Thoughts on different woods for handle scales

P

PB Wilson

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Jul 17, 2006
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Andy, I'm certainly not alone in admiring your choices of wood for the scales on your knives. It's cool to see uncommon woods used in such interesting combinations.

Would you care to shed a little light on the woods you choose and what you think of them? Pros/cons, durability, stability, workability...

Being a woodworker who's also interested in lutheire (building stringed instruments) I've seen some of these exotics on high end guitars and have even had the chance to use some of them on small projects. To tell the truth there are some boards in my shop that I'm scared to cut. They're so beautiful that I wait and wait to find a project that will do them justice.:eek:
 
This is an interesting question for me because I really don't consider myself an expert in this subject. I'll run down a few though, then if I miss one you're interested in, just let me know and I'll say a bit about that one too.

First - wood dust is a carcinogen, all wood dust. Some are an even bigger PITA, and are toxic, and some will actually cause you to be allergic to wood. Always wear a respirator.


Desert Ironwood. Who doesn't like the look of desert ironwood. It boasts the best chatoyance of any wood I've worked with. Chatoyance is the property of wood that makes it look deep, and kinda changes in the light when you shift its position. But its a super PITA to work. Stinks like hell, burns easy, and gums up files and sandpaper worse than any other wood I work. Oily woodes gum up files, and its the high oil content that make them naturally stable. Unfortunately, its also kinda endangered, and won't be available for long.

Osage. I love working this wood. Its hard as snot, and stable enough without gumming up files too bad. It burns easy though, so you have to use sharp belts.

Paduk. Lots of chatoyance here too. And sometimes you can find this gorgeous blond streak running through the dark pinkish color. Really toxic.

African Blackwood. This is my ebony substitute. Ebony is gorgeous, but cracks and checks like a bear. Blackwood is more stable, and greasy. Expensive stuff. Smells good when you work it. Finishes up just as good as ebony.

Cocobolo - Man I love this stuff, but its super toxic. The dust will irritate the skin, the lungs, the eyes. Its a sensitizer, which means it will cause wood allergies. I wear long sleeves taped to my arm, pants, gloves, full face mask, etc when I work it. That said, its stable and gorgeous. Sometimes it seems you can find every color in the rainbow in there. Lots of chattoyance.

Bocote. Man, God designed an ideal knife handle wood in this one. Gorgeous, hard, stable. Never seen a piece I didn't like.

Masur Birch - This is a N. European Birch, and has really beautiful figure throughout. A little soft, but stable. I love it when I can get it.

Maple - red. I like using maple. Its an American staple. Some guys have every piece stabalized, but I usually don't. I get the curly stuff cheap at a spot near my home because cabinetmakers think of curly wood as trash...

Wenge - I've recently fell hard for Wenge. Its hard, and greasy. IMO, it just looks passionate. There is so much going on in there. Its fiery looking.

East Indian Rosewood. This is the very dark brown Rosewood that i use a lot. This is again because I get it nice and cheap. Greasy and hard, stinks when you work it. Just gorgeous when you finish it.

Hickory. I got 11 board feet of curly Hickory for $22 last year. I've made two knives from it and I'm impressed. Its damn hard though.

For finishes, I like two basic methods. Plain oil, I usually choose Danish oil. Dip whole handle, allow to dry for 10 minutes, wipe. Repeat next day. Wax next day. Or a polyurethane dip. I dip the whole handle and allow it to soak for ~15 minutes. Then I drain it and wipe it all the way off. Next day I rub it down with scotchbrite, and re dip.

I don't stain my woods very often. I guess I should stain my curly maple more, but I really like the wood natural. There is every color and texture imaginable, so I leave the wood as is. Over time, the sun will darken the woods, and bring that curl out anyway.

Any specifics I missed?
 
One more thought. IMHO a hardwood should be quartersawn if its on the exterior of a handle. This is the only way to showcase the rays. White Oak is famous for its rays, google Mission furniture, and check it out. But all hardwoods have rays. If you look at Jake's Woodsman, you can see the rays in that Osage. That isn't curl, its a standard part of the wood structre and present in most hardwoods. You can tell the wood is properly sawn when the rings of the tree run perpendicular to the tang. IE, the rings go from the tang to your palm. Wood is more stable when sawn this way also!

Plain sawn wood is only good for plywood. Look at the next few Osage handles you see, and check out what I mean.
 
Thanks for the insight. I agree about wood being quartersawn for the best stability and if it looks better that way it's a bonus!

About toxicity, you are so right. I'm not particularly sensitive to any of them right now, but I know that if I push my luck, I'm gonna pay the price. I'm just a hobbiest so my exposure isn't that great. I've found that using a rasp/file/scraper combination keeps most reactions to a minimum as the shavings are much larger than if sanding.

I'm glad that you like wenge. I think it looks fantastic and should last a good long time. John "Stomper" made me a knife using some wenge scales and I love it. I'm going to use it on a small blade blank that he made.

I just sent some really nicely figured Ziricote scales to Ray Laconico for a knife he's making. It's a relative of Bocote and has a lot of the nice dark lines except instead of a straw colored background it's dark brown/grey. It's dense like ebony and non porous. I'm hoping it works well for him and for me down the road.

Anyway, thanks for giving your insight. Maybe some other builders will branch out and use some more alternative woods on their handles. Handle scales being so small compared to most woodworking projects makes using even the expensive ones not that big of a cash layout, although you'd be hard pressed to find some African Blackwood at $2 a board foot like that Hickory!
 
Yea. My guy downtown always has Blackwood. But he charges by the pound. Thats never good.
 
I hadn't gone back this far but @RobbieB did some great necrothreading with today in Post 253 of Osage is the new Black, er...Bog Oak...

