Knife Makers, What Handle Materials do you use most?...and why?

Burl Source

Burl Source

Forum Owner & Moderator
Through the last few years I have learned that a lot of things are different than what you read in books. I was curious to hear the answers that would come from those of you who are actively making knives.

A few questions;

1. What knife handle material do you use on most of the knives you make?
2. Is their a different material that you favor? ...but don't use because of cost, difficulty to work or another reason.
3. When you purchase knife handle material do you make your purchases regularly from the same supplier?
4. Is your purchase based on lowest price, best quality or uniqueness of the material?
5. What is the average you spend on material for 1 knife handle? ...and what type of knife is your average knife?

Thank you in advance for those of you who are willing to take the time to answer any or all of these questions.

Mark Farley - AKA Burl Source
 
1; Mesquite, just because its here and its what my buyers expect from me. 2; Buckeye burl, every body seems to like it, but it doesn't get asked for much. 3;No. 4;Quality, uniqueness. 5; 25.00 $. Lately it's been small and concealable, with a hunter every once in a while.
 
1. West Australian hardwoods, because thats where i live and they are hard, no stabilising necessary
2. Stag...the Aussie stuff is 80% pith, and ordering sambar tapers and rounds on line you end up with rubbish. I presume you mean wood so Buckeye, not available in Aus but i managed to collect some nice pieces at Blade 2010.
3. No, but have a couple of favourites for particular materials
4. Uniqueness and best quality
5. Because of freight, some of the imported pieces could run up to $40, local pieces a lot less. If its a really featured hardwood then i dont mind paying good money for it. My average knife is a 4" drop point, but enjoy making bowie/fighter types more

Cheers Bruce
 
Micarta or our home made laminates are the material that is used the most. Particularly on knives that will see use in the field.

Why, because it's probably the best compromise between looks, toughness, and cost.

Otherwise I use stabilized woods and a lot of stag but no particular kind of wood as much as the man-made laminates.

I'm working on orders for four hunting knives for deer season and they want Micarta or my own Denim laminate on all four.

I wonder why they don't make factory Blue Jean Micarta? It seems I've always got an order for one.
 
1. Wood--spalted or burl. The more figure the better.
2. I love working with mammoth and walrus ivory but fing most people dont use it , just for collectors.
3. I shop around but I do have a couple of favorites.
4. Quaility and uniqueness.
5. $25--50. most of my current blades are fixed blades 3-4" with an occasional bowie or chopper thrown in.
 
Burl Source said:
A few questions;

1. What knife handle material do you use on most of the knives you make?
2. Is their a different material that you favor? ...but don't use because of cost, difficulty to work or another reason.
3. When you purchase knife handle material do you make your purchases regularly from the same supplier?
4. Is your purchase based on lowest price, best quality or uniqueness of the material?
5. What is the average you spend on material for 1 knife handle? ...and what type of knife is your average knife?
Click to expand...

1. Wood in general as opposed to ivory, stone, MOP, synthetics, etc. Specifically ironwood, koa, and walnut more than others.
2. No. I prefer wood over ivory and others but I work with them when asked.
3. Yes, usually.
4. Quality first, then uniqueness. I try not to get too cheap on the handle material because you get what you pay for.
5. It's varies. $25-35 for stabilized wood, $35-45 for ironwood. I make more sub hilt fighters than most other models.
 
Burl Source said:
Through the last few years I have learned that a lot of things are different than what you read in books. I was curious to hear the answers that would come from those of you who are actively making knives.

A few questions;

1. What knife handle material do you use on most of the knives you make?
2. Is their a different material that you favor? ...but don't use because of cost, difficulty to work or another reason.
3. When you purchase knife handle material do you make your purchases regularly from the same supplier?
4. Is your purchase based on lowest price, best quality or uniqueness of the material?
5. What is the average you spend on material for 1 knife handle? ...and what type of knife is your average knife?

Thank you in advance for those of you who are willing to take the time to answer any or all of these questions.

Mark Farley - AKA Burl Source
Click to expand...

1. Probably G10 or Micarta
2. Stag, cost and quality is why I don't use it, I do use some whitetail deer antler though.
3. not really, my G10 comes from one, but woods come from others.
4. Quality.
5. G10 around $8.00 woods $10.00 for the common woods, and as much as $40.00 for Iron Wood. Most of my knives are hunters and skinners with a camp knife once in a while.
Dale
 
1. Exotic Woods: African Blackwood is my favorite, followed by Koa, Desert Ironwood, and Australian Woods.

2. Fossil Walrus ivory and Sambar Stag. I still use them, but because of the cost and availability, they are usually used upon request. The cost of these materials, and the difficulty factor(s) of working them is reflected in the cost of the finished knives.

