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

Choose Handle Material Grouping (comment color/type)

  • Group 1: Micarta, G10 | $

    Votes: 53 17.7%

  • Group 2: Delrin, Paperstone | $

    Votes: 5 1.7%

  • Group 3: Diamondwood | $

    Votes: 5 1.7%

  • Group 4: Carbon Fiber | $$

    Votes: 4 1.3%

  • Group 5: Buffalo, Elk | $$

    Votes: 59 19.7%

  • Group 6: Stag, Ram Horn | $$

    Votes: 44 14.7%

  • Group 7: Snakewood, KOA | $$

    Votes: 26 8.7%

  • Group 8: Burl, Ironwood | $$

    Votes: 89 29.8%

  • Group 9: Shell, Mother of Pearl | $$$

    Votes: 3 1.0%

  • Group 10: Jigged Bone | $$

    Votes: 11 3.7%
  • Total voters
    299
  • Poll closed .
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For me, no handle material is a deal breaker. But I respect that some others have a strong opinion against a certain material. To me, this knife is going to be a collectible. Perhaps sometimes carried to church or family parties. It's not going to get used for anything more taxing then perhaps opening up an envelope. To me, limited edition club knives aren't users.
 
gaj999 said:
More people did not vote for horn/bone than did not vote for wood. I'm saying that "did not vote for" argument to support horn/bone actually weakens your case.
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Cases are for Matlock, I'm just presenting information ;) There was talk about a "re-vote" based on wood / bone or stag / synthetic and right now that weighs out to 115 (Wood), 106 (Bone/Stag) and 65 others. Sorry r8shell r8shell I am an engineer and crunching numbers is what I do :) Stephen is relying on feedback so my thoughts are meant to provoke feedback :thumbsup:
 
If we're going to do generic groups...
Poll results as of now:
Animal (bone/antler/etc...) = 109
Vegetable (woods) = 115
Mineral (micarta, etc...) = 62

If you use Buck's custom knife options on their site, the prices you see are 'retail list' prices.

I don't believe this knife can be purchased at list price. Isn't one condition of the Forum Knife being that it has to be purchased by members at "cost"?

Using the custom options on the site will give you a relationship between the added costs of each material, but not a direct price add to a 301.

I'm sticking with Ram's horn! It's not been done, it's translucent, and regardless of the surface texture; it's still gorgeous!
Nothing wrong with wood! But it's been done ad nauseum. Does a knife cease being "traditional" when using Micarta, G10, or CF?
Elk and stag are nice, but as mentioned several times before, might lack consistency. And on a smaller knife like this, there's potential that so much of the surface character will be ground away to make it fit that some may get great examples and some may be underwhelmed.

If you missed this in one of the earlier threads, here's my 303 collection with just about everything Buck has offered on their slip joints over the years. If you want photos of anything in particular, let me know. I have front (shield side) photos of all of these, but can take back side photos as time permits.

 
I'm not going to speak for skblades skblades but to me it has seemed all along that this poll was meant to narrow things down, and not be an end all.

The fact that we were asked to comment on specific desires lends me to believe this poll was meant to narrow down to specific materials and not general groups, but I definitely could be wrong.

For me, I am not in the "any wood over all other options" mindset. There are some woods that I'd love to see (Koa for example) and other woods I'm only lukewarm toward, that would rank below other materials such as Jigged bone, etc. If I knew it wouldn't be super fat, I'd still pick elk/polished elk as my #1.

For the most part though, with the exception of a few choices, I'm good with any of these.
 
MT_Pokt said:
If we're going to do generic groups...
Poll results as of now:
Animal (bone/antler/etc...) = 109
Vegetable (woods) = 115
Mineral (micarta, etc...) = 62

If you use Buck's custom knife options on their site, the prices you see are 'retail list' prices.

I don't believe this knife can be purchased at list price. Isn't one condition of the Forum Knife being that it has to be purchased by members at "cost"?

Using the custom options on the site will give you a relationship between the added costs of each material, but not a direct price add to a 301.

I'm sticking with Ram's horn! It's not been done, it's translucent, and regardless of the surface texture; it's still gorgeous!
Nothing wrong with wood! But it's been done ad nauseum. Does a knife cease being "traditional" when using Micarta, G10, or CF?
Elk and stag are nice, but as mentioned several times before, might lack consistency. And on a smaller knife like this, there's potential that so much of the surface character will be ground away to make it fit that some may get great examples and some may be underwhelmed.

If you missed this in one of the earlier threads, here's my 303 collection with just about everything Buck has offered on their slip joints over the years. If you want photos of anything in particular, let me know. I have front (shield side) photos of all of these, but can take back side photos as time permits.

