knife handle material -opnions wanted

[Bodork]

I have a business associate that is an avid fly fisherman and I am thinking of making him a knife with the helle filet blade. Does anyone have any opinions or ideas of handle material or finish that will not be so slick when wet? Thanks, Mike

[Guru]

something with a lot of texture...maybe the knarly base of an antler??  Stippled wood???

[sticshooter]

Mike I have some pink ivory sapwood that has some knots in it(and it's NOT pink LOL). I made a knife that is on Sponsers class. That might work? Or you can make a handle and with your talent checker the handle like Curt said.<><

[wyatts daddy]

Mike I could send you a pieace of the bocote I have. I don't know if that will help but it would sure look nice. Couldn't you checker the handle area?
Bill

[DarkeGreen]

What about cork to match the handle on his fly rods? I've seen a few really neat handles done that way.

[SOS]

Cork sounds like a cool idea.  Make sure you use a sealer before poly, or Deft if you take Bill up on his bocote offer.  I learned the hard way wipe on poly won't harden on bocote.  One skinned pig and a lot of the finish is off.  Time to sand, tape and buy some Deft.

[LAR43]

Guru's got the idea! Stippled!!!! Or checkered if you can do it!

Larry

[Seeking Trad Deer]

G10 with bead blasting.

[Lewis Brookshire III]

If you use cork, which would go great with the fly rod. Use Burl cork and coat it with Caseys tru-oil. It looks awesome. I make fly rods and it turns out great. Here is a pic of one rod handle with burl cork and tru oil finish.

 

Heres another I made.

 


You can also get the burl cork in different colors so you can put accent rings of colored cork in there with the natural burl.

[KellyG]

Wow

[JBiorn]

And for a fisherman, cork will float!


 Jeff

[Lewis Brookshire III]

Yep, as long as the blade is not too heavy it will float. I didnt even think of that. Whatever you choose I am sure it will turn out great and your buddy will be happy with it!

[Deerhntr]

Micarta would be a good choice. It's a tough materail with a texture to it that water wouldn't have a negative effect on.

[NightHawk]

where do you get the cork?

[Bodork]

Thanks for the offer Bill but I have some bacote scraps and I don't want to take something if someone else needs it. I thought about the checkering but I don't know how to do it and a while back I looked at the tools and they were mighty expensive. The cork sounds interesting and unique. Where do you get it? Maybe even spliced with another material? HMMM...

[OconeeDan]

Is that cork still soft after the tru oil finish?  How does the tru oil finish stand up to water?  I wonder if finish is needed at all, since fishing rods have raw cork?
And to repeat the question, where do we get some?
Dan

[DarkeGreen]

Search Google for cork handle, cork material, etc.

There are a bunch of link to places you can buy boards, rings, or already made handles. Here is one link I found:

 http://www.shofftackle.com/corkring.html

[DarkeGreen]

That one auction site that gets blocked on here has a bunch too. You know yaB-E.  

[Lewis Brookshire III]

Yeah you can get it from any Fly rod building company.

And yes the cork stays flexible. The only reason that I put the tru-oil on is becuase the burl cork has alot of grain like wood and it makes the grain really pop out.

[Rick McGowan]

I have a filet knife with diamond wood handles and finger grooves, I have another blade and I think it will be micarta with finger grooves also. A filet knife is going to be wet a LOT and can get very slippery with slime and all, I think the finger grooves are the best bet.