Scales vs. Handles

[Stump1800]

Hey Guys, just curious, what is the difference between scales and handles?

 

[co556guy]

the handle is the part of the knife you hold, in general, somtimes covered with scales to make them more comfortable. The scale is a style of handle covering (gives you that rounded comfortable feel) that is attached on either side of a full tang knife, or on the sides of a folding knife.

 

[Moondrop]

To add to/illustrate what co556guy said, here's an picture of some fixed blades. All but the top one have scales on the handles.

And some folders. The three on the left have handle scales made (from left to right) of bone, plastic and either bone or stag:

 

[Stump1800]

Thanks guys. So, all attachments to the knife "handle" are scales...
Stump1800

 

[Moondrop]

Bascially, yes. But just to complicate matters a bit (sorry ), the handles on a folding knife like a Benchmande Griptilian/Mini Grip, are also considered scales, even though they make up the handles themselves. Here, someone was asking about replacement scales for his Mini Grip
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/960507-Custom-scales-for-Mini-Griptilian!

 

[Stump1800]

Thanks Moondrop...

 

[BlackKnight86]

Sorry to complicate them further; but what about a hidden/narrow tang knife that has a handle completely separate from the steel (like a section of antler)? That would be a handle, right? Because that's the part you hold?

 

[NeilB]

Let me complicate things further yet. On a traditional knife, the "scales" are generally referred to as covers.

 

[gull wing]

The word scales came from the days of slip joint knives. The cutler,in assembling a knife reached into the bin of "scales" to finish the knife. The scales were usually jigged bone and looked like scales. Old timer here.

 

[Thomason]

I heard a TV news commentator talking about a scout knife his father once gave him. He was describing it and said it had wood "paneling".

 

[chiral.grolim]

Hey Guys, just curious, what is the difference between scales and handles?

Scale:
1) from Latin "scala" meaning "ladder" or "steps", the English use relates to levels and reaching them, e.g. "To scale a mountian" or "measured on a scale";
2) from Germanic "skal" meaning "dish, bowl", the English use relates to a collection of flat 'plates' covering a surface, also relates to measurement of weights by setting objects on a dish or plate, which hearkens to the previous Latin origin.

On a knife, "scales" are flat 'plates' covering the surface of a handle. They usually leave the spine and/or belly of the handle exposed, though not always, and may or may not constitute the structural integrity (frame) of the handle itself.
NO, all attachments to a handle are NOT "scales". There are many other ways to make a handle.

Handle:
Grip for a hand.

 

[chiral.grolim]

I heard a TV news commentator talking about a scout knife his father once gave him. He was describing it and said it had wood "paneling".

Don't the various Blurs have paneling ON the scales?