3. I only purchase handle material "in person" unless it's a VERY trusted source. My loyalty is to the best materials, and whomever can provide those. I simply will not order handle material from most knifemaking supply outfits...all they do is go to a bin, grab the first piece they can, and send it to you.

4. Handle material purchases are always based on Quality and SIZE. I build a lot of hidden tang knives, and sometimes get really frustrated with the smaller and smaller blocks being offered...no matter which material. In many cases I am forced to purchase my woods myself, in larger "chunks", and cut it myself.

These days it seems everybody and their brother wants to offer "stabilized" woods. The problem is that most of them have not taken the time and effort to get it right BEFORE they sell it. In the last two year I have had no less than 6 different sources send me "samples" of their stabilized woods, and in all cases, there have been issues, and only one source that I have been satisfied with(besides WSSI). When I have reported back with my insights, I rarely hear from them again, other than "Oh! OK." It would make sense to me that if they wanted my business, they would try to fulfill my needs. Rather than try to improve their process/product, I think they just try to direct their sales to entry level makers who do not have as much knowledge or are not as demanding of quality. I may be too demanding, because I use WSSI as the standard, but so far none have been able to match them in the area of stabilized woods

5. Depending on the knife, woods can be $15-$70 per handle, Ivories and Stag are of course at premium costs/prices.

I've been at this for a lot of years, and I cannot help but believe that there is a lot of price gouging going on when it comes to knife handle material. I know a lot of things have changed over they years, but I can remember top grade ironwood for $12 per block... stabilized burls for $10-$15. I know prices have gone up, but many knifemakers know about woods, etc. too, and in many cases the retail cost of specific materials is way out of line with the initial cost(s)....meaning that the seller is making HUGE profit...way beyond "fair". There are SOME suppliers out there who I feel have gotten out of control, and I have told most of them to their faces.... "I would love to do business with you, but I think you are out of line on prices, and I simply cannot afford you."
 
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Thank you to those who have replied so far.
I would like to respond to some of Ed's comments.
First on stabilizing.
I began doing my own stabilizing a couple years ago. My process was using resinol 90c in a vacuum / pressure pot and then heat curing in a confection oven. I made a lot of changes in the process before I felt I was putting out a good product. It was an expensive and time consuming process. Just the cost of chemicals was averaging close to $10 per block, not to mention the time and shop overhead. A few months ago I tried K&G (knife and gun finishing out of Arizona). I started with a batch of redwood burl. I had met Ken from K&G at a few shows and he told me of a special formula they use when stabilizing redwood. Sometimes with redwood you do not get the weight gain and hardness you want from stabilized woods. Or the wood turns dark and muddy figure. The redwood from K&G cam back hard and heavy, the colors remained vivid and the flash in the figure appeared to be enhanced. I was sold on K&G from that time forward. I like the quality they were able to provide better than what I was able to accomplish myself. My cost per block for stabilizing remains close to what I was spending before but now I am getting a better product without as much labor.

As for cost of materials;
This is not in defense of others but just to give a different perspective.
Some of the woods are getting really hard to get, especially the really high grade stuff. There are still some people who have old stock and you can get some good prices on occasion. I have purchased some materials retail at lower prices than I was able to get from wholesale suppliers with volume purchases. Sometimes it just takes being at the right place at the right time. You can still get mediocre pieces at cheap prices but even with those you will have to hunt for them. I used to sell a lot of larger pieces on Ebay. There were times where pieces were bid up to what I felt were outrageously high dollar amounts. Now, 3 years later I wish I could buy back at lot of those same pieces.
 
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Burl Source said:
Through the last few years I have learned that a lot of things are different than what you read in books. I was curious to hear the answers that would come from those of you who are actively making knives.

A few questions;

1. What knife handle material do you use on most of the knives you make?
2. Is their a different material that you favor? ...but don't use because of cost, difficulty to work or another reason.
3. When you purchase knife handle material do you make your purchases regularly from the same supplier?
4. Is your purchase based on lowest price, best quality or uniqueness of the material?
5. What is the average you spend on material for 1 knife handle? ...and what type of knife is your average knife?

