bamboo scales

[zscheer]

has any one seen bamboo scales?
i know this is a hard wood and thought it would work well with a knife
but i have not seen any for sale or used
if any one knows how to get some let me know

[Bob Hatfield]

I have never seen any made into knife scales, but they do sell bamboo flooring at the bigger home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowes. they are about 1/4 inch thick by 4" wide. the only problem you would have to purchase a full box of about 12-14 Sq. ft. You can also try to find a box of bamboo flooring that is damaged or missing a board and might get it cheaper.

Bob

[NuViking]

In the outpost area, there have been bambo tubes and shutes used for hiddin tang knives. I have been planning on hunting some down for this purpose. They look cool.

[David Broadwell]

Yes, I've seen bamboo used for knife handles. In the last year or so I've seen large scales that have been stabilized. Like NuViking, I've also seen smaller diameter shafts of bamboo used. Don't know for sure who is selling it. Might try Alpha Knife Supply.

As for color, it's on the bland side. I have seen some bamboo that has either been smoked or chared to darken it.

David

[Ray Rogers]

I have a bamboo cutting board that is about 3/4" thick and could easily be cut up for scales. They are available on the internet and from stores that sell professional cooking implements, most malls have a store that sells this type of thing. A small cutting board like this costs less than a single block of stabilized wood ....

[IronMonkey]

I have a bunch of bamboo from my parents house. Varying sizes diameter and really long. If you want I could mail you some if you could give me a general idea of size. You just pay for shipping. Dan

[Drac]

I've used a bamboo cutting board on a recent knife & it work out fine. Be ware of the boards for flooring, both Home Depot & Lowe's stocked boards are only one layer laminated over particle board. Solid bamboo is special order only. By the way solid bamboo is still a laminated board & not one piece of bamboo. Also there are two different ways of putting the boards together, one with the "face" of the bamboo up and the other with the edge/interior up. I like both so it is personal choice.

If you have a Ross Dress for Less, Tuesday Morning or other discount store they often carry the boards at really low prices. I tried at several places that sell hardwood flooring & I couldn't talk anyone out of just one board but you might have better luck.

It burns really easy; I mean REALLY, REALLY easy, use new belts & hand sand in the finer grits. It also splinters easier than most natural woods. You must use a backing board (I do normally) & I left some extra material to sand down later for the slivers the bit chipped out. I also had a piece split when I drilled a hole to fit like I do for unstabilized woods & it was a tight fit for the pin.....which split the wood of course. If you buff it use white rough or a clear sealer with a polish compound in it, I used carnauba wax. The surface picked up a lot of the green rough when I buffed it & I had to resand it.

Jim

Edit - here is the one with bamboo I did recently for a KITH. It's a modernized Japanese vegetable knife

[Phydeaux]

I have used solid bamboo floring for a few handles. They came out really nice. I liked the darker colors better than the light colored ones. I used some bamboo chop sticks as pins. Some of the darker boards are colored by heating and carbonizing the wood, the nice thing about this method is that the wood is darkened through out the whole piece, not just the surface. Glues up fine with epoxy. I sanded the scales to 600 grit and used Watco Danish oil to seal it.

I got some at a place that specialized in bamboo flooring. They gave me some free samples that were from broken packages or had some damaged areas (but big enough for scales) . The local Costco had some solid flooring for ~$45/box. It make alot of handles.

I read somewhere that the bamboo that they use for harvesting has a 5 year growth period before it is harvested for use.

It is a material that I will keep using.

Ric Lee

[DC KNIVES]

I have a friend,Spencer Rieter of SAR knives that has done a few.He stabilized his own.He said it was hard to work.Dave

[