[Jeremy Lindley]

Wow-I'm pretty sure my "which handle material to try" curve just flattened out a bit. Have been wanting to try African Blackwood for a while and now am definitely putting it on my list. Thanks to everyone for sharing the tips and tricks.

Jeremy

[Steve Culver]

While this thread is about different types of materials and methods to finish them. The end result of our effort is to make a handle that is not only functional and aesthetically pleasing; but also sound in construction. We all have to deal with natural materials tendency to expand and contract with moisture content changes. I've heard of makers in humid climates making knives that were delivered to customers in drier climates and the handles shrunk. Alternately, makers in dry climates building knives and the handles expanded when sent to humid climates. Here in Kansas, we have both extremes of humidity; 95% in the summer and 10% in the winter. So, I thought that perhaps a makers best bet is to store handle material at around 45% humidity and have it stabilize to that humidity level. The thought being, that no matter what climate the knife is exposed to, the handle will move the minimum amount possible. I now store my handle material inventory in a humidity controlled metal cabinet.

I started off by buying a bunch of hygrometers to test the humidity in all of the areas where my handle material and finished knives would be stored. I bought most of the hygrometers through suppliers of cigar humidors. These small brass hygrometers are inexpensive and designed to be installed in humidors. Another source of hygrometers is pet supply stores. Battery powered digital hygrometers are sold for use in checking the humidity levels in reptile enclosures. I have hygrometers in my office, the fireproof safe that I store my finished knives in, my shop work area and in my handle material storage cabinet.

My handle material storage cabinet is a steel pick-up truck tool box. Another item that makes a good storage cabinet is an old refrigerator.

I have made my storage cabinet as airtight as possible. I use a computer CPU fan to circulate the air inside the cabinet. To raise the humidity in the cabinet, I place a small pan of water in the bottom of the cabinet. To lower the humidity, I use a "Large Room Moisture Absorber" made by "DampRid". The DampRid moisture absorber stays in the cabinet all of the time, just in case I over humidify the cabinet in the winter with the pan of water.

It's difficult to be certain how effective this process is, but I've had no complaints from customers about handle material moving in the two years that I have been storing my natural materials this way.

[Michael Davis]

I am not ready to jump on the ivory train yet...I don't think my ability is to that level yet. That being said, i have used Sambar stag, whitetail(Used on a few of my home made carving chisels), axis horn and several different stabilized woods. I really love Amboyna Burl, Maple Burl, Koa, Redwood Burl and i happened across about 400lbs of Honey Locust Burl that i am pretty excited about. Stabilized wood seems to work pretty well, polishes well and is pretty resistant. I have been starting a pretty large collection of wood for future projects. Is there a specific finish that is associated with stabilized woods? I normally sand to 1500 then buff. is there an oil or wax that will prolong the life of stabilized woods or is stabilization enough? I am sending out some of the Locust for stabilization and hope to try it soon.
Ok here is a photo of a small cap...Not the best figure in this one, but still pretty nice


Thanks all!
Mike

[Jay Hendrickson]

There is some excellent advice being shared in this thread on Knife Handle Materials. I also want to share some of my experience with our members.

In the early 1980’s Bill Moran and I went to visit Wayne Dunlap in Northern Virginia to purchase some curly maple for handle material. Wayne Dunlap had a business near Dulles Airport where he stored and sold highly figured wood principally for building muzzle loader rifle stocks. Bill and I met Wayne who was a great guy to talk to and he had some of the best and most highly figured maple anywhere on hand. I have continued over the years to purchase my curly maple, ash, and walnut from him. I find that curly maple, ash, and walnut work very well for the silver wire inlay work that I like to do on my knife handles.

I just wanted to pass this information along to our members. If you travel to Wayne Dunlap’s shop in Virginia you can pick out the pieces that you want, or you can call him and he will ship it to you.

This is his contact information:

Dunlap Woodcrafts
14600F Flint Lee Rd
Chantilly, VA 20151
Phone: 703.631.5147
info@dunlapwoodcrafts.com
www.dunlapwoodcrafts.com

[Bob Kramer]

Almost everything I make goes into regular use in the kitchen which is a very tough environment. I also like to use woods that grab your attention and make a statement. Cocobolo is rich in natural oils and has and interwoven grain which allows them to hold up well in the kitchen. Most of the burls I use are stabilized because they don't naturally have the oils which will help them keep from cracking and the stabilization also helps to fill any voids which may be present. I usually store my woods for at least six months before using to insure that it is dry and stable. Every thing is kept in a sealed room with a dehumidifier set @ 35% humidity. Cocobolo and snakewood can take up a year to stabilize. When sanding these woods it is important to use sharp belts and go slow otherwise the wood can get too hot and burn or check especially on the end grain.

