Worst scales materials

Worst scale material

  • Wood

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Leather

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Micarta

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • G10

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Carbon Fiber

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Titanium

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Giraffe Bone

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Cow Bone

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Zytel

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Kraton/Rubber

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Pearl

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Ivory

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Cord Wrapped

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Stag

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Stainless Steel

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Total voters
    1
I voted cord wrapped. Not only is is ninja looking, but it looks alot like an unfinished knife, with a temporary handle.
 
Hate Stainless Steel.
I Hate it.
It's heavy.
It's slippery.
IMO it doesn't even look good.
Fingerprints!
 
My least favorite isn't listed. The smooth cheap plastic that comes on very low end knives. Absolutely worthless. Breaks easy, ugly, slippery.

Second-least favorite, "staglon," which is delrin made to look like stag. Used on the Uncle Henry knives. There's just no way to keep plasti-stag from looking phony.

From an aesthetics standpoint I don't care for G10 (especially the multi-color varieties), aluminum, stainless, carbon fiber, rubber, or zytel. (Even though I like the feel of some of the rubber and zytel knives, they aren't much for lookin' at and I'd rather have the same designs with natural materials.) Micarta is hit-or-miss.

A great big blechhh for multi-colored laminate wood.
 
I've got to agree with ol' Bob - that plastic stag is pretty bad. Funny story: I was in my DVD rental place wearing my Gerber Freeman fixed-blades in stag, and the guy behind the counter says "nice knives, but that's plastic, right?" I could have strangled him.

Agree about the multi-colored laminates, too. Those are pretty disgusting.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
It isn't listed but aluminum. I will not own one. Not real impressed with any metal but I do have a few titanium knives. I would much rather have G10/micarta/carbon fiber instead.
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Agreed.

I think this was a big negative for Benchmade over the last few years, but they have been offering a lot of new non-Aluminum scaled knives recently.
 
Seems a lot of us feel the same , I hate cord wrapped , plain stainless steel ala Spyderco and Zytel.

I can live with the above if I like the knife enough.

tostig
 
Decided upon cord-wrapped handles. I'm sure that the cord could come in handy if the need arises, but living in suburbia, it just doesn't really happen. Second on the list would be kraton/rubber, but that's more of an aesthetic issue. I'm sure most rubber handles are meant for functionality, such as grip and ergos, so it's still alright in my book. Last, I was thinking stainless handles, but occasionally, I like a knife with some heft, as well as a cool-to-the-touch feel.
 
Any comments from those who voted against giraffe bone? I don't own any but have always admired it.
 
Bob W said:
Any comments from those who voted against giraffe bone? I don't own any but have always admired it.
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I'm one of those who voted against Giraffe bone. I have yet to see a knife with Giraffe bone that looked good to me. No matter if it is dyed or not (often the undyed looks better), I just hate how it looks. Oh well, everyone has their opinion, right? Thankfully there are a lot of good choices for all of us too!

- Mark
 
It's an interesting question. I suppose the worst materials are my favorites - stag and bone. They are the worst because they are the most delicate and sometimes won't survive if the knife is dropped on something hard. I guess the tradeoff for me is appearance vs. durability. If I have to choose a handle material for durability, I would probably choose micarta only because it is less ugly to me than the other types of resin handles.
 
Mark J said:
I'm one of those who voted against Giraffe bone. I have yet to see a knife with Giraffe bone that looked good to me. No matter if it is dyed or not (often the undyed looks better), I just hate how it looks. Oh well, everyone has their opinion, right? Thankfully there are a lot of good choices for all of us too!

- Mark
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That's what I was wondering, whether the anti- votes were based on aesthetics, or if there were some characteristics that make that material inherently unsuitable for knife handles.

No problem either way. I was simply curious since it received No votes but no comments.
 
Mark J said:
OK, so there are lots of really great materials for knife scales/handles. But what about the flip side? What are the worst? I know there are lots of variations on the choices I've listed above, and a lot depends on how well the knifemaker crafts the scales, but we're talking generally, which ones do you like the least? Multiple choices allowed.

- Mark
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Samael said:
Um, sorry, but they all have their place. Though, if I were forced to choose, I'd have to go with either ivory or snakewood for the inevitable cracking that's going to happen.
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There may be a "worst material" for a specific purpose, but "useless for any purpose? No. They all have their place.
 
Cord-wrapped is the suck. Specifically, paracord-wrapped. (not traditional Japanese knives, or the hollow-handle Randalls etc.)There are a FEW knives it works on, but not many. It's just a cop-out, IMHO. As for paying hundreds of dollars for a paracord-wrapped fixed blade...:rolleyes: Not my cuppa tea.

My second-least favorite handle material is pakkawood. Yeesh. That stuff is NASTY. :thumbdn: As for all of the other materials on the list, I think they all have their place. I have plenty of nice knives with FRN handles, plenty with aluminum, steel, bone, wood, titanium, stag, G10, micarta etc. It all depends on the design.

To the folks who dislike aluminum, my suggestion is to check out a Benchmade 940. That one might change your minds.
 
I voted for Ivory just because I don't like it, but paracord has many inherent issues. It is a fabric that absorbs everything it touches and stinks, rots, holds nastyness etc. How on earth do you clean it without unwrapping and discarding? Just my $0.02 .
 
Welcome to BladeForums, Mike.

Yep, so you unwrap it and discard it. The stuff's cheaper than dirt. What's the big deal?
 
Amen as to the price of the paracord. But, in the case of all-metal scales, I find them slippery and cold (particularly in a cold environment.) Therefore, I have cold wrapped my Model 18 for that reason, as well as because I have found it provides better grip and it can be changed quickly a cheaply and is useable, even if not preferred. And the major reason the scales needed to be changed was to make them slightly larger to better fit my paws.
 
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