How to choose the best wood for knife handles

Wood is the most widely used material for knife handles, as it is elegant, prestigious, and completely customizable according to clients’ requirements. If treated properly, you can create very innovative tools with unique and distinctive shapes.

What is the best wood for knife handles?

Let’s discuss the topic in the following article.

What is the best wood for knife handles?

Even if knife handles can be made of many different materials, e.g., plastic, stainless steel, aluminium, titanium, carbon fiber, and bone, wood is by far the most appreciated both for professional and collector use. In fact, besides providing a comfortable grip, it is a very elegant, prestigious material and sustainable too.

We can assume there is not an absolute best wood for knife handles, but it depends on how and where people want to use and keep their knives.

For example, camping knives are different from kitchenware. Camping knives need to be very resistant, durable, and as compact as possible, as they are used in very different environments.

Kitchenware items, however, must be functional and safe for users as well as aesthetically beautiful. Sometimes, in fact, they are part of your furniture.

To select the best wood for the knife handles you want to offer, you must first understand their purpose.

Remember that people today are accustomed to having a wide variety of choice in what they want to buy, so it is best to offer many different options for knife handles as well.

Your clients will expect to find a broad range of items in your catalogue and be able to customize each item as they wish. In addition to different types of wood, it is also important to make sure you can offer different options for finishes.

We must emphasize that even if all finishes can be used on each wood essence some are better than others in certain situations and for specific purposes.

The wood manufacturer should be able to advise about the best finish for a certain type of wood to ensure a top-quality product.

The most common woods for knife handles

Wood can be divided into hardwood and softwood, the first coming from flowering plants (angiosperm), while the second comes from trees that have needles and produce cones (gymnosperm).

Hardwoods are generally used for knife handles, as they are more durable and prestigious as well as more resistant to staining and contamination.

Here are some of the best woods for knife handles:

• Oak is a very popular wood for knife handles, as it is beautiful, especially if enhanced with engravings and embossing, and also durable, resistant, and cheaper compared with other woods.
• Birch Laminate is widely available; it is durable and resistant and often also used for outdoor and camping knives.
• Olive is a very distinctive wood for its yellow and brown shades; it is durable and not very expensive.
• Walnut is prestigious, strong, and resistant, so it is the preferred choice of collectors who look for a beautiful object.
• Cherry offers a great and almost polished appearance, but it is also resistant and rather strong.
• Maple Burl is one of the most common types of wood used for knife handles, as it has a comfortable grip and looks good.
• Cocobolo is probably the most durable hardwood, as it is resistant to wet and dry conditions, which is why it is widely used for both indoor and outdoor knives.
• Hickory is good as knife handle material, as it is tough, strong, flexible, shock resistant, and cheap.
• Bocote is a unique and very distinctive wood used to create elegant and very prestigious knives. 
• Bloodwood Satine is rarely used for knife handles but is an original and durable choice, especially ideal for enthusiasts who look for a unique product.
• Amboyna Burl is a rare and expensive type of wood used for custom knives, as it is elegant and extremely prestigious.

Wood has a wide range of pricing depending on the type and scarcity of the raw material, but it is very cost effective, as it doesn’t need moulds. It means that the initial investment will be much lower compared with other materials.

You need an expert manufacturer with proper technology and tools to create top-quality knife handles and performs deep quality control to ensure perfect products.

If you are looking for top-quality wooden handles, the Minelli Group has specialized in wood manufacturing for more than 80 years and can create custom-made wooden components of the highest quality and durability.

Thanks to our sophisticated software and cutting-edge machines, we can satisfy even the most demanding requests to create unique products.

For further information, do not hesitate to contact us!