Wood handles for a "user" knife

J

Jared P

Joined
Jan 18, 2000
Messages
220
Hey guys, Newbie question. I love the look of wood on a knife, and since I saw Chiro's knife with Micarta bolsters and wood handles, I have been obsessed. My question is, would you guys put un-stablized wood on a knife that you planned on carrying and using on a regular basis? I really like stablized wood, I was just curious whether y'all would use regularly aged wood as well.

Also, where is a good place to get nice stablized handle slabs?


Thanks in for the help

Jared

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Broken promises don't upset me. I just think, why did they believe me?

I hope that after I die, people will say of me: "That guy sure owed me a lot of money."
 
Just about all the knife supply houses carry stablized wood for handles. Or try www.stablizedwood.com on the web. Of course, stablized wood costs considerably more than regular wood. I use regular wood on most of my knives and I think that wood like cocobolo and ironwood will stand up very well in hard use.

Two weeks ago I went to a Mexican border town and bought two chunks of ironwood stump from a street vendor. Total weight was about 30 pounds and I paid $17 for it. When I got home I took it to a friend who has a big (150 inch blade) industrial band saw in his shop. He cut it into slabs for me and said it was about the hardest wood he had ever seen. The result was that I have handle material for at least 30 or 40 knives. That's certainly cheaper than $20 a set for stablized wood slabs.

Good luck, and whatever you decide to do, please show us a picture of the finished knife.
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It sounds like to me that the more oily the wood, the less it needs to be stabilized. I think higher oil content sort of naturally stabilizes some woods, and there are many woods that CAN'T be stabilized due to their oil content. I would have no problem with a wood-handled "everyday knife", but it would require more maintenance than something like Micarta. I got some stabilized handle materials from K&G that seem nice. I haven't used them yet, though. I think most of those places use the same third party to actually do the stabilizing anyway, so they're probably all of equal quality. My first project with a stabilized wood was actually an AT Barr blade blank that I just finished working on. I used "oak" Pakkawood, which is thin strips of woods that are impregnated and epoxied together. It is pretty tough to work, and I was using very thick (probably 1/2") slabs on a small knife so I had to really work them down to make them less blocky. Pakkawood is essentially wood micarta. Anyway, I really surprised myself because I liked the way it looks a lot. Very natural looking, yet tough as hell! It finished superbly and it would take an awesome polish. No need for any finish treatment, either, which is a plus. I don't think you're going to find a big difference in the stabilized woods offered by K&G, Jantz, TKS, etc. Take note that stabilized woods are noticeably heavier than their non-stabilized counterparts. Also, I'm glad I could be of inspiration to you!
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Flesh,
I sell Osage orange wood that has been naturally cured for 80 years. If you are interested email me.
Lukers
 
Don't forget the several million Opinels in the USA and Europe and elsewhere, whose handles, IIRC, are of pearwood. These knives are ubiquitous in Europe, and function well.

Walt
 
I dont use stabilized wood at all and I use wood alot. This is not because I dont want to use it but I see no need. If the wood is dry and I mean really dry when you use it and you dont overheat it, you oil it well after it is finished with Danish Oil or the like and you dont leave the knife in your car window to over heat your shouldnt have a problem. The only crack I have ever seen in one of my knives was on a knife with Cocobolo that was cut so that the grain of the wood was on the side of a fulltang knife. I had It laying in the sun in a window for a few days and a very small crack was made between to pins. I dont use this kind of wood (grains out) on fulltang nomore and dont have problems.

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One of the great things about stabilized wood is that it doesn't tend to crack over time. Another is that it doesn't tend to darken either. I have used some pretty porous maple burl in the past and I really had to work to finish this wood properly. Granted, it is more expensive but I believe that it will outlast "unstabilized" wood. As far as knifemaking goes, once you sand and buff it, it is finished. No putting so may coats of this or that on it. It really speeds up the finishing process, which in my opinion, makes it worth the extra cost. If you have the wood already, it really isn't THAT expensive to send it off and have it done. I believe that K&G offers this service.

C Wilkins
 
I think that any of the dense, oily woods are just fine. I have used African blackwood (hard as hell!), desert ironwood, kingwood and lignum vitae. Marble's used the lignum vitae for pommels 80 yrs. ago and many have survived intact. All have taken a very good natural polish and have not experienced any cracking.

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It's only a mistake if you fail to learn from it!
 
Hey thanks guys for the help, this place is great!!!!

I think I am going to go with stablized curly maple, because I really like this wood and I think that stablized is what I'm looking for due to its inherent strength. My plan is to have Black linen micarta bolsters and stablized curly maple slabs, and if I can get Chiro's mosaic pin tutorial right, I hope to have some mosaic pins as well.

When I get the knife, and if I don't screw it up or lose some finger, I'll post the pic for everyone to mock.
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Oh yeah, the knife is hopefully going to be a Chris Hatin Lightweight Persian Fighter in D2...hopefully.
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Thanks again
Jared
 
I dont use stabilized wood at all.If the knife is taken care of, and the handle is given some oil when needed, normal wood is just fine.
 
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