Thank you in advance for those of you who are willing to take the time to answer any or all of these questions.

Mark Farley - AKA Burl Source
Click to expand...

1) African Hard woods.
2) Warthog tusks. Difficult to get big enough pieces for big handles.
3) No.
4) Quality and uniqueness.
5) 20 - 30$. Mostly Hunters
 
Cliff Fendley said:
Micarta or our home made laminates are the material that is used the most. Particularly on knives that will see use in the field.

Why, because it's probably the best compromise between looks, toughness, and cost.

Otherwise I use stabilized woods and a lot of stag but no particular kind of wood as much as the man-made laminates.

I'm working on orders for four hunting knives for deer season and they want Micarta or my own Denim laminate on all four.

I wonder why they don't make factory Blue Jean Micarta? It seems I've always got an order for one.
Click to expand...

Have you seen this link on Jcarta?
http://www.britishblades.com/forums...me-grown-quot-micarta-quot-(picture-intensive)
 
Mesquite for me too!!! Living in West Texas, that is what most of my customer's want. We also have lots of it available.
 
1. What knife handle material do you use on most of the knives you make?
2. Is their a different material that you favor? ...but don't use because of cost, difficulty to work or another reason.
3. When you purchase knife handle material do you make your purchases regularly from the same supplier?
4. Is your purchase based on lowest price, best quality or uniqueness of the material?
5. What is the average you spend on material for 1 knife handle? ...and what type of knife is your average knife?
Click to expand...

1. Micarta
2. I would like to go to gemstone handles but I don't have the money, the equipment, the space for the equipment, or the skill needed
3. So far, all of my purchases has been from Texas Knifemakers supply
4. Both price and quality-I know of no other material that can be both cheap and durable, unless its G10
5. $2-7;not including shipping, as only purchasing handle material wouldn't be worth it, so I only buy it when I can get other supplies with it. I'm only making utility knives for now.
 
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We use a truck load of curly maple in hawk handles. By the way Id love to get my hands on some nice exotic wood big wnough for hawk handles..
Knives I love desert ironwood. Finsihed right its beautful. Has a nice chatoyance too..
 
Burl Source said:
1. What knife handle material do you use on most of the knives you make?
2. Is their a different material that you favor? ...but don't use because of cost, difficulty to work or another reason.
3. When you purchase knife handle material do you make your purchases regularly from the same supplier?
4. Is your purchase based on lowest price, best quality or uniqueness of the material?
5. What is the average you spend on material for 1 knife handle? ...and what type of knife is your average knife?
Click to expand...

1. Micarta, G10, African Blackwood, Maple Burl, Curly Maple, Ironwood, and ParaChord.
2. Ivories
3. Depends, I like to handle what I purchase when it comes to natural materials.
4. All off the above
5. 25.00 to 50.00
 
Kentucky said:
We use a truck load of curly maple in hawk handles. By the way Id love to get my hands on some nice exotic wood big wnough for hawk handles..
Knives I love desert ironwood. Finsihed right its beautful. Has a nice chatoyance too..
Click to expand...

I am curious what is a standard size for hawk handles?
 
1. Whitetail crowns and domestic hardwoods-the more figure the better and stabilized
2. Ivory (pre-ban elephant or hippo, not ancient stuff)- it just feels different in the hand and I can't explain it, warmer somehow, and it stays fairly "grippy" when it's wet. It's too hard to find good, solid pieces that are priced low enough for me to afford.
3. I generally buy my wood from a local source that lets me pick through all his stock. I send it out to get stabilized. The antler is aquired in several different ways.
4. Best quality for sure. I don't use material that is overly expensive in general, so I can afford to buy the best of what I choose to use.
5. 20$ on average for the wood ...Hunters/EDC type fixed blades
 
1. I use micarta the most often.
2. Yes, stabilized figured wood... mostly because of cost, but also it's not always easy to find cut into scales. I make mostly full-tang knives and am too lazy/cheap to set up a decent bandsaw for resawing. I also love desert ironwood but BOY is it getting pricy for the really pretty stuff
3. I buy almost exclusively from 3 or 4 suppliers... basically 2 each for micarta/G10 and stab wood
4. for micarta, G10, it's price cuz the quality is pretty consistant; for wood it's uniqueness and quality
5. ranges from $15-50 including bolts, epoxy etc. I make mostly full-tang user knives with 3-6" blades
 
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