characteristics of various wood handles

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lokiman123

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i'm looking at a variety of barkies and am looking for information on their various woods used.

hardness, durability, stain resistance, etc. etc.

I know that each wood will offer different attributes and am just looking to narrow down the choices.

Also, is it possible to have small sections of any(all) of these woods checkered(think 1911 pistol grip)?

-osage orange
-bocote
-redwood
-snakewood
-olivewood
-beech
-bamboo
-oak
 
There are going to be a whole raft of people that know more about this than I, but some of my observations to get the ball rolling.

Osage is apparently very strong and seems to actually improve in look with age. I think it looks quite yuck when new. Oak whilst strong always looks grubby to me, and gets even more so with age. Olive wood is pretty but I suspect not anything like as strong as those two. Beech sucks big time. Beech is a bargain bucket wood often roughly bolted to cheap tools like machetes. I hated working beech gun stock. As for doing a 911 pistol grip type thing in beech, think again. You have to do the lines very much further apart than you do walnut or it just tears out, as I found to my cost.
 
Bocote is an oily, hard wood that has cool inky lines running throughout.

Snakewood is another very hard wood, rare, expensive with beautiful patterns. I would think that checkering would obscure the look. It's dark so it wouldn't show stains/dirt very much.

Redwood is soft like pine or cedar but can be absolutely gorgeous in burl or in curly form. Stabilized is the only way to go if it's used.
 
three others i forgot to mention were rosewood, walnut, and lignum vite.

i heard... on the other forums... that lignum vite is one of the most sturdy resilient woods around. i know furniture, gun stocks, etc. can be made of walnut.

any opinions on the rosewood?
 
Rosewood is oily and resilient. It can be kept in nice shape with occasional applications of plain lemon oil.
 
lokiman123 said:
i'm looking at a variety of Barkies and am looking for information on their various woods used.
Click to expand...


Bark River uses a variety of treatments depending on the nature of the wood.

Here’s a list of some of the woods and how they’re treated.

Standard Woods:

Traditional Dark Curly Maple-----6 coats of Tru-oil
Natural Curly Maple----------------6 coats of Tru-oil
Bocote------------------------------- Hardcoated
Zebrawood--------------------------Always left natural
Amazon Bloodwood---------------Always left natural
Olivewood---------------------------Always left natural
Black Palm---------------------------Always left Natural
Rosewood---------------------------Always left natural
Pauduk--------------------------------Always left natural
African Blackwood-----------------Always left natural
African Ebony----------------------Always left natural
Osage Orange----------------------Always left natural--heated to bring out the dark grain
Goncalo Alves----------------------Always left natural
Phillipine Mahogany---------------Hardcoated
Para-Kingwood---------------------Always left natural
Purple Heart------------------------Always left natural
Lignum Vite-------------------------Always left natural
Mulberry-----------------------------Hardcoated
Teakwood--------------------------Always left natural
Bamboo-----------------------------Hardcoated
Tulipwood--------------------------Stabilized

Burled & Exotic Woods:

Natural Birdseye Maple----------6 coats of Tru-oil
Dark Birdseye Maple-------------6 coats of Tru-oil
Leopardwood Lace---------------Hardcoated
Tasmanian Myrtle Burl-----------Stabilized
Tasmanian Curly Myrtle----------Stabilized
Bastone Walnut Burl-------------6 coats of Tru-oil
Claro Walnut Burl-----------------6 Coats of Tru-Oil
Briar Burl----------------------------Always left natural
Amboynia Burl---------------------Always left natural
Natural Maple Burl----------------Stabilized
Black Maple Burl-------------------Stabilized
Blue Maple Burl--------------------Stabilized
Jade Big Leaf Maple Burl--------Stabilized
Bronze Maple Burl-----------------Stabilized
Golden maple Burl----------------Stabilized
Azure Maple Burl------------------Stabilized
Natural Elder Burl-----------------Stabilized
Blue Elder Burl--------------------Stabilized
Emerald Elder Burl----------------Stabilized
Crimson & Gold Elder Burl------Stabilized
Midnite Elder Burl----------------Stabilized
Mesquite Burl---------------------Always left natural
Red Mesquite Burl---------------Always left natural
Aged Copper Burl----------------Stabilized
Black Ash Burl---------------------Stabilized
California Buckeye Burl---------Stabilized
Desert Ironwood Burl----------Always left natural
Thuya Burl------------------------Always left natural
Snakewood-----------------------Always left natural
Cottonwood Burl----------------Stabilized
Oregon Myrtle Burl--------------Stabilized
Red Mallee Burl-------------------Stabilized
Brown Mallee Burl---------------Stabilized
Chechen Burl---------------------Stabilized
Redwood Burl--------------------Stabilized
Spalted Beech-------------------Stabilized
Curly Koa--------------------------Stabilized
Curly Birch------------------------Hardcoated
Black Locust Burl---------------Stabilized
Olivewood Burl------------------Stabilized



