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Old 11-11-2013, 09:17 AM
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Fulmaduro Fulmaduro is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Kansas City, MO
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Josh, check out these guys from Germany. http://www.cuscadi.de/ They would be one of the main competitors.

Looks like what you want to do, but with exotic Hawaiian wood. I would recommend that you also sell raw scales and block, stabilized if needed, on top of CNC'd exotic scales. I am thinking that would help augment sales. Many would love pre-made Hawaiian wood scales for their folders, but also many custom knifemakers want to do it themselves and many make fixed blade full and partial tang knives like myself. If you have access to the Hawaiian woods then selling both ways makes sense to me.

I do buy Koa blocks from somebody on Ebay, but I have to save them up for a sizeable quantity (they are $$$) and then send off to get stabilized. I wish they were already stabilized. I wish there was one source I could get them from all ready to go onto knives, just cut, drill, glue, etc.

The desert ironwood tree is pretty much from one area in the Mainland SW. Expensive and harder and harder to get good pieces. Hard and dense enough it doesn't need to be stabilized. Mesquite is very hard too, similar to your Hawaiian Kiawe. Not sure what Kiawe would look like on a knife. Somebody needs to try that one! Hope this helps and good luck. Would like to get some wood from your sometime.

Tony Z
Kansas City, MO


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