Best knife handle material

J

Jameswlepage

Joined
Dec 13, 2016
Messages
26
Hi all James here.

I'm wondering what the best handle material is. I'm working on my first knife to sell and want to know what people would most like. So...

What's the best matirial for a dark themed hunting/military knife?
And
What's the best for an edc, yet artistic knife (also dark themed)?

Thank you all so much for your time!

James LePage
 
We aren't allowed to talk about sales unless you have a knifemaker membership so I would edit that part out. As far as the best handle material it's like asking what's the best car and what color. It it is almost entirely a personal preference. I am a fan of wooden handles first and then the micarta 's and stuff like that. I use stabilized woods unless using something like cocobolo which doesn't need any finish.
 
Best at what? G10 is a fantastic material and I would say that it is, in many ways, the best from a practical use standpoint. It's pretty much chemically inert, exceptionally strong, very stable and can be colored and textured in a wide variety of ways. That said, I personally prefer roughly finished burlap, canvas or denim micarta as it has a warmer feeling in the hand, it can offer plenty of grip without being at all abrasive and it seems to get even grippier when wet.
 
You may ask yourself if you are ready enough to sell knives if you ask a question like that
 
There is no "best" handle material ... except unicorn horn.

As a general "good choice" material for rough use field and military knives, canvas micarta is hard to beat (literally and figuratively). I like black, brown, and green. Use Corby bolts and the handle will be rock solid.
 
For whatever reason "dark themed knife" makes me think of a knife that broods silently in the corner and listens to music you've never even heard of.
 
Hengelo_77 said:
You may ask yourself if you are ready enough to sell knives if you ask a question like that
Click to expand...
I gotta second that. Seems so many want skip crawling and go right to running a marathon. Making knives is harder than I thought when I first decided to do it. But I never even considered selling knives when I hadn't learned the basics yet.
 
As far as practicality goes, I love TeroTuf for its toughness, lightness, grippiness, and ease of shaping. Its drawback is the limited color palette. It ain't particularly pretty, but it is very practical.

Desert ironwood is hard to beat for beauty with the right piece. I sometimes see newbies ruin good handle material before they are ready to shape it well enough to warrant the high-end materials.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
There is no "best" handle material ... except unicorn horn.

As a general "good choice" material for rough use field and military knives, canvas micarta is hard to beat (literally and figuratively). I like black, brown, and green. Use Corby bolts and the handle will be rock solid.
Click to expand...

I'm with Stacy on the unicorn horn but it's hard to find so you can substatute narwhal horn. But man am I a sucker for Ivory, any Ivory. Nothing feels like it on a knife it a pistol. I sadly don't own an ivory handled knife or pistol but hope some day to remedy that.
 
JTknives said:
...But man am I a sucker for Ivory, any Ivory. Nothing feels like it on a knife it a pistol. I sadly don't own an ivory handled knife or pistol but hope some day to remedy that.
Click to expand...

Be careful that could end you up in jail :rolleyes:
 
Storm Crow said:
As far as practicality goes, I love TeroTuf for its toughness, lightness, grippiness, and ease of shaping. Its drawback is the limited color palette. It ain't particularly pretty, but it is very practical.

Desert ironwood is hard to beat for beauty with the right piece. I sometimes see newbies ruin good handle material before they are ready to shape it well enough to warrant the high-end materials.
Click to expand...

As far as practicality goes I think that nothing can beat rubberized cork .

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The only real handle material for a dark themed knife is Orkbone.




IMHO, i guess its not the handle material that makes somebody buy or not buy a knife. The complete piece needs to fit. And the story behind.
 
The best handle material is the one that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. Cotton balls work well imo.

In all seriousness, the best is dictated by the application. I've been using a lot of stabilized Koa, stabilized poplar, g-10, and canvas micarta lately.
 
JTknives said:
I'm with Stacy on the unicorn horn but it's hard to find so you can substatute narwhal horn. But man am I a sucker for Ivory, any Ivory. Nothing feels like it on a knife it a pistol. I sadly don't own an ivory handled knife or pistol but hope some day to remedy that.
Click to expand...

Jt, I have a collection of ivory objects from before the turn of the century to the late 1950's and I use natural camel bone for some of my knives now and you cant tell the difference without real careful examination. You might want to try it. Larry


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