Fiddleback Fiddleback
Hey Andy (being 8 years later) do you have any additional wood thoughts to add? I'd be somewhat interested in Bog Oak and where do things like 'burls' come into play; Buckeye Burl or Box Elder Burl? Camel Thorn was another that came into popularity in the last year also.

Additional question on wood dust being a carcinogen; I imagine this would include using a chainsaw to cut up a tree?

Love the commentaries in the original thread by the way. Great reading :thumbsup:
 
Also piling on to an old thread here. I went to a knife show yesterday and bought a single block of iron wood. This morning I am in the FF subforum browsing for iron wood handled beauties. I would enjoy any updated thoughts on wood used in the FF shop, and finishes, if anything has changed.

Thanks in advance

TR
 
Fiddleback said:
One more thought. IMHO a hardwood should be quartersawn if its on the exterior of a handle. This is the only way to showcase the rays.
Click to expand...

A-men. I first came to appreciate the various properties of woods, grain orientation, etc. from learning about guitars, on which quartersawn is King for every good reason.

It makes me cringe to see flat-sawn slabs on knife handles; I bite my tongue when others rave about a relatively poor-quality piece of wood's "amazing figuring!" (Picture plywood, here.)

My latest 'falcen (maple, I believe?) flashes all over the place in the light. Thanks!

IBJXrWR.jpg


(The knife is blue, blue, blue in person but has a maddening propensity to keen purple when seen through a camera lens.)

WYMV7wQ.jpg


~ P.
 
pertinux said:
A-men. I first came to appreciate the various properties of woods, grain orientation, etc. from learning about guitars, on which quartersawn is King for every good reason.

It makes me cringe to see flat-sawn slabs on knife handles; I bite my tongue when others rave about a relatively poor-quality piece of wood's "amazing figuring!" (Picture plywood, here.)
Click to expand...

Andy does as a matter of fact put out plain-sawn handles, even in Osage where he specifically said:
"Plain sawn wood is only good for plywood. Look at the next few Osage handles you see, and check out what I mean.".

In a thin orientation, like on a small knife, with thick liners I think plain-saw can be different and look just fine in a subjective sense. Looking through too many quarter-sawn mid size handles in Osage starts to look a little boring in my opinion. I've seen plenty of rift-sawn, at least what appear to be, as well as quarter-sawn handles by Andy. Of course I love the chatoyance of some pieces, I have a huge piece of Argentinian Osage that was processed and waxed more than 10 years ago which has been converted into handles, and ready to do plenty more. I think when one has the wood in hand, they can best decide which way it should be done based on the goal of the preferred aesthetic. Sometimes I think a matte warm caramel colour after aged looks great.

Pretty hard to say someone's aesthitic preferences are "wrong". Maybe just not to ones taste.

Maybe Andy's opinion has changed over the years, or maybe not and he just gets it "wrong" from time to time.
 
JustinFournier said:
Andy does as a matter of fact put out plain-sawn handles, even in Osage where he specifically said:
"Plain sawn wood is only good for plywood. Look at the next few Osage handles you see, and check out what I mean.".
Click to expand...

Hmmm, we're reading his quotation differently, I think? I have "Plain sawn wood is only good for plywood" as one discrete thought, while "Look at the next few Osage Handles you see" tags back into his previous paragraph,

"IMHO a hardwood should be quartersawn if its on the exterior of a handle. This is the only way to showcase the rays. White Oak is famous for its rays, google Mission furniture, and check it out. But all hardwoods have rays. If you look at Jake's Woodsman, you can see the rays in that Osage. That isn't curl, its a standard part of the wood structre and present in most hardwoods. You can tell the wood is properly sawn when the rings of the tree run perpendicular to the tang. IE, the rings go from the tang to your palm. Wood is more stable when sawn this way also! "

At least, that's how I understand what he's written-- quartersawn = rays -> "look at the rays in the osage."

In a thin orientation, like on a small knife, with thick liners I think plain-saw can be different and look just fine in a subjective sense....
Pretty hard to say someone's aesthitic preferences are "wrong". Maybe just not to ones taste.
Click to expand...

Yes, I can now see that my take comes across as more snarky(?) than intended, regarding others' preferences vs. my own response to flatsawn materials (the latter being where I meant the emphasis to fall).

Cheers,
~ P.
 
pertinux said:
Hmmm, we're reading his quotation differently, I think? I have "Plain sawn wood is only good for plywood" as one discrete thought, while "Look at the next few Osage Handles you see" tags back into his previous paragraph,

"IMHO a hardwood should be quartersawn if its on the exterior of a handle. This is the only way to showcase the rays. White Oak is famous for its rays, google Mission furniture, and check it out. But all hardwoods have rays. If you look at Jake's Woodsman, you can see the rays in that Osage. That isn't curl, its a standard part of the wood structre and present in most hardwoods. You can tell the wood is properly sawn when the rings of the tree run perpendicular to the tang. IE, the rings go from the tang to your palm. Wood is more stable when sawn this way also! "

At least, that's how I understand what he's written-- quartersawn = rays -> "look at the rays in the osage."



Yes, I can now see that my take comes across as more snarky(?) than intended, regarding others' preferences vs. my own response to flatsawn materials (the latter being where I meant the emphasis to fall).

Cheers,
~ P.
Click to expand...

I can see that reference as well, yes.

Understood on your emphasis. Thanks for additional details!
 
KOA and BOCOTE are probably a few of my all time favorites. So many others that are worth mentioning, Osage, DIW, Mangos, Wenge, African Blackwood, Bloodwood to name a few. They are all beautiful. The most important thing about stumbling across this tread today is PPE. I need to step my game up in this department when working with these woods.
 
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