What materials make the best knife handles?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
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First, there is a wide range of woods. Second, there are the new synthetic materials.

In between, we have those animal horns and other materials from creatures walking the earth.

Now, which of these make the best handle material, based on scientific reasoning and environmental factors?

Some people may vote for Micarta. Others will opt for G10 and then there are some who just love paracord.

I thought some scientific reasoning should be welcomed here so that we don't have to base our judgment on "feel".
 
I think CF makes good handles, its lightweight and very strong, G10 is also good for the same reasons. But IMO the handle design of the knife is more important that the handle material used.
 
Golok,

I would think that micarta or G10 would be the most durable and able to withstand the most abuse and range of usage conditions, MHO.

I find both confortable, but it is dependant upon grip/scale design.
 
I think the only reasons to use natural over manmade materials for handles these days are esthetics and tradition.
 
I would base my estimate of strength on my experience working with each product and how many tools I go through while working it.

1 - Titanium
2 - Carbon Fiber and G-10
3 - Paper/Linen Micarta Would be a distant third
4 - Bone/horn etc
5 - Wood

Durability would be similar but I would swap #4 and #5 as most wood can take more abuse than natural bone materials.

From a desireability standpoint I think it depends on the buyer. I really like Micarta for its qualities when wet, it gets nice and grippy. Textured G-10 is very nice as well, plus is more durable. Plain Ti is very strong but not quite as grippy and can scuff easily.

I don't think you can get scientific because each product has it's own qualities of grip, strength, appearance, durability etc...
 
how about stabilized woods?

How about the liminated impregated woods like "pakkawood", "diamondwood"?

Do these come anywhere near the Micarta class?

Thanks
 
Originally posted by UnknownVT
how about stabilized woods?

How about the liminated impregated woods like "pakkawood", "diamondwood"?

Do these come anywhere near the Micarta class?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Pakkawood is a real wood too, but they do make it in a Diamondwood

Impregnated woods like Diamondwood work like Micarta and have very similar qualities so I would rate them with Micarta.

I've done a few projects in Diamondwood and it's nice stuff but Frost Cutlery basically ruined it as an option for higher end pieces. IMO they gave it a bad name.
 
Originally posted by cpirtle
Pakkawood is a real wood too
Click to expand...

Many thanks for the quick response.

I believe "Pakkawood" is an impregrated wood laminate.
The name is registered to Fibron Wood and Products Company .

The material was used quite extensively on Parker(-Edwards) knives years ago.

In my (minimal) research for knife handle materials I came across this page:

http://www.iol.ie/~knives/material.html

it lists Pakkawood
QUOTE:
Pakkawood Compressed and stabilised birch laminate. See also "diamondwood". Well suited as handle material.
UNQUOTE

There were plenty of references that describe Pakkawood as a laminate including this:
http://www.internetwoodworking.com/w5/lumber.html

QUOTE:
• Fibron Wood and Products Company is the industry leader in impregnated (compreg) wood laminates, with the unique capability to both manufacture and custom machine compreg materials. Specializing in a product called PakkaWood®, which combines the beauty of hardwoods and the strength and performance benefits of plastic, Fibron is uniquely qualified to help you enhance the appearance and durability of your products. Used a lot as knife handles and gun stocks, PakkaWood® is truly a remarkable material. I have been working with some sheet stock and round stock (dowel rods) for a while now and I love the look and feel of the material. It cuts like butter yet is stronger than any wood. What's really neat is that even though it is more like plastic than wood, it looks like wood right down to the grain, which will splinter just like real wood! Also, color and finish (resin) are impregnated into the veneer before they are pressed into panels. This result is that the color and finish extend through the complete thickness of the panel! And they feature some cool colors too; from regular dark walnut or blonde oak colorings to green, red, and even mixed and striped color patterns. Fibron offers you an endless selection of sizes, shapes, and colors to choose from. Lastly, you can achieve a gloss finish on PakkaWood® that is unlike any finish you can get on real wood. A bit of fine sanding and then buff the material with a wax makes it shine like glass! Works great for plaques and other presentation setups.
UNQUOTE

and on to the source:
http://www.fibronproducts.com/
QUOTE:
Fibron is the leader in impregnated (compreg) wood laminates, with the unique capability to both manufacture and custom machine compreg materials.

Fibron is uniquely qualified to help you enhance the appearance and durability of your products with PakkaWood® which combines the beauty of hardwoods and the strength and performance benefits of plastic.

Your choice of PakkaWood gives you the ultimate design material for your premium applications. Your choice of Fibron gives you a dedicated partner who can work with you at every step, from establishing your component design to selecting the right color and finish to delivering what you need, when you need it.
UNQUOTE

I do not know of any natural wood called Pakkawood.
 
Originally posted by cpirtle

1 - Titanium
2 - Carbon Fiber and G-10
3 - Paper/Linen Micarta Would be a distant third
4 - Bone/horn etc
5 - Wood
Click to expand...

:( He stole my list!!! :D I am with cpirtle all the way on this one. Although, I would not include the G-10 with the Carbon Fiber. I actually like Linen Micarta better than G-10 personally.

(Edited to add) I guess I am not with Chad all the way on this one!!;)
 
Many times stronger? No.

Depending on where you look, NEMA C/CE grade canvas Micarta is as hard or slightly harder than NEMA L/LE grade linen MIcarta. Some charts I have seen state that canvas Micarta has slightly higher tensile strength, compressive strength, flexure strength and shear strength, others state that linen has a slight edge in these categories. One place that canvas always wins out is in impact strength. Having said all this, G-10 is much harder and absolutely thumps Micarta in all the other categories as well.

