Why doesnt GEC and other makers use more types of fancy wood

E

Elgatodeacero

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image.jpeg I love gabon ebony, desert ironwood, cocobolo and walnut if its not muddy, but why no masur curly birch, turkish walnut, genuine lignum vitae or other beautiful woods. They dont need much for a few hundred knives and its not that expensive for an 80-100 knife.

Maybe lignum vitae is not sustainable, but what is in the US cannot be exported, so it may as well be used for something useful.

Curly masur birch is pretty low priced even for most besutiful pieces, is grown just for its genetics it huge plantations in Finland. Turkish walnut also widely available for high quality. They only need a couple slivers per knife.

I missed the oil sucker rod (oak I think), and osage orange and chestnut are durable but not the most beautiful.

I have not used this lignum because I dont really have any tools to work it.

The masur birch is easy to work, and very hard. One of the most beautiful woods in the world to my eye. White ebony!

Why not more wood types? Pics of fancy wood appreciated.
 
This is also something I would like to see. I do like wood covers more than the other natural materials.
 
Birdseye and/or Flamed Maple :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Also, more Heartwood (#14 TC Barlow) would be great! :)
 
This is a 2010 knife from GEC, using Brazilian Cherry. It's not exquisite looking for an exotic wood, but it is pretty nice.
2010-tuna-valley-cigar-congress-brazil-cherry-02.jpg
 
While ebony, African blackwood, and desert ironwood are my favorites, there are options that don't involve CITES-restricted species.

First is an alternative to lignum vitae - verawood, which is also called Argentinian lignum vitae. It has very similar hardness, density, appearance, and working properties to true lignum vitae for a fraction of the cost. The feathering in the grain is hard to capture in pictures, this is the best I could manage:
HagTIBH.jpg


Another member of the rosewood family is Honduran rosewood, it is a beautiful wood:
FU5fOl4.jpg


For larger handles, black & white ebony can be striking:
qcoGAcB.jpg


Two others are Malaysian blackwood and camelthorn (top and bottom in this picture, respectively). Camelthorn has very interesting grain when finished, and is in the top ten list for hardest and densest wood on earth. Malaysian blackwood is actually an ebony (diospyros)
W6VPxhx.jpg
 
You watch your mouth when talking about Osage.

img%5D


:D

I do tend to agree with you, though. I'd love to see more figured Walnut, Tasmanian Blackwood, end-grain Black Palm, etc. I will say, though, that super busy woods like Box Elder Burl tend to look better dyed to me.
 
Wurrwulf said:
You watch your mouth when talking about Osage.

img%5D


:D

I do tend to agree with you, though. I'd love to see more figured Walnut, Tasmanian Blackwood, end-grain Black Palm, etc. I will say, though, that super busy woods like Box Elder Burl tend to look better dyed to me.
Click to expand...

That may be the nicest osage I've ever seen on a knife.
 
Thanks, bikerector bikerector . John (@JK Knives) did a wonderful job on my Bluegill. Osage doesn't really work well with the Safe Queen lifestyle. It's a bit too bright and, honestly, a bit too fake-yellow-dyed-looking in its freshly finished state. It really needs some sunlight and oil from your hands to develop into their most beautiful stages. The grain doesn't pop until you get more of an orange tone.
 
Good idea for a thread. I personally don’t prefer dyed woods, but aside from that, I think Bark River provides an excellent counter-point - they regularly offer some interesting woods in production knives.

I suspect that the reason is to do with getting hold of large quantities of consistent wood, so that GEC can turn out a large batch of essentially the same knife.
 
Yes, could be the consistency factor that holds them back. Also, some woods produce pretty foul if not toxic dusts when worked with.

I very much like the Black&White Ebony and think it would look well even on a smaller pocket knife. Maple Burl can be very good too, although the BEM that Queen Cutlery used some years back was hugely variable- some dark with nice eyes, others pink looking like cat vomit..:eek:

Some of CASE's woods the recent Green Maple have certainly looked worthwhile too.
Another wood I like very much is Zebra, lovely stripes and contrasts to it. Wood is generally more durable than bone, much less prone to pin cracking or breaking when dropped so that's another factor in its favour for long term use.Must be properly dried and finished of course.

Regards, Will
 
Lignum is one of the most incredible woods there is. I used to have a bark river aurora in it. I wish I never sold that one though.
 
Wurrwulf said:
You watch your mouth when talking about Osage.

img%5D


:D

I do tend to agree with you, though. I'd love to see more figured Walnut, Tasmanian Blackwood, end-grain Black Palm, etc. I will say, though, that super busy woods like Box Elder Burl tend to look better dyed to me.
Click to expand...
Good morning Shawn. I totally agree with bikerector bikerector . That's the nicest Osage I've seen. The mosaic pin offsets the color just enough to make it look outstanding.
 
GEC has done some fine wood covers with my Che Chen TC being the most impressive in person. Capturing wood chatoyancy is more difficult than even MOP, making good pics elusive. Since the OP asked for pics, here's a nice example.

gecbirdseyestainless1.jpg


gecbirdseyestainless2.jpg


I like purple heart. These pieces have aged 30 plus years, hoping someday …

purpleheart1.jpg
 
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