What do people think are the nicest woods for knife handles?

Cheers,

JD

dang near anything in a burl looks awesome! check out the box elder burl on the folder I just finished, it`s in the display case!

I totally agree with the burl wood. It adds a great amount of character to any knife. Check out www.stabilizedwood.com (Http://www.stabilizedwood.com)

Mike has a great selection and lots of knowledge on burl (stablilzed, of course)

Bob Sigmon

Siggi,

You have too many W's.

Should be www.stabilizedwood.com (http://www.stabilizedwood.com)

I like the look of manzanita and good ironwood.
Tom

Ironwood is great, my personal favorite is Cocobolo. Stabilized burls are just hard to beat no matter what they grew on!!! :)

I've feveloped a fondness for African Bloodwood. It's a deep red and finishes just like Cocobolo, which I also enjoy. It smells like play-dough and sometimes I want to eat it.

:rollin:

I have a lovely stabilized spalted Oak too...

Spalts are up there with burls, IMO...

well well.....

Here is my favorites:

Dessert Iron wood
Coccobolo
Amboina
Thuya
Snakewood
Elmburl

Speaking strictly from my own point of view, I personally like Bocote and ebony, but ebony is prone to checking ( small tiny cracks ) if it gets to hot while grinding. I use a lot of Bocote as spacers on my deer horn handled stub tang knives, and it shows a beautiful side grain. It is also very easy to work and finish. I use four or five coats of super glue as a finish. Looks unbelivable when polished!!

I just acquired a rifle stock blank of California curly walnut. It looks just like a fine curly maple, except it's walnut--beautiful, tight grained chocolate color, with blond curly stripes runing perpendicular to the grain. Never seen the likes of such before. Will finish finish sanding and oiling my first handle tonight. I just finished 120 grit, and am ready to progress to the higher grits. It gets prettier with every progression. I can't wait.

Dana, I have some of the same wood, also from a rifle stock. I sliced it up and had it stabilized; it makes a gorgeous handle. I was hunting for a pic of a knife I had made with it, but it appears to have gone the way of the failed hard drive, and I can't post it here. Neat stuff, though!

Where did you find that?

JD

It was given to me by a gunsmith friend, Joss.

Is that the same thing as flame grain walnut? Here's an example of flame grain walnut:

http://www.dfoggknives.com/images/HudsonVikingIll4.jpg

Cheers,

JD

holy cow...that is the most beautiful knife I have ever seen..no kidding...that is beautiful.



WOW




sigh.....

My favorite is an Australian hardwood called ringed Gidgee. It is a very dark wood with an almost 3D like appearence
BJHALL
bjhall@vic.australis.com.au

Rob Hudson. Whew! Everything he does is a treasure. And he's a nice guy too. When I was first starting out, I called him, out of the blue, and asked a bunch of newbie questions. He was as friendly, gracious, and open as he is artistic--heck of a decent guy. I couldn't tell if the handles were the same as the wood Don and I are talking about or not. But it doesn't look to be too far off.

Yeah, Rob Hudson's work is amazing. I recently fell in love with the Bowie featured in Ed Fowler's Knife Talk book. I love how the guard lines meet the handle's perfectly. The "flame edge" is really nice too...

For those interested, there's a long article on him on-line here:
http://www.swordforum.com/summer99/robhudson.html

JD

This is coming from a newbie, so take it for what it's worth. But, from an artistic point of view, the right Desert Ironwood is hard to beat. You find the right grain/pattern, and it makes the knife. California buckeye burl is a personal favorite as well. Others (in no particular order) fishtail oak, curly maple, ebony (sometimes simple is good), madrone burl, spaulted maple. The list can go on and on.

Chris

"If you're gonna go, geaux big."

I personally like :

Dessert Iron wood
Coccobolo
Snakewood

Andrew

Ringed Gidgee and Desert Ironwood :)

Re: Walnut in particular Don Cowles post from 9/5 you said you had had some curly walnut stabilized and it came out beautiful. My question is: who do you have stabilize your wood? And did your walnut change from that wonderful warm brown/redishbrown to a more grayish brown? Most stab. walnut I have seen has been a sort of a grayish brown that really turned me off, since my head is used to that warm brown of unstab. walnut. I dug out a huge 6+ ft. walnut stump last Feb. that has lots of super curly, and spalted with lighter streaks, and redish streaks, wood. However the wood is all a little on the soft side for handles. But I hate the grayish stab. walnut I've seen, and am looking for a solution to avoid that. Last question: I recently dug out a burled walnut stump, and even with green wood sealer[wax emulsion from woodcraft supply] coating it the centers of the burleyes are shrinking so badly that they are becoming open holes in the wood. Anyone with any experience with that and or solutions to salvage the burl for knife handles other than filling the holes up with epoxy and walnut dust?

I would start by slabbing and stickering that walnut burl, and let it air dry for a couple of years. Some of it will check, but some of it will not.

Second, I'd send a pound or 2 to Mike Ludemann at WSSI in Iowa, and see if you're pleased with the results. www.stabilizedwood.com.

