ea42
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2006
- Messages
- 3,990
Stratawood came from the Strata tree and wondawood came from the wonda tree. I don't think winewood was laminated wood bits. I think it was dyed and pressure treated with plastic resins. For some time, Paka was their wood supplier (yes, there really was a Paka company). I think they also used a few other companies doing the same type resin treatment of wood. Eric surely has more accurate and in depth info on this.
They (and Imperial et al) did a lot of business with Fibron up in Buffalo for a goodly number of years. I think they may have also gotten wood handles from Crown Plastics or something of that nature out of Providence. I seem to recall that Julian or maybe Bucky Raper headed that company up.
The handles came in shaped sections, I think each piece covered the mark and pile side. They were cut to length on double bladed high speed saws at the factory. The blade angle could be adjusted to undercut or overcut along with cut angles. They were about 3 1/2 inches in diameter and spun at around 35000 RPM, only took about a second to whack through a handle section.
Nice LB-7 Roland! Here's a shot of one of the earlier ones you referred to, it's #185:


Even came with a shammy!
Eric
Last edited: