Handle Materials For Knife

You probably have your own ideas of the handle materials you like best. Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject. Factors to consider are beauty, durability, weight, warmth to the touch, and economy. Stability is also a prime factor in handle material choice-whether there is a tendency to shrink in dry weather and to expand in wet weather, and whether or not there is a tendency to check, i.e., to form cracks easily. Usually, but not always, the denser and less porous a material is, the more stable it is.

Wood

If you treasure the beauty and warmth of wood as I do, you will find the darker, harder woods of the tropics to be premium. Lighter colored woods are usually not as hard, and tend to look dirty and washed out in time, while many of the very hard, darker, and densely grained resinous woods become more beautiful with age. I would especially recommend such tropical hardwoods as lignum vitae cocobolo, pau-Brazil, partridge wood, ebony, greenheart, rosewood, and padauk. Of the domestic woods, I have used manzanita burl, black walnut burl, applewood, desert ironwood, birdseye maple, and others. You may find some other excellent types. Use only wood that is close grained, hard, and beautiful.

Milling the Wood

Using the band saw, I cut all my wood into strips about an inch to2or3 inches wide, and from 5/8 inch to I inch thick, and about 2-1/2 feet long. They fit nicely in my drying rack, and I can select different size pieces for different knives. I cut the handles right out of the strips of wood with the band saw. Be sure that the pieces are cut smooth and straight, and are of even thickness.

There are two types of wood in each tree: the sapwood, which grows on the outside near the bark, and the heartwood, which grows in the center of the tree. Usually the sapwood is much lighter in color and more porous. The heartwood is the most suitable for handle construction.

Always make the cuts so that the most beautiful grain patterns become visible. The side of the handle should be parallel with the side grain of the structure.

Handles from Animals

Stag handles, though undeniably beautiful, present some formidable problems. Most of the available stag is from North America, and native stag shrinks and swells with weather conditions, warps, and in time becomes porous. European stag, on the other hand, is superior in this regard. The best kind of stag for knife handles, I am told, comes from India. Both the European and Indian staghorn are becoming scarce. Personally, I do not like the idea of taking a beautiful and rare deer just to make a knife handle. I am not adamant about this; I simply haven't gone out of my way to get rare stag for handles. I feel the same way about ivory, and whale's teeth of course. It would be nice to take the pressure off these poor creatures. However, I do use such materials if they come my way.

Some ivory, bone, and stag antler is taken with no harm to the animal. Whale's teeth are gathered from the ocean floor in certain areas, and tusk ivory is gathered from such sources as Siberia (mammoth tusk) and African elephants' breeding and "burial" grounds. Certain types of stag are gathered after the antlers are shed in the fall, before they begin to decompose. Water buffalo horn also makes good knife handles.

Bone "stag" handles are made from beef bone, particularly the shin bone. This is bleached and carved to look rough, like stag. However, beef bone tends to be very thin, and is suitable only for very small knives or folding knives, or for the top layer of a composite handle.