Over the years I've used a wide variety of handle materials on my knives and tools, and for sheaths and scabbards as well. I like wood alot in general, it's a very satisfying material to work with, but it can also be challenging. I've used a great range of tropicals like wenge and zircote, rosewood and ebony, and a host of others. I've used a pretty wide array of domestic woods also; maples, walnut, birch, elm, hickory, ash, oak, pines, poplar, basswood... you name it, I've tried it.

Now, I've fallen into a set of woods that really speak to me, partly because of the way they work and look, but also because they are domestic woods, woods I grew up with. Fancy maples, curly, quilted, spalted, are my favorites. I also like walnut alot, when I can find curly walnut or walnut burl that's up to my standards I use it. I also like birch a great deal, and occasionally I'll get some of the incredible curly birches from Finland, and sometimes I come across some nice birch here, although sadly, it' a bit rare. I very often use a three-piece construction in my knife handles, with slabs of a fancy wood on the outside faces, and a "centerboard" up the middle, I amost always use a straight-grained rock maple for this piece. The combination renders a handle that's as close to indestructible as a natural material is going to get. Habit too; I did it that way a long time ago, and the method kinda stuck. So it's a "go with what you know" kinda deal.

I do have one variarion to the theme, I do a cord-wrap sometimes and infuse it with epoxy, for super-heavy duty handles on workhorse stuff sometimes, but, other than that;

I try to stay away from synthetic materials, especially plastic, and plastic finishes, as much as I can. Other than the aformentioned cord-wrapped handles, but I tend to reserve that set-up for specific things that really require it. Natural oil finishes, hand-rubbed into finely finished wood is my preferred method. I also use a modern method of "stabilizing", using vacuum and pressure, to totally impregnate the wood with a finishing oil of my own design. I don't use a plastic material for this, I have paranoia about outgassing and such things, so I developed a set of natural oils to do the same thing. It pulls the oil right to the center of the wood, all the way through... which pretty much ends expansion/contraction due to humidity and temperature, and increases the life of the handle a hundred-fold. And since it's a natural oil base, it has that rubbed-oil depth and luster that can only be had that way, instead of the plasticy-wet look which is superficially nice and glossy, but tends to hide all the character of the wood and it's grain. It takes a long time to grow all that beauty. Damn shame to cover it up with plastic.

I try very hard to be aware of where my woods are coming from, I try to get wood from sources that are practicing sustainable wood-management practices... sometimes I get really nice woods as recycled material, or as left-over material from other craftsmen who make larger items. I don't use tropicals anymore for that reason, it's almost impossible to get an honest straight-forward report on origin from distributers anymore, and I still have some connections in the forestry/lumber trade, so when I buy domestic, I can check out the story and see if it's bullshit or not. We just have to do what we can.

Over time I'll feature some articles on this page, which I'll announce on the shoplog as I add them, covering some of the methods I use to make knife and tool handles, and about wood in general.