Wood for hunting knife handle

troutfisher13111

troutfisher13111

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I am looking to maybe add a full tang wood handled knife to my hunting knife collection. I've always been a micarta or G10 guy. My concern has always been the conditions my hunting knives see and the effect it would have on the wood. Wet conditions are common as is walking in from single digit temps to a nice warm house. Wood that seperates from a high carbon steel tang seems like it's just asking for trouble with rust as blood and water is sure to find its way under the scales. Any thoughts??
 
How about a hidden full tang? :thumbsup: Makes the handle a little thicker but, if you are talking about what most would consider a "normal" size (as in not huge) hunting knife it shouldn't matter; might even be better. :cool:
 
Wood has worked for centuries. If it's properly fitted (maybe with epoxy) and the wood sealed, rust shouldn't be a concern.
 
I'd go with a full hidden tang, first. Then, you can go for ebony (denser than water), cocobolo (naturally saturated with oils) or actually any other compact and consistent wood (osage, ironwood, african blackwood...). Hell, chestnut, oak, bamboo and magnolia are naturally antibacterial and do not rot. Plenty of options. Consider also most of woods used for knives today are stabilized (soaked in epoxy under high temperature and pressure). It's a very safe bet they will hold up to some moisture and temperature variations. If you are a winter outdoorshunter, you will be won over by the hidden tang knife. So much better (pleasant in hand, less unnecessary weight, better balance...). The Finns and Scandinavians love birch and stacked birch bark for their hunting knives' handle. They hold up very well (and have for centuries) !
 
The thought above about the wood having been stabilized is key. Wood that isn’t stabilized may or may not become problematic, but stabilized wood is almost never problematic.
 
Some woods do not need stabilizing. They include ebony, african blackwood, cocobolo, osage orange, desert ironwood, and verawood. For a knife that will regularly get wet and see some abuse, I would go with african blackwood, cocobolo, verawood, or osage.

To give you an idea how well some of those woods will last, there are osage orange fenceposts that have been in the ground in the midwest for a hundred years or so and are still sound. And to quote the Wood Database regarding verawood, it is "said to last almost indefinitely in direct ground contact". And that is without stabilization.
 
You really don't need to look all that far to find some proven woods with long (centuries?) of use.

I hunted for years with old timers that had wood handled butcher knives. They used them in their kitchen at home, and they used them in camp. Full of blood, hair, flesh, and other things, they still cleaned right up as they had for decades. The wood handles were popular as they didn't slip in your hand like other materials might. They were scaled knives, and some were even the "Old Hickory" brand carbon knives.

One of the largest domestic makers of carbon kitchen knives at one time was Dexter/Russell. You can still see these knives in action in some old meat markets and hunting camps. All were scaled knives.

Most of the heavy use knives used white oak for handles due to its strength, water resistance (remember the old wooden ships were made of white oak!) and great wear resistance. Those old butcher knives that I have seen had been washed thousands of times after use, and the knives in the hunting camp had been handed down so many times no one even knew how old they were.

It seems most nut woods make good scales without any fussing over them if you get a nice straight grained piece. I have seen a lot of white oak, hickory, walnut, and others. Untreated woods worked for centuries as satisfactory handles, and no doubt with just a little care you can get even better wear out of it. If you are worrying about the nasties getting between blade and scale, seal the scale to blade with epoxy or something similar before pinning or screwing. I bought some finished blade blanks to use in the kitchen and added white oak scales to the sides, epoxied then pinned. That was several years ago, and no problems yet.

Robert
 
herisson said:
... bamboo ... naturally antibacterial and do not rot. ...
Click to expand...

Found at random: "Bamboos, like other lignocelluloses materials are subject to biodegradation by fungi and insects under particular condition and may affected their quality during the processing activities. Liese (1985) stated that bamboo is attacked by both fungi and insects above the fiber saturation point by brown rot, white rot and soft rot. The bamboo service life is estimated only from 6 month to 3 years when in soil contact (Liese 1985 and George 1985)."