Bob Kramer

[Ray Kirk]

Mr. Dunlap also makes very good tomahawk handles and will sell the blanks before he turns them. I don't know if he still does or not but the wood is definitely very good.

[Jim Crowell]

Looks like I am in on the end of this one. You have all provided a lot of good information and advice. I generally finish all my handles to 1000 grit and then use 0000 steel wool. I use pure boiled artists linseed oil on Maple and Walnut. Johnson's Wax on Ironwood, Blackwood, Ivory, bone,Stag and Ebony.
Here is a short list of my favorites which many of you have already mentioned. Like Daniel I have to ask what the intended purpose of the knife is prior to choosing a handle material.
Ivory - Elephant, Fossil Walrus and Mammoth
Stag - Sambar with good shape, color and texture. Try for least amount of pith.
Wood - Black Walnut, Maple, Desert ironwood, African Blackwood, Ebony. Looking for good color and figure in the Walnut, Maple and Ironwood.
Micarta - for knives that may be in /harm's way or the bush. I like the ability to finish in different degrees of texture. A secure grip elicits confidence. I tend to like the canvass based.
Rubber - for competition knives and such. Rough texture.

As "Bladesmiths" we tend to be inclined toward natural materials and I am a fan. Jim Schmidt once told me he liked natural materials because things are supposed to grow old. However, I also believe in using the best choice for the job at hand.

Thanks to all for your comments, I have enjoyed reading your posts.

Best regards,

Jim Crowell

[Jack Fuller]

Bill Moran and I in about 1980 went to visit Wayne Dunlap in Chantilly, Virginia to purchase some curly maple for handle material. Bill Moran discovered Wayne Dunlap through black powder rifles. Wayne had a warehouse full of beautiful curly maple and was selling some of the wood "scraps" at that time for firewood. He was in the business of cutting gun stock blanks out of curly maple to sell to custom gun makers. That day I had my Blazer and Bill and I loaded it full with what Wayne was calling "scraps" at the time but were highly figured curly maple which made great knife handles. Wayne no longer sells scraps but it is still a great place to find curly maple.

Today I make my knife handles with curly maple or sambar stag. I also use some ivory and giraffe bone for my handles.

I stain my curly maple with Fiebings Professional Oil Leather Stain. I finish the handles with a home made mixture made by Keith Casteel who is a well known custom gun maker known for his outstanding engraving. Keith sells the "Woodstock Oil Finish" for $5 a bottle and it works quite well to produce a very nice finish.

This is the contact information for Keith Casteel:
Keith Casteel
Rt.1, Box 38
Bruceton Mills, West Virgina 26525
304-379-8309
Hawkeyecasteel@citlink.net

[Mark D. Zalesky]

Good thread and I'm pleased to see input from so many different makers. A friend suggested that I add some thoughts from a collectors perspective and maybe I can chip in something useful.

I have just a small collection of handmade knives and my preference is for historical reproductions or knives that are directly inspired by historical knives (bowies to be precise). For me, it's important that the maker give some thought to what is historically correct for a certain knife – not that you can't change things up, but doing so willy-nilly is a real turnoff for me.

Let's take California knives, for example. The 19th century makers like Michael Price and Will & Finck took great pride in using native materials, and used them whenever they could. They preferred walrus ivory, although they did use a little elephant ivory. Ivory is a material that comes with its own set of complications these days, so it seems that fossil mammoth or walrus is a reasonable substitute. Another material the California makers used a lot of is red abalone shell, native to the California coast. It's hard to state absolutes in antique knives, but I will go out on a limb and say that the California makers never-ever-ever used mother of pearl as in oyster shell. Why would they, they had a fancier material that was more or less unique to California and they took great pride in that. So, to me anyway, a California knife with mother of pearl handles would be all wrong, it would go against what the original craftsmen were trying to accomplish and would say, in effect, that its maker doesn't understand what California knives are all about.

(I don't want to drift off topic here, but to me materials like mokume and damascus steel are different... Michael Price probably never even saw pattern welded or wootz steel, but if he had the knowledge you know he'd have used 'em! Not even sure where I draw the line there, but I have bought "reproductions" with damascus and clay-tempered blades that were otherwise period correct.)

Here's another example -- Bowie #1, the Carrigan knife, the Tunstall knife, and the other 5 or 6 by the same maker (James Black or otherwise) -- every single one of the originals has a handle of figured black walnut. Black walnut is commonly available, cheap, and a good piece looks great on a knife. You might make a knife of this style and change up the handle to something different but period correct (like ivory), but if it's going to be wood, I can't fathom why you wouldn't use walnut.

