Official 2018 BF Knife: Poll 5/8: Handle Materials

[Will Power]

Still not voted yet, simply can't make up my mind - for now

What I'm interested in is definitely Osage Orange, this would look really elegant with a slant bolstered knife. The wood has many stripes and changes colour as it ages, it's very tough (prob hard to polish&work on though?) It's not an endangered or costly wood and is native to N.America I think.Yes.

I'd like Ram's Horn but there are going to be big variations I'm sure. Some people will get knives fit for Emperors others... It's inevitable. So I think I'll pass on that, too inconsistent. No.

Other types of horn? Can be good but susceptible to shrink or warp. No.

Ditto Stag. Don't you start staring at premium short run Stags from GEC or Mr Ohta, we won't get stuff like that unless we get a Stag donation like in 2014, and we won't. I'd avoid.

Elk? Kind of Russian Roulette choice It's often very porous/pithy and can look like calcified bone to my eye. On the other hand, it can be very attractive. Thick slabs would deter me. No.

Burlap Micarta? Very drawn to this, tough, different and looks a treat. A modern material that is at home on many knives, particularly this pattern. Yes.

There are no poor choices here and we're being given wonderful opportunity to speak about what we'd like, many heartfelt thanks to skblades for this How do you keep so calm and unrattled??

Conclusion: Osage Orange first (but can't vote for it as it's not on the wood list yet) Burlap second. But it's very close, knifedge in fact

Regards, Will

 

[fishface5]

I would love brown jigged bone but that's going nowhere & same with CF. MOP is gorgeous but expensive and if you drop the knife expect to be crying over cracks.

So I am tending towards ironwood for a couple reasons:
- can make a thin but durable scale
- polishes up nicely
- the variability factor: any scales that small should still have decent character, but be reasonably consistent so that if the same grade is being used on all scales you won't get the wild variability that can happen with some burls (or with the bocote as happened in 2015). Or most certainly with exterior bone/horn etc.

I do like micarta and synthetics prevent variability but I think on this knife ironwood is a classier option. And people who can't abide synthetics could probably tolerate ironwood. And despite some inevitable variability, the underlying rich brown of the wood means that all the scales are likely to look nice. This is less true of Osage orange which may or may not have character in each scale. Same for koa and Snakewood - I love a good piece of either but a mediocre piece is nothing special, and who wants to roll those dice on such a special knife?

Nice pic by 300Bucks here
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...ull-vs-nail-nick.1583798/page-3#post-18092807

So many thanks to skblades!!

 

[skblades]

I love how this is shaping up now that we have direction on the materials. Everyone has given good thoughts and input that will make the next round of material voting much more inclusive and accurate! Keep it up people!

 

[ohen cepel]

I would like a wood so went with ironwood/burl. Classic while also being reasonably priced I hope. Many great options though so this is a harder choice for me than the others thus far.

 

[sXePhenomenal]

Red jigged bone as shown earlier would be nice too but jigged bone won’t gain any traction unfortantly

 

[afishhunter]

Tempting to change my vote from group 5 to group 8. I think it was said Osage would be/is in that group.
skblades which category has Cocobolo? Is Cocobolo even a viable option at this point?
(I will presume if it's in group 3, Cocobolo will not be happening.)

 

[tmd_87]

Might stick with elk, but what Will Power stated above might make me change that....maybe wood covers??? Push me in the right direction!

 

[AlwaysTomboy]

Might stick with elk, but what Will Power stated above might make me change that....maybe wood covers??? Push me in the right direction!

The uneven, asymmetrical from above and from below photos in the post quoted here changed my mind about elk. It looks very pretty from the side, and I wouldn't even care if it's a uniform white/gray color without any texture or bark, but the differences in thickness would drive me crazy. I'm in the micarta or wood camp.

The only thing with Elk is more often than not your going to get scales that aren't symmetrical at all and very little bark. Also hairline cracks are considered normal. That's just the nature of the beast. Only posting this for those that may not know so not to be disappointed.

 

[rswanson]

I must've missed the clarification on where Osage would fall in. Also thought I read there might be a rework?

Anyway, glad that Osage is getting some mentions here. It's a favorite and I love how it darkens over time. True that you may have more figure in one example versus another but IMO osage is one of the woods that looks great even without a lot of variations in one piece.

 

[tmd_87]

The uneven, asymmetrical from above and from below photos in the post quoted here changed my mind about elk. It looks very pretty from the side, and I wouldn't even care if it's a uniform white/gray color without any texture or bark, but the differences in thickness would drive me crazy. I'm in the micarta or wood camp.

Ya that would drive me nuts!!! What wood did you vote for it????

 

[jc57]

Changed my vote into the Micarta camp. I really don't like wood handles on pocket knives. The similar blade layout Canal Street was wood-handled, which is the main reason I didn't get one of those.

 

[AlwaysTomboy]

Ya that would drive me nuts!!! What wood did you vote for it????

My vote is still for micarta, preferably the burlap. For woods, my first choices are snakewood or koa, which aren't doing well in the poll, or osage orange, which isn't in the poll yet. I'm not a fan of burl woods, but a burl wood wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker for me.

 

[tmd_87]

My vote is still for micarta, preferably the burlap. For woods, my first choices are snakewood or koa, which aren't doing well in the poll, or osage orange, which isn't in the poll yet. I'm not a fan of burl woods, but a burl wood wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker for me.

I'd be in for a micarta, BUT we did just do a micarta in last year's run...thinking Osage would definitely be cool! I think I might slide to micarta because burlap micarta is really nice when it shows the depth and layers.

 

[btb01]

Does anyone own/have a photo of an actual knife from Buck with the Buckeye Burl? I like the way it looks on the custom shop site, just wondering if it actually looks like that in person.

 

[tmd_87]

I changed my vote to group 8 for the time being...

 

[AlwaysTomboy]

tmd_87, The burlap micarta looks so much different from the canvas micarta used last year, but I get that folks might not want a synthetic material two years in a row. I agree, though, the depth of the pattern really looks great and I've missed out on the Northwoods and GEC models that have had that material.

 

[skblades]

Does anyone own/have a photo of an actual knife from Buck with the Buckeye Burl? I like the way it looks on the custom shop site, just wondering if it actually looks like that in person.

 

[cbr1000]

holding out hope for polished stag or elk.. Buck probably has a giant pile of seconds/left over stag they could use.

Pic from BF/jfowl

 

[tmd_87]

tmd_87, The burlap micarta looks so much different from the canvas micarta used last year, but I get that folks might not want a synthetic material two years in a row. I agree, though, the depth of the pattern really looks great and I've missed out on the Northwoods and GEC models that have had that material.

If it comes down to burlap micarta I would be excited for it! Can't wait to see what shakes out!

 

[afishhunter]

I changed my vote from group 5 to group 8.
I hope that is where the Bocote and Osage are.