Here are a few I like Tasmanian Fiddleback Oak, Gidgae, Ringed Gidgae, Western Fiddleback Myall, and Buckeye Burl.
KEN (WWJD)

I know how some of the woods you are talking about looks. Here's my list:

African Blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxolon) The most beautifull crotch figure. Gold and black
Kiaat (Pterocarpus Angolensis) (The crotch and fiddle back)

Mopane root
Red Bushwillow root (Combretum )
Knobthorn
African Leadwood (Combretum Imberbe)
Tamboti (aka Zulu Perfume) This has the most amazing smell. Pink Ivory. A pain in the neck to work, beautifull.
Wild olive (Olea europea spp Africana)
---------
Tiaan

I've seen one black and white picture of a knife with the handle done up with slabs of Black Palm. I've never been able to find any, or anyone who knows anything about it. Anyone have any suggestions or info you could share with me?

Thanks,
Michael

You might try,www.lumberlady.com/index.htm (http://www.lumberlady.com/index.htm)

Or this place,www.stabilizedwood.com/ (http://www.stabilizedwood.com/)

Or lastly,www.knifeandgun.com/ (http://www.knifeandgun.com/)

Michael
The only Black Palm I know of comes from Australia.It is usually a quite small tree only having a small ring of usable wood on the outer of the trunk(the centre of the trunk is fibrous).
If cut lengthwise the figure is usually straight black lines on a brownish background.However it is normally cut across the grain and shows small black spots that can look a bit like lizard skin.A very unusual wood,and quite rare.
If you need any more info please let me know.
Doug

I've not used a lot of exotic woods (altho they are beautiful!) but I'm fond of using local stuff that I can gather myself.
The best looking stuff I've found around here (western VA) is mountain laurel root burl. Very dense and doesnt crack much while drying. At least that is my experience.
Here's a pic to show what I mean.

photos.yahoo.com/bc/rescu...%26.view=t (http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/rescuekaren/vwp?.dir=/My+Photos&.src=ph&.dnm=laurel+root+2.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/rescuekaren/lst%3f%26.dir=/My%2bPhotos%26.src=ph%26.view=t)

Randy

Randy,thats some good looking wood. :cool:

Thanks for the info guys. I checked the sites you suggested and the didn't have it listed, so I will need to wait for a reply from them about getting it for me. Doug, that does sound like the wood I've been looking for. Do you know a supplier and what I could expect to pay for some?

Thanks,
Michael

Thanks for the info guys. I checked the sites you suggested and the didn't have it listed, so I will need to wait for a reply from them about getting it for me. Doug, that does sound like the wood I've been looking for. Do you know a supplier and what I could expect to pay for some?

Thanks,
Michael

Michael
Let me know approx what size peice you need and I'll see what I can find.
Doug

Im another "newby" . My question is on coccabolo my friend that got me started in the art of knife making told me to be careful of some woods if you inhale the dust it will cause all kinds of health problems especially coccabolo? Is this true and what others should I be concerned with............Thanks Skiffster

Cocobolo is the worst offender. It is a member of the rosewood family. If you are sensitive to it, you may also be sensitive to other rosewoods.

Best bet is to wear a respirator when working it, and have a good dust collection system. Keeping your skin covered is also a good idea.

If it turns out you are indeed allergic to you, you will probably just have to forego using it. It's very much like breathing or bathing in poison ivy for those who are.

My favorite is osage orange or as we call it hedge apple ...I get lots of requests for it.....carl

I go for Ironwood where I live I can get it free and it is about as indistructable as any wood it goes well with Brass and when you combine it with Tourquoise it realy shines. My second
choice is Califorina Buckey. Gib

Bocote
Buckeye burl
Mesquite

Down here, we have large mesquite that have a knurled grain similar to the burled woods. It's dense like osage and polishes great. All sorts of shades of rust and chocolate browns.

I have a large supply of cocobolo, but hate using it. I'm obviously allergic to it. Even the residual dust causes my eyes to tear and swell and my skin to break out similar to poison ivy, but not as itchy! Too bad, because I really like the looks of it!

Don Halter

Where do you get wood stabelized? Or can you do it yourself?
Thanks
PUP

Here is one place, they do an excellent job, 10# and over is $8.00lb.www.stabilizedwood.com/ (http://www.stabilizedwood.com/) ,good luck to you.

Believe it or not, Ebay has a good supply of stabalized black palm. They also have an interesting red palm.

tisswood burl for small areas is my favorite

Buckeye Burl
Amboyna Burl
Afzelia

those are my favorites so far.

Greetings,

If you are looking for a quality Turkish walnut, i have many available exhibition grade Turkish walnut knife blocks & scales in my inventory. If it is okay, i can also share the photographs with this precious forum. I am sure that everyone will enjoy to see my woods. Because you have never seen such beautiful high figured amazing woods before.

Sincerely,
Onur

Ilove Bloodwood. Another is Purpleheart, its rather hard but polishes to a high luster and has a color anywhere from lavender to deep purple naturally. Mlatest knife was from a wood called Tamboli it turned out wonderful. If you are into plastics I really like the inlace stuff, www.woodturningz.com I get all my turning plastics here and they are great guys. They pour/cast the stuff in house and have various sizes not just turning blanks (Check out the moulten Metal color)

Splatted maple
Turkish Walnut
any burial woods
and best woods are Stabilized so you do not have issues of shrinking and cracking or the worst is a handle slab coming off the knife .

Sam

I would have to say that you just can't beat a really good peice of iron wood burl. all of the translucent browns and golds are just amazing