Click to expand...
I can’t see them clearly. Can you send them to me for closer inspection?:cool:
Awesome collection.
Back on topic:
At the beginning of this poll, skblades skblades asked for our vote, but to also indicate our other choices/ likes in post form. With so many available materials, and so many varied tastes/ preferences, it is a daunting task to narrow it down.
Briefly looking over the posts by members here, most have verbalized their top choice, but have indicated choice #2,3 and so on. Myself, I voted ironwood/ Burl, but also indicated that I’d be okay with another wood type or elk/ antler/ horn.
Some have indicated that they won’t buy the Forum knife if it is handled in a certain material, and that is fine and their choice.
I believe Stephen is also gleaming information from the posts in addition to the poll, so he will have a good idea of the top preferences. I don’t think in this poll we can simply look at the aggregate numbers and infer that there will be less knives purchased because a certain handle material was chosen.

John
 
3 new polls broken into master categories will be created today. Wood, Animal, Synthetic.

Each of those polls will have a "champion" emerge to battle the other 2 polls in a Battle Royale! The choices in each will be a combo of materials already listed in this poll, and materials that have been added via the comments. Keeps your eyes peeled, this poll has served a great purpose, and I thank you each for your input here.
 
skblades said:
3 new polls broken into master categories will be created today. Wood, Animal, Synthetic.

Each of those polls will have a "champion" emerge to battle the other 2 polls in a Battle Royale! The choices in each will be a combo of materials already listed in this poll, and materials that have been added via the comments. Keeps your eyes peeled, this poll has served a great purpose, and I thank you each for your input here.
Click to expand...
That sounds like an admirable solution as everyone will be able to vote for their choice in each category so that even if my final choice of X doesn't succeed, I've still chosen what I would prefer from each other category. It allows the final vote to be something I would want in my pocket regardless and hopefully keep this choice from causing people to drop out due to final cover choice.
 
skblades said:
3 new polls broken into master categories will be created today. Wood, Animal, Synthetic.

Each of those polls will have a "champion" emerge to battle the other 2 polls in a Battle Royale! The choices in each will be a combo of materials already listed in this poll, and materials that have been added via the comments. Keeps your eyes peeled, this poll has served a great purpose, and I thank you each for your input here.
Click to expand...

What "could" be easier is if created another poll thread that has the top 3-4 voted for choices here.

1.Burl
2. Ironwood
3. Buffalo
4.Elk
5. Micarta
6. G10
7. Stag
8. Ram


I'd bet that would really narrow things down. But I'm not doing it and know it's gotta be quite the hassle.;) Thank You for doing all this btw .:thumbsup:
 
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traumkommode said:
I don't think the custom shop can be used as an accurate gauge for the cost of our knives. That's the cost to make one special knife to order, and not a run of 200. GEC's ironwood SFOs aren't $40 more than a standard run knife.
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Both excellent points. Also the $100 price has been mentioned a few times, the 2016 Drover had jigged bone & carbon blade & punch was $115 IIRC
 
I will purchase whatever knife comes out in the end. This is for fun and is! A hobby that thrives in a great deal due to this Forum. The final product is supposed to be in the ballpark of $100 so it is not like committing to a green Jeep Wrangler and ending up with a red Ford F150.

I am learning a lot and really enjoy having something to look forward come the Fall. I will probably miss the polls and friendly debates.

,,,Mike in Canada
 
Duper said:
... so it is not like committing to a green Jeep Wrangler and ending up with a red Ford F150.
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or much worse, anything badged "Chevrolet" ... or even worse still, one of the glorified Chevrolet badges, like "Buick" and "Cadillac", no matter what color it is.
 
Duper said:
I will purchase whatever knife comes out in the end. This is for fun and is! A hobby that thrives in a great deal due to this Forum. The final product is supposed to be in the ballpark of $100 so it is not like committing to a green Jeep Wrangler and ending up with a red Ford F150.

I am learning a lot and really enjoy having something to look forward come the Fall. I will probably miss the polls and friendly debates.

,,,Mike in Canada
Click to expand...
We can pretend that an outcome is never reached and continue polling / debating until next spring and start it all over again... LoL :D:thumbsup: I'm sure once the orders are in though, SK will not be posting polls any time soon after o_O

Agreed though, it is fun and I am learning a lot about my other Porch companions :) We Porch folk are passionate about our knives!
 
Will narwhal ivory be added to the animal options?

On a more serious note, I like the yellow delrin in the picture earlier. That looks very classic to me but probably wouldn’t be fancy enough to win the popular vote.
 
Voted Buffalo / Elk. I would love either of those or Ram Horn. Stag and most of the woods would look good but would be less unique. The right Elk can't be beat! All black Buffalo, or with a little blonde "imperfections", is awesome too!

Last year's BF knife was Micarta, so that would be a little bit of a letdown for me (but not a deal-breaker).
 
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