Wood or Horn??

hillst1

hillst1

Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
370
I was wondering which material lasted longer and shrunk and cracked less. I am interested in a 16.5 CAK and a Pen and was wondering about handle options. Thanks.
 
It's really going to depend on how you take care of the handle. Personally, I like wood. I find that I can clean it, stain it, and reshape it better if need be. Horn, however, is more exotic and nice to look at, IMHO. Really, if you take care of a horn handle, it should last just as long as a wood handle.

In other words, just pick what you like:) I have lots of wood handles and lots of horn handles. I prefer wood, but I have never turned down a khuk just because it was horn handled;)
 
Almost all the horn handles I have had have cracked, but none have ever broken off.

I have had only a few wood handles crack but did have 1 break off.
 
*Never* had a horn handle cracked, but I live in a humid place.

A few wood ones came with cracks; filled with superglue or epoxy and forgot about it.

Great way to get a deal of the day discount. :cool:


Mike
 
I like both but prefer Saatisal over any other handle material on my khukris. It's a tough wood and the color & grain is gorgeous.

BUT my favorite khukri so far is still my horn-handled 21.5" Chitlangi by kami Sher.
 
Horn looks nice, but some of the woods that come on the handles have beautiful figure.
Hands down, for a user, I prefer the wood.
 
Horn is too slippery for me. I prefer wood but I think the khuks with the elk antler would be nice.
 
I think the look of the horn is more exotic, but I believe over time wood is going to be easier to maintain. I just picked up two with horn handles and while they look great, I already noticed some hairline cracks. What is the best way to repair them?
 
I prefer wood handles. I live in a dry climate though, so i'm worried about the horn handles cracking more easily. Wood handles, if they do crack, i'll fix with epoxy. Melodramatic though it sounds, i'm worried about horn shattering.
 
How about applying a thin layer of satin polyurethane on those wooden handles?
Click to expand...
Probably better to use Tru-oil, applied by finger, and which will happily hard-coat a handle that's already been soaked with for instance linseed oil (once the non-setting oil has wicked its way well in; ie, is not still lying on the surface, which will make the Tru-oil take absolutely ages to dry) to prevent the wood from either drying out too much or letting moisture in.
 
I have 6 big knives from HI, 4 with horn and 2 with wood. All of them seem to be holding up really well. Same difference to me. Some of the horn has shrunk a bit but never cracked. So at least to me either is fine. :) Am thinking about getting a Galbu Special in wood. Partly to try to even out the collection and partly because I used to have a wood one I really liked but had to sell years ago.

Heber
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top