I don't think you have to go crazy with "correct" though. African blackwood is a nearly identical looking and more stable substitute for ebony, so it's a great choice -- I have a few knives with African blackwood handles myself. Fossil ivory for elephant or walrus makes good sense too (not bone, to my mind). But a synthetic substitute for a natural material? Bleah.

Just one collectors opinion. What does anyone else think with regard to period pieces?

Mark

PS: I will add a storage tidbit on two materials I didn't seem mentioned above: tortoiseshell and horn (any variety, but not including stag/antler). Store these in a sealed container loaded with old-fashioned mothballs, and tell your customers to keep mothballs in their safe if they have knives with tortoise or horn handles. These materials are eaten by dermestid beetle (carpet beetle) larvae, which can come into your house on flowers or plants, and they will plumb destroy a handle in no time. Speaking from experience. The mothballs will help keep them away.

[BrionTomberlin]

Good views Mark and I agree with them. If I am going to make a period piece, I am going to try and be as correct as possible, and thank you for your advice on the one currently in the works. Got to love those silver wraps.

If it is going to be a very close reproduction than it should have as close as possible to the original materials. If you are basing a knife on a period piece, but not a reproduction than whatever works for you.

Also thank you for contributing to this thread. We value your collecting and knife expertise.

Brion

[Dickie Robinson]

I'll share some thing Bill Moran taught me years ago. i asked him how he finished a handle on this knife we where looking at. he said he sanded it down to what ever fine grit you like then use alcohol based shellac. put on one to three coats but wipe them off very fast not to leave any on top of the wood.it dries very fast. then sand with very very fine steel wool then sand with fine sand paper.then polish with butchers wax or what ever wax you like and buff.i used this method for many years especially iron wood. iron wood will turn dark from oils especially from your hand if you do not seal it with some thing. i like the Blondie colored shellac from the Shellac Shack. if you get this method right the wood will have that wet look all time. Bill also applied orange leather dye first then let it dry steel wool-ed it then applied cordovan brown leather dye to curly maple then finished it like above. i hope this helps.

[Mark D. Zalesky]

Dickie Robinson, on 09 July 2011 - 08:32 PM, said:

Bill also applied orange leather dye first then let it dry steel wool-ed it then applied cordovan brown leather dye to curly maple then finished it like above. i hope this helps.

So THAT's how he got that orange-ish tint. I just love a hint of orange in a curly maple handle. Thanks Dickie!

Mark

[doug noren]

When Dan Cassidy, webmaster for ABS, asked me to post a brief comment on the topic "Knife Handle Material-What Are Your Favorite Handle Materials", I was puzzled as to what to say as there are so many good materials. I have used almost every feasible material that could possibly be used to make a handle out of. I have used mastodon ivory, walrus tusk, exotic woods, metals, bone, leather, antler and even fossilized coral that is only found in a small area in Michigan called "Petoskey Stone". What comes to mind here is the old Shaker saying "That which has the greatest use also processes the greatest beauty". With that said, my favorite, because it is my most used, is the materials used in the "Scagle Stake up" handle.
A handle of a knife must fit the users hand without causing fatigue or hot spots, sometimes for many hours at a time. The handle must not be just for looks but must work well in many scenes such as snow and rain when dressing game, fighting, or just enjoying the out of doors. Most importantly it must keep your hand safe when slippery because you must be able to maintain the grip to do a good job. The Scagel stack up handle meets all these requirements, without pretenison, as well as being attractive.
Because Scagel was primarily making knives for the camper, fisherman and hunter he used what was easily accessable to him-Michigan Whitetail deer antler. He used all parts of an antler: the tips, crowns, forks, and slabs in many different parts of his knives. He used all kinds of metals, some from local factories, such as bronze and nickle silver for guards and pommels. For spacers he used anything he could get his hands on and some in very small pieces. He used shoe sole leather, an electrical insulation material in rust red and black (found in electrical boxes) and all kinds of metal such as copper, silver, brass and even aluminum for spacers. In Muskegon, Michigan, near where we live, there is a factory that made bowling balls, "Brunswick". He would get red and black seconds and cut them up and use it as spacer material. Have you ever tried to cut up a bowling ball? Besides being big, round, heavy and awkward all the material that can be used is the first 1/2". What a job!
In conclusion, I feel that there is really no perfect handle material and at the same time, all will work very well. However, this is where the artist in us comes into play and transforms simple materials into useable, safe, and comfortable handles that will be attractive and at the same time do a good job. Again: "Beauty in Simplicity".

Doug Noren MS