I bought a bunch of machetes from a farm shop in Thailand. Some of the bamboo handles had been attacked by powder post beetles just sitting on the shelf in the store. That was raw bamboo with the outer hard skin removed, then flame hardened. No finish applied.

Quite a lot on bamboo preservation here: https://bioresources.cnr.ncsu.edu/r...boo-species-traditional-to-modern-techniques/
 
USMCPOP said:
Found at random: "Bamboos, like other lignocelluloses materials are subject to biodegradation by fungi and insects under particular condition and may affected their quality during the processing activities. Liese (1985) stated that bamboo is attacked by both fungi and insects above the fiber saturation point by brown rot, white rot and soft rot. The bamboo service life is estimated only from 6 month to 3 years when in soil contact (Liese 1985 and George 1985)."

I bought a bunch of machetes from a farm shop in Thailand. Some of the bamboo handles had been attacked by powder post beetles just sitting on the shelf in the store. That was raw bamboo with the outer hard skin removed, then flame hardened. No finish applied.

Quite a lot on bamboo preservation here: https://bioresources.cnr.ncsu.edu/r...boo-species-traditional-to-modern-techniques/
Click to expand...
Nothing is eternal... And we are talking knife handles, not foundation posts. So, reboot... bamboo is great at making knife handles, cutting boards (not cool for the edge because high silicate content) and a lot of other stuff because 1 : it's cheap and affordable, 2 : it holds up very well. I will provide european examples : olive wood, box wood, juniper, white oak, beech wood. They make beautiful and sturdy handles for knives... but they may not outlive you like Micarta or G10.
 
Cocobolo with corby bolts or lLoveless bolts (as here) will do what you need.

Bx0hTf8.jpg
 
1) Untreated wood has been used for knife handles for thousands of years.
(Examples of thousand year old plus fixed blade knives with untreated wood handles can be seen at major museums.)

Untreated wood handles on pocket knives have been used for hundreds of years, and last just fine.
Folding knives dating to pre-1776 have been found on Revolutionary Battlefields. The wood is in better condition than the blade ... even after being buried in the dirt for 200 or more years.

Infusing a wood with an epoxy is effectively making the wood a plastic.
From my experience in using a "treated" wood knife handle compared to an untreated handle of the same wood, the treated wood does not give as good of grip.

Concerning the "nasties"; germs, bacteria, etcetera:
Do you really think it is even possible to keep your knives, plates, glasses/cups, forks, spoons, hands, pots, pans, etcetera, etcetera sterile?
(It ain't possible. Exposure to air contaminates them.)

If you want a wood, bone, horn, antler, or leather handle hunting knife, don't over think it. Just get one that you like. Wood has been used for thousands of years, just like bone, horn, leather, and other natural materials, yet the "humans" still managed to flourish - even in the days when a blade was simply wiped off with a leaf, dirty loincloth, or the fur of whatever critter was just made ready for cooking ... or eating raw ....
 
herisson said:
Nothing is eternal...
Click to expand...

Indeed. Hey, I love bamboo and wood in general. I have a grove in the yard here in VA and a couple clumps at our house in Thailand. Just trying to say that it is not inherently resistant to rot or insects like many other woods. It's a grass. Bamboo cutting boards and flooring are treated. The chopsticks I use all the time are not, though they hold up just fine.

I used to help our high school robotics team as a mentor. First year, all we could afford was cheap plywood for the chassis. Our motto was "wood is good". In subsequent years we used aluminum and such, but always tried to use a piece of wood for something.
 
Just for the giggles, I'm keeping a pair of bamboo chopsticks which are normally disposable (the untreated type, sold in a paper tube and you have to split them up). I decided to wash them (soap and hot water) and reuse them just to see what is going to happen. So far, they get perfectly clean each time and show no sign of degradation. Condition for preserving any wood is foremost to keep it dry. A clear coat of epoxy can protect from insect attacks. Teaseed oil or beeswax are your friends, too. I understand this can seem a whole lot of fuss, especially if the blade is carbon steel, in addition. For "no worries at all" and unbeatable durability, there's nothing better than a stainless blade with a G10 or Micarta handle.
 
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