What's the deal on aluminum bolsters on custom knives?

wmhammond

wmhammond

Well-Known Member
I saw a custom knife over the weekend at a gun show and the maker said it had aluminum bolsters - looked like stainless to me. I haven't ever seen or heard of this before. Is it OK to put aluminum bolsters on a quality knife? Do they make aluminum rods for pins? Can you use stainless pins with a good result? Do the pins disappear when ground and polished? Thanks.

Wallace
 
Personally, I would not use aluminum.....to me that basically equates with "cheap"....not to mention the soft characteristics of aluminum would mean things would get dinged up quickly. If a person wanted to do it, there are aluminum rods. Using any "rod" material other then one that matches the bolster composition would mean they would certainly show.

Ruana knives....which are made here in Montana have cast-on aluminum guards and/or bolsters......and everyone that I've ever seen looks terrible to me.....most are poorly finished, but even on those that have a decent finish, they are discolored and dinged whenever I've seen them.

If a person "wants" to use aluminum, they certainly could, but in my mind the question would be "Why would you want to?" By that I mean why subject yourself to the negative implications of using it on your reputation.
 
The old Westerns (50's and 60's) had aluminum butt caps. Others did also. All of the ones that I have seen are beat up pretty good.

Most of them show the battle scars left in a soft handle material.

I have a few pieces of aluminum that I have been tempted to try to incorporate into a knife handle. I was thinking more in line with a spacer or two on a hidden tang type knife.

I haven't done it, yet. I'm unsure that I ever will. I don't think it would be called a "high quality" material. Just something a little bit different.

DeMo
 
A lot of commercial production knives use aluminum and it's hard to tell at a glance. It's cheap and easy to mill.
Aluminum is fairly soft and will pick up scuff's and scratches fairly easy.
Most custom guys do not use it for knives.
 
You guys are confirming what I thought all along. However, the knife I saw was still new and the aluminum looked pretty good - but not for long, I'd guess.

Wallace
 
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