Bone vs Wood Wear

[prisoner6]

Clearly I believe that Bone handles will wear better in average pocket carry, but how well will Wood handles hold up? Say in a pocket with keys, coins, etc. Should I expect chipping and gouges or are modern wood handles toughened in some manner?

 

[Will Power]

Frankly, I'd say Ebony or Coco or other hardwoods are far more durable than bone. Bone is actually quite brittle (pin cracks anybody? ) will chip more, and if you drop it.....:barf: .I never carry my knives with coins,keys etc anyway. Obviously, wood doesn't fancy water so much so don't go swimming

 

[kamagong]

Bone is more likely to chip or crack, wood is more apt to dent or be affected by humidity.

- Christian

 

[jackknife]

I've seen a lot of old and very used knives with wood handles that stood for the test of time. Old English knives with century old ebony, old Buck 110's with their wood slabs still all there. Lots of old TL-29's with wood handles still there.

 

[arizonaranchman]

Interesting thread. I'm far from an authority on any of this stuff, but as said above there appear to be many examples of wood scaled pocket knives that are quite old and the scales appear to be holding up well. We actually see many bone handled pocket knives with chipped or cracked scales or even portions of the scale broken away/missing. With wood I don't recall seeing this actually. Cocobolo, Ebony or African Blackwood are very heavy and dense and contain natural oils within them. I'd love to see some examples of OLD traditional pocket knives with wood scales. I'd also be interested if any of you here currently carry your wood folder in pocket with change, keys, etc - what sort of wear does it show under these carry conditions?

I carry my knives solo in RF pocket, with no other items. Can you folks how mix other items in with your wood scaled knives share some pics and commentary on the result?

 

[jakemex]

Wood is more durable than bone, and less prone to cracking because of the long fiber content it is flexible and tougher.

 

[knarfeng]

This topic has been raised several before. The consensus is that, while to a certain extent it depends on the type of wood, wood holds up at least as well as bone.