Are there custom knifemakers that use dinosaur bone for their handles?

H

Homer49

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May 24, 2007
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Santa Fe Stoneworks has a lockback and Spyderco Kiwi model with what they say is dinosaur bone on the handle. Is this stuff authentic or is it like calling gasoline "dinosaur oil"?

Are there actually custom knife makers that use dinosaur bone and is it really real? Thanks.
 
I have a "My Knife" by D'Holder that has dinosaur bone, along with the amber he is known for, in the handle... I see it listed as a handle material once in awhile by other makers as well... FWIW....
 
I think jay Fisher in Clovis, New Mexico has used some of it also. He is know for his rock handles.
 
I have seen a few knives with dinosaur bone handles. They looked pretty good. I find that dinosaur bone usually has an interesting pattern.
 
I was going to say that fossilized dinosaur bone is actually stone, so it would have all of the attendant benefits and issues.
 
One of my favorites and with dino bone.

MN7326.jpg
 
Dinosaur bone is some interesting material and some is really nice looking. As mentioned, it is more like stone than bone as the fossilization replaces the bone with mineral/stone material. Similar to petrified wood or mammoth ivory.

I've seen some very interesting dinosaur poop as well.

Peter
 
peterinct said:
Dinosaur bone is some interesting material and some is really nice looking. As mentioned, it is more like stone than bone as the fossilization replaces the bone with mineral/stone material. Similar to petrified wood or mammoth ivory.

I've seen some very interesting dinosaur poop as well.

Peter
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Not like mammoth ivory. The mammoth that we use is not fossilized. It is stained by minerals, but it has been stuck in the permafrost and is still ivory as i understand.
 
jdm61 said:
Not like mammoth ivory. The mammoth that we use is not fossilized. It is stained by minerals, but it has been stuck in the permafrost and is still ivory as i understand.
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You are correct sir. Mammoth Ivory is still biological. Dino bone is not...everything has been replaced with rock/minerals. I understand this makes working with it unpredictable as the composition varies depending on where the fossils are found.
 
Custom Knife Consignment has a David Broadwell subhilt with a dinosaur bone handle.
 
I have some dino bone and Wyoming jade that I intend to use for handle material. I've used the recon stone and have almost all the equipment I need for the real thing. I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably pass on the dino poop, however. Oosik draws enough sideways looks.

Gene
 
Gene Martin said:
I have some dino bone and Wyoming jade that I intend to use for handle material. I've used the recon stone and have almost all the equipment I need for the real thing. I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably pass on the dino poop, however. Oosik draws enough sideways looks.

Gene
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You don't want to get caught polishing an oosic handle at a show:eek: One of the makers at the Gator show had a couple of high end damascus folders that had handle scales of 200+ million year old fossilized coral. That was some interesting looking stone.
 
I just bought a very large fossilized piece of dino bone which is the same quality as that shown in the Bennica folder. I was amazed to find it, as that quality gets rarer by the minute. I had second thoughts about buying it, but did, the second thoughts being that the plan was to send it to D'Holder. D' has worked with it, but not often. RBSlaughter1 is lucky to have a My Knife with dino bone in it. D' tells me it not only is difficult to work with from a fracturing standpoint, but also because it is harder material. And in a My Knife, the way one is made, the materials must be rather of the same hardness. D' has threatened to charge me for two diamond wheels if forced to use that rock I sent him (jokingly, of course). But he generally dislikes using it because of it's difficulty to work with.
 
Hi, all. Heard about this post.

There are all kinds of petrified dinosaur bone. Being over 65 myo, the bone has been replaced by a variety of mineral. Usually the most favored material is red in a black matrix, just because of its stunning appearance. But there are all kinds of varieties, from blue to black and everything in between. Here's a picture of the red in black matrix with a variety of colors in the rock:

Durango8

Copralites are petrified dinosaur excrement. It is often replaced by agate and quartz, and can be quite beautiful. Here are a few examples of copralites:

Copralite1


Copralite2

There are a lot of options for petrified gemstone materials that can be used on knife handles. Crinoid limestone comes to mind, as does petrified coral. Here is some 200 myo fossilized Cretacous algae:

FOVolansFossilCretaceousAlgae4.jpg

Another stunning material is Turitella Agate, fossilized seabed. It's composed of fossilized spiral pelecypods replaced by jasper and chalcedony. Here's an example:

Agate,%20Turitella%20(Fossilized%20Sea%20Bed).jpg

All of this material is rock, usually much harder than a knife blade. A belt grinder won't finish stone, it will actually ruin the surface. You have to use lapidary equipment, and it can be fairly expensive and extremely time consuming to do right. To finish a piece of phenolic or hard wood, for instance, may take a couple hours or less with a slack belt sander. But to finish a piece of agate takes many hours, actually days, with lots of patience and luck. That's why you see so few true gemstone handled knives...

Nothing quite looks like gemstone. It can be bright, hard, and glassy, extremely durable, and quite valuable. Long after the knives have corroded away, the rock will still look great.

Oh, yeah, don't forget petrified wood!

Petrified%20Wood2.jpg


Petrified%20Wood7.jpg


Petrified%20Wood6.jpg
 
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