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Fit & Finish Fit and Finish = the difference in "good art" and "fine art." Join in, as we discuss the fine art of finish and embellishment.

View Poll Results: What do you think of reconstituted/composite/altered natural materials?
All for these 11 7.86%
Depends on the project 94 67.14%
Like some, dilike others, pls explain 21 15.00%
If your not going to natural why bother 13 9.29%
Other, pls explain 1 0.71%
Voters: 140. You may not vote on this poll

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  #16  
Old 01-24-2004, 10:50 AM
combs6136 combs6136 is offline
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handle materials

My idea of the perfect handle material changes each year..The more i learn the more it changes.. a hunting knife handle must not be slippery...A showing knife handle can be anything...But my customers here in Ohio never agree with me, so i use what ever they like.........But for my carrying knife in the field, i will take some good stag every time........I have a few knives that i would never sell...........If i didn't sell another knife i would still continue to grind them out..........All these years and i stil love it..........carl


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  #17  
Old 01-25-2004, 12:31 PM
Joel Joel is offline
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I've made several knives with the polyester pearl scales, and have had two of them returned because one of the scales shattered. Both were dropped on hard surfaces. I kind of like the stuff, but won't be using it anymore.
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  #18  
Old 08-23-2004, 04:14 AM
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Dave Larsen Dave Larsen is offline
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I'm with Jason, it's all in the presentation - and in the project's intended use. I took an order for a knife with recon coral scales, and it turned out very nice. But I made sure the owner understood the handle would not take any shock without the danger - in fact, the likelihood - of breaking. He's been very careful with it! Another guy saw the knife and asked me to make one like it for him. I learned that he planned to use the knife in the field and talked him into using bloodwood. Very much the same color but far more durable. Now he won't use that knife either! And he came back for another. We looked through my handle materials and he settled on some stabilized box elder burl.

I don't make too many hidden tang knives, so all in all, I prefer to stay away from reconstituted stone just because it's so likely to break. I've used the polyester pearl and that stuff is very brittle. I don't like the idea of a knife coming back with a broken handle regardless whether I've warned the owner of its limitations. I probably would not use these materials on anything but a specific order when I've made the risks clear up front.

Without doubt my favorite material is Micarta. The stuff works and polishes beautifully, carves better than anything else I've found, and takes being dropped on a cement shop floor rather well. Done right it can be a very classy material and if I know the knife is intended for use I push it pretty hard. After that, fine grained woods either stabilized or sealed with superglue. Ivory, stag, bone and horn are reasonable choices for working knives too in my opinion. Mammoth ivory benefits from a little more care than the typical user might give it but used right on the knife it seems pretty hardy.

What about Corian? I've used that for a number of knives and haven't had any reports back. This too seems like it would be subject to breaking from shock but I don't have any experience of that. It takes heat very well. I once saw a Randall with a Corian handle! Makers like J. Neilson use it for spacers to good effect. The stuff comes in all kinds of colors, including solid colors. I've use some pure white that turned out very nice and would really like to find some black Corian. Black paper Micarta doesn't come out quite as deep a black as I'd like... But I'm still concerned about its shock resistance. Anyone have any experience with this?


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  #19  
Old 08-24-2004, 10:32 AM
OutWest OutWest is offline
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I've made two knives for gun/pistol owners who wanted laminate Rosewood 'stamina' handles because it matched the grips on their new pistols. Apparently the stuff is being used for grips on some high end pistols.
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  #20  
Old 08-28-2004, 10:17 AM
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J. Neilson J. Neilson is offline
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Dave is correct, I've used to use quite a bit of corian for throat accents on knives. It makes a nice contrast to handle woods and work/polishes up beautifully. I've mostly switched to recon. stone for this since trying to upgrade the handle materials on my knives but, I would definately suggest it. I used it also on a few (3-4) full tang knives that were scrimshawed. Corian can be a great scrim medium. I kept one for myself to abuse (without scrim work of course) and never had a problem with the material chipping out or such.


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  #21  
Old 08-28-2004, 09:13 PM
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jonwelder jonwelder is offline
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Question -"To Dave and J"<< OK so where do you get "corian?"