Here is an example:

Canvas Micarta: Hardness/ (Rockwell M) 105, Tensile strength/ 13,000 psi, Compressive strength/ 38,000 psi, Flexure strength/ 19,000 psi, Impact strength 1.8 ft.lb./in.

G-10: Hardness/ 115, Tensile/ 50,000 psi, Compressive/ 50,000 psi, Flexure/ 60,000 psi, Impact/ 10 ft.lb./in.

As you can see, G-10 is a much stronger/tougher material. This does not mean that I like it better, just that under highly destructive conditions, G-10 will out perform Micarta.
 
I think Thermorun rubber is the best handle material. Not the most beautifully,like wood or stag,but the best.It´s totaly unaffected by chemicals and gasoline and by sunlight. It gives you a secure grip that does not give you blisters in your hand,like other softer rubber handles, like for example Kraton.

They are also low in price,compared to most other handle materials.When you have to clean a Thermorun handle from blood and dirt,you can simply put it in dish water for hours if you wants to. It does not get bad affected by cleaning chemicals in any ways.For a real using knife that has to been cleaned often like fishing knives,it´s the best.

Manowar
 
I got a number of knives, three of which I'll describe here:

1: My WW2 bayonet, solid 100% steel in handle and blade (hollow handle) with bayonet mount. The handle got some type of anti-slip stamped into it.

2: My "father-son" knife, a gift from my father at my 5th birthday. 10 cm blade, handle is an extremely slick combination of bone, leather and different types of wooden material. Incredible grip, and looks awesome. The butt is solid bone.

3: A cheap "Champ" folding knife with a plastic handle. The handle is only 7 CM long, but it's very reliable and dont slip too much.

To sum it up, the handles above are basically ranked in this order. Incredibly enough, for such an anti-ergonomic handle, the bayonet has a great handle. Extremly rugged, tough and you just cant slip because of the markings in the handle (-_-_-_-). Will post pictures later.
 
Originally posted by golok
I thought some scientific reasoning should be welcomed here so that we don't have to base our judgment on "feel".
Click to expand...

Hard to get scientific on a subject that as individual as what materials different people prefer against their skin. I have very dry hands and find G-10 to be slippery for some reason. I like the look of CF or a nice piece of stabilized wood but prefer titanium and micarta for their "feel." What else am I going to judge them on, personality?
 
it is STRONG. I did a knife kit a few years back and used subtle black/grey slabs. I tried working it with a hand file. Fugetaboutit. I turned to the Dremel. I had a piece of scrap left over, a little square barely connected to a long skinny piece. I couldn't break it with my fingers. I used to do security with a guy who bought a quarterstaff made of the stuff. He had it cut down to baton length and carried it. Looked very traditional but it would bend the hell out of the aluminum batons. Too bad Frost uses so much of the stuff. Gave a good material a bad name.

Frank
 
One other consideration regarding this subject, micarta will absorb liquids. I used a micarta handled fixed blade to work on diesel oil sample line. The handle soaked up diesel and smelled for weeks until I boiled it. I believe it was linen micarta.
This is not a problem with CF, G10 or the epoxy/glass grips.
I have found that the exotic woods and bone are fine for small folders, but CF, G10, epoxy/glass grips or micarta will take more use/abuse that any of the traditional materials and in IMO are better suited for EDC.
I do not have any personal experience with the stabilized woods, but there are many good things written about them.



Edited to include: I just read the the link to the Busse discussion on handle materials, the issue of micarta aborbing liquids is discussed there. Guess I should have cliked the link first.
 
Originally posted by .45acp
I do not have any personal experience with the stabilized woods, but there are many good things written about them.
Click to expand...

Here's my reasoning (read "guess") on why I brought up Stabilized woods -
and why I suspect they may be as strong and durable as Micarta class materials.

Micarta is basically epoxy impregnated cloth or paper - can be thought of as epoxy strengthened by cloth or paper, or obviously laminates of cloth/paper bonded by epoxy - once explained one can see this sounds strong.

Using wood laminates in a similar manner would/should give about the same strength and durability hence cpirtle's take that "diamondwood" should be about the same as Micarta (as would the similar PakkaWood).

Stabilized woods are different in that the whole wood is used - and often it is a weaker or more fragile wood like spalted woods and burls. But these are infused/impregnated with epoxy/polymers under vacuum pressure so that every pore/grain of the wood is infused.
So basically this is wood with all of its pores, grain, gaps filled with epoxy -
think of it as wood with its structure filled with epoxy,
or even epoxy strengthened with a wood skeleton/structure.......

Sounds pretty strong and durable to me -
but then I am not an authority on this -
have done no measurements/tests
and the samples of stabilized wood I have are all on knife handles
and are way too pretty for me to want to "test" to destruction.

I would love to hear of any tests of the strength durability of stabilized woods.

For example could stabilized woods using spalted, burls and even soft woods which are normally considered weaker woods actually be stronger due to the fact there would be more epoxy in the wood faults/gaps? Whereas a closer grained hardwood, although stronger in its natural state, would actually absorb less epoxy?

I find the beauty of stabilized woods is that one can now get really stunning examples of wood that would be normally regarded as too weak and unsuitable now on handles and because they are stabilized they could be as strong and durable as a man-made material like Micarta....
sounds pretty cool to me :) :cool: .
 
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