"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike
 
Like PBWilson said, redwood is very soft and pine like and won't be durable unless stabilized.

My few experiences with olive wood tells me that it can be rather iffy. It's dense and oily, but I've seen it developing cracks which inch their way through the grain until the piece splits. My one custom knife made with a block of it has held up fine, but I saw a custom knife at a sporting goods store develop a crack that eventually split that side of the handle while just sitting in the store's display case for some months. I have 3 other blocks of it that hasn't developed cracks in my cabinet on their own, but when I approached two other custom knife makers about using them on my knife orders, they both dissuaded me from it because they weren't confident in that wood's stability. I've also seen kitchenware—bowls, large spoons, ladles, etc—made with olive wood sold in higher end kitchen appliance stores that had splits in them.
 
Any thoughts on walnut as a handle choice?
I have one coming from Matt Roberts with walnut scales, any opinions would be appreciated.
 
Bocote is a fantastic, affordable wood handle choice. As is osage orange. Both are extremely durable and need no stabilization. I dare say that both are ALMOST as durable as micarta. They will take much abuse.

Oak and bamboo are very durable also. I will echo the previous comments abut redwood burl. I stay away from snakewood as it has an awful tendancy to splinter and split. It's very brittle and working with it can be a major PITA. My experiences are that even after finished and stabilized it can still be a gamble. Rosewoods are also very durable and many have fantastic figure.

Comoha- you walnut is a very beautiful and durable wood. Been used on gunstocks for decades at least. It can handle the recoil of firearms. It will make a fine knife handle and you will have no worries.:thumbup:
 
lokiman123 said:
-osage orange
-bocote
-redwood
-snakewood
-olivewood
-beech
-bamboo
-oak
Click to expand...

Osage is a joy. It does tend to start out very yellow but ages well, I've done a few kitchen knives that see daily use and after a year are just a rich deep golden/orangey brown that's nice to look at. It sands very smooth and takes a good finish. I prefer to use multiple coats of tung oil on it, as the linseed oil darkens it a bit more than you really want on the new wood, but either way it works out and is very durable.

Bocote is also durable and tight grained and holds up very well. It's a good heavy wood, too.

redwood HAS to be stabilised. But it's attractive.

Oaks tend to have a coarser grain and while they seem to hold up well in my experience they are also very light and are one of the woods I don't do a lot of work with. Of course, there's oak and there's oak. Valley oak local to here is much tighter than red oak, and the blue oak "iron oak" of the sierra is pretty tough stuff.

Olive is wonderful, period. As with some other dense woods that can plit but are otherwise good, it's important to have the end grain sealed and especially important to keep the tung oil coatings on it. CA also works.

I have some bamboo handles knives but haven't worked it myself yet. I haven't tried beech but it isn't high on my list for weight issues.


walnut woks well. (I have no idea why this one hasn't sold, I should relist it)
156-2.jpg
 
Walnut is a great material, one of my favorites. It's durable but works easily, and can be stabilized if you want. Keep an eye out for Don Hanson's stuff in the knifemaker's supply section*; I don't know if he has any ready at the moment but if he puts out some more, I will order again. It's really,really nice.

*that forum is a great place to check out, I've gotten some really nice wood and steel from folks in there at fair-to-excellent prices. :thumbup:
 
Ive always wanted a knife with Osage handles. One day Im gonna get a hundred year old fence post and try to get handle material from it, and send it to one of our custom knife makers.
 
What about Almond wood? I have some that is real pretty oranges and red coloring, and super tight grain.
 
I treat my wood handles with a long soak in polyurethane, then I allow them to drip dry, and after it gets a little gummy (10 minutes) I wipe it off.

nmhan085-vi.jpg
 
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