I've heard quite a bit about the benifits of "corian",, so now where do you get it? I know it is some kind of counter-top material,, but this doesn't narrow it down much for me,, I have very limited access to this kind of stuff here. Remember, I live here in central Nebraska, it's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here! thanks!! jon
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  #22  
Old 08-28-2004, 10:37 PM
DC KNIVES DC KNIVES is offline
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Jon, for the amounts a knifemaker would use, try some cabinet shops. These guys throw away more in one day than you would use in a year.You might have to wait to get the color you want but its out there.You could also try Lowe's or Home Depot .Hope this helps.Dave
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  #23  
Old 08-29-2004, 05:36 AM
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J. Neilson J. Neilson is offline
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DC's got it right. I'm not in Nebraska but, even in the nether regions of PA, I found a cabinet shop and for a small fee was able to take all the scrap they had. This fella was a crotchety SOB, too. Most folks will just give it away. If you want, I'll send you a few pieces to try out, just e-mail/PM me.


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  #24  
Old 08-30-2004, 10:39 PM
Mike Stewart Mike Stewart is offline
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Corian is heavy but it does make a nice handle. We probably make about 30 to 50 of them per month. I have never had a customer break one. We have an unconditional warranty so if one broke I would know it.

You can get corian from Masecraft Supply in a lot of colors and patterns but you can also develop a relationship with a kitchen cabinet and countertop shop in your area. They have no use for the cut-offs after they install a new countertop. I made a small knife for one of the guys in our area and he gave me a huge box of cut-offs. We knifemakers have the perfect use for those scraps.

I also use a lot of the Reconstituted Stone. I have used it for slabs on very small knives but I use most of it for contrasting spacers on up-scale versions.

The acrylic pearls are very pretty but they are a fragile as real pearl. Over the years I have used every color you can think of and have had to replace a couple of them but you can get acrylics in colors not avalible in any other materials. You have to be very clear with customers on all of the acylics. They will not hold up under hard impact and batoning the knife is out. you will crack these types of handles. I wouldn't say they were total Safe Queens but they do require more care.

Here is an acrylic called Reverse Zebra.



The knife in the center of this shot is Strawberry Acrylic Pearl. This is a good use for the material because it is a small EDC type pocket knife.




Mike........

Last edited by Mike Stewart; 08-30-2004 at 10:58 PM.
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  #25  
Old 08-31-2004, 05:26 PM
Sgaindubh Sgaindubh is offline
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Composite Materials

To me, most laminated woods look like a "Velvet picture of Elvis.on a black background " , maybe OK on some Kitchen Knives ,BUT look REAL CHEAP on a custom hand made knife.



My2 ?
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  #26  
Old 09-04-2004, 11:09 AM
Stephen Stephen is offline
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I like using the single colour dymondwoods. Also micarta is ok but I tend to get a little quesy if I grind too much of it - I got poisoned from grinding Bakelite a while back so I'm not that tolerant of phenol producing stuff. I am using a ventalator thats sposed to protect against vapours now though instead of before one for just dust
CORIAN
i have had corian break on me when I have droped it on a concrete floor in the shed. It was ground fairly thin.
Stephen
http://members.iinet.net.au/~snixon/

Last edited by Stephen; 09-04-2004 at 11:15 AM. Reason: more information.
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  #27  
Old 11-12-2004, 08:48 AM
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oljoe oljoe is offline
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Gotta love that wood. I have used Macarta on a few handles and that turned out OK but I realy like the the feel and natural look of wood.
Stabilize the wood if it is going to be a "user" and the results will be good for everyone.
Most here have seen the composite stocks that are on guns these days. I'm sure they have their place but give me a beautifully grained wood stock any day.

Joe Foster


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  #28  
Old 01-25-2008, 05:57 PM
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Don Robinson Don Robinson is offline
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Welcome back to the forums, Jason!
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  #29  
Old 01-28-2008, 09:07 PM
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GHEzell GHEzell is offline
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I don't have a pic handy, but I've found a use for stamina wood. I got a good natural color, and use it as spacers so that the material is seen on edge.... it looks suprisingly like leather, but much more durable.

But yeah, on a slab handle it just looks gaudy.

I'm currently working on one with corian spacers, a deep blue with specks, should look good interspaced with bone spacers and stag crown. I like everything about the stuff except weight (it's a bit heavy) and the smell when sanding (the smell of corian and stag at the same time will assure I'm not disturbed while making it... it will curl your nose-hairs).

I say, be inventive and open-minded when it comes to this stuff. Wear good lung protection when power sanding.
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  #30  
Old 02-13-2008, 05:24 PM
decheman decheman is offline
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Looking to make some scales out of ivory or syn. ivory but need a source. Any help? Also, as you may have concluded I have not used ivory before, any advise on working it and finish. Thanks
Frank
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