it was not some of their best work and the stag in question was very boring, I am however very excited about the new forum knife which will become my only current folder in stag and trust that GEC will do a great job. Currently the only non bone knives I have are the token yeller peanut which is great, a no.7 Opinel and a GEC Bullnose in nifebrite which I am madly in love with. In the near future I am hoping to pick up a few GEC's with wood scales like mexican bocote and snakewood. At first their acrylic offerings did not appeal to me much besides the nifebrite, but now I've found myself looking at those as well. So, whats your favorite and why?
Here's a few pics of some of my everydays

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Stag, ebony, bone, and micarta, in that order. My favorite is stag, by far, but it's so hard to find the really good stuff anymore.

James
 
Sambar stag, burl wood, ivory. I rarely buy synthetics and I don't buy bone handled knives.

Kris
 
In general my preference is for jigged bone.

Though my most often carried is textured silver Alox, so I guess that doesn't say much for preferences.
 
In general, my favorite is wood because of the smooth scales and variety of grain patterns it offers. My favorites are desert ironwood, cocobolo, African black wood, & ebony. I also like knives that have more common domestic woods with special figuring, that would include maple, walnut, & oak. I really like mammoth ivory, but it's not my first choice for regular use. Stag is nice, but I like thin scales which makes buying it pretty hard. Bone is my least favorite, but I have knives with bone handles too. I guess I like them all.
 
Wow Tom, I never wood have guessed...:) Beautiful knives you got there! I forgot to add my grail knife would probably be something with mammoth ivory and hopefully one of these days I will pull the trigger, probably end up being a Northwoods Jack of some kind.
MT Damascus, you have some of the most beautiful knives in stag I have ever seen. Speaking of stag the scales you showed earlier in another thread of your custom whittler look amazing.
 
Jigged bone, that has been worn smooth over many years. I would love to be able to afford some of those pristine old Case, Remington, Cattaraugus pieces. But I get worked up over the old users. Anything artificially worn smooth doesn't look half as good as the real deal.
 
Stag, wood, bone, synthetics. There is just something about a stag handle that really does it for me. Osage is by far my favorite wood, followed closely by ebony.
 
I like all sorts of materials and bone and micarta are both up there for me but the one I really love is good stag. Nothing makes me want to pick up a knife more than really nice stag scales.

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Ken Erickson spearpoint (photo doesn't do it justice!)
 
All of the 'natural' material suspects can be special. In my collection I have ridiculous stag, exhibition grade pearl and tortoise, unbelievable ivory, and not to be left out, some fabulous bone. Not to forget some really black/ black ebony! If you leave out durability, I would have to pick pearl and tortoise as my personal favorites. Sorry, I cannot pick just one!
 
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When at their best, I'd have to put stag, ram's horn and primitive bone collectively at the top. The more character, the better!

Stag
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Ram's Horn
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Primitive Bone
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Gosh i'd say jigged bone, but African Blackwood and Ebony are so close it's a virtual tie anymore. I've really developed a passion and preference for wood scales recently. I love the smooth feel and beauty of the super dense/heavy woods used in these knives.

If I had to make a commitment it would be Autumn Gold jigged bone like my 92 Eureka Jack and matching Pemberton. African Blackwood is so close I could almost declare it as the fav.
 
If I had to narrow it to three I would say interior rams horn, corncob jigged bone, and linen micarta.
 
Based on looks I'd have to day mussels (like Abalone and Paua). I do not own any, yet, but the looks are just stunning and I guess they feel REALLY smooth. Smoothness really does it for me ;)
I also really like to try out some stone scales some time...

From what I aquired so far: Wood > Bone/Ivory > Synthetics.
 
I am rather fond of wood. It may not be as durable as some other materials
but the options in types of wood are great. It is warm to the touch and just plain beautiful.
 
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