Best Wood For Knife Question

[nuttbush]

I am going to order another custom knife and I would like to know from some of you knifemaking pards out there, In a natural wood handle what would be the best choice for a wood that will stand up to rugged use and last a long time with care. I personally like the darker woods but would consider any others. The knife is going to be a forged longhunter-scalper type, so nothing real fancy. Thanks for your advice.

 

[George Holton]

You might look at osage orange. It is beautiful, harder than hell, will destroy saw blades,otherwise it ia unusual.

 

[tom hargrove]

that would be my choice cant beat osage ,hard maple will be a close second or walnut ,cherry,ash, :thumbsup:

 

[Ohio Rusty]

Another excellent material is BONE !! Hard as wood, takes a beautiful finish and can be left natural to age or stained. Bone would be my first choice ....
Ohio Rusty

 

[Harddog]

The knife is going to be a forged longhunter-scalper type, so nothing real fancy. Thanks for your advice.

Alamosa,

You said your new knife is to be a longhunter type of knife. This indicates that it will be an 18th century style knife?? If you want it to be a true looking longhunter knife I would suggest that you don't use Osage Orange for the handle. During the 18th century and into the 19th century osage orange was only available in a very small area in the northeast corner of Texas. Sometime during the 19th century it spread to small adjacent ares of those states the meet with the northeast corner of Texas. It just wasn't available in any eastern state or colony during the 18th century.

If you want dark wood I suggest that you go with walnut or dark stained maple.

Randy Hedden

 

[tom hargrove]

here one of my blades with a cherry wood handel with thin deer rawhide wrap this combo will hold up to about anything.

 

[Many Klatch]

I have made quite a few knife handles out of the curly maple left over from cutting out gun stocks. It is tough and attractive and you know that it was available.

Many Klatch

 

[Ridge]

I thought I read once that they had found precious few knives handled in curly maple. That it was a modern day farb. :hmm:

I'd go with cherry, or antler....I always liked the look of antler.

 

[George Holton]

Harddog; Well Ill be darned! I checked your statement and learned something new to me. I have used maclura pomifera for handles etc all my working life and never knew it wasn't native in the east. They never taught that in forestry. Thank you sir. Its a poor day that you dont learn something new. Bob

 

[tom hargrove]

how did the osage indian get there name if there was no osage then just wondering

 

[romcneil]

If the wish is for a knife that is durable and will take hard use and still look good, I would avoid the use of walnut. It is relatively soft and scars easily. I used walnut on one knife, but the surface was so soft that I had to use soome form of protection on it. Based upon the recommendation of another knifemaker I coated the surface with superglue. It left a nice looking but too plastic finish.

For a durable handle (not necessarily the best looking grain) I like hickory. I still have a couple of knives that my father made back in the late 1940's that he used hickory from old hammer handles on. They have been used hard (even might say abused) but the handles still look good. I also have a couple of canes made of hickory, and they have held up well.

Bob

 

[jasontn]

[/img] the one at the top i cut down and re handled with some oak slabs. they are smpmles from a company that sells the stuff for rebuilding old pick up beds its pretty tough and the grains not too bad

 

[rebel727]

During the 18th century and into the 19th century osage orange was only available in a very small area in the northeast corner of Texas.

Randy Hedden

Osage Orange or Bois D' Arc as we call it was native to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi. Lewis and Clark discovered it in Missouri in 1804 and gave some to Thomas Jefferson which led to it's proliferation in the east.

 

[tx-hunter]

cocobolo and ironwood are both very hard woods. they are a little more "fancy" than osage. osage is one of my favorites when i can find good pieces that aren't split. Ipe is pretty dang hard too.

 

[Norskie]

I've used Siberian elm (called Chinese elm, but it's not), hickory, maple and ash. Also wood from shrubs, since you can use smaller pieces for knife handles: laurel, lilac, thornapple and wisteria.
But I guess the most durable wood I've found is ebony.
Moose

 

[rogerpjr]

I've done some with Birdseye maple. You can stain it any way you like. If you want hard, go with desert ironwood or mesquite.

 

[leatherjunkie]

cocobolo would be my choice if you are not worried about being pc.

cocobolo is very hard and comes in a range of colors from light orange to a light red to dark red and dark brown. it is also a member of the rosewood family.

just do a search on ebay for knife scales to look at some cocobolo and you will see what i mean about the different colors.
word of caution about cocobolo, some people are alerigic to it. so when sanding on it be sure to wear a dust mask. the sanding dust from cocobolo gets to me when i sand it alot.

 

[AeroncaTAL]

You might consider wood from the Smoke Tree, Cotinus coggygria. We have one of these in our backyard, but it is actually native to the Eastern states. The wood is a beautiful yellow color. I renovated an old knife and made the scales from this wood. The following link will take you to the thread with a picture of the knife.
This Old Knife Part 2

Scott

 

[BrownBear]

I really dislike "blade heavy" knives, prefering more balance between the weight of the blade and the handle. For thicker or longer blades I'm really fond of using ironwood, or ironbark as it's also called. Most I get is darn near black, and it's so dense that it won't float even in saltwater.

 

[tom hargrove]

i wonder who can really say, what wood is pc and what is not. remember shipping crates were wood, and came from all over the world .i assume once the were open and contents removed the crate would be discarded . any one could pick up a peice
here is a blade i done with white oak and it is a peice of wood that dixie sent me with some brass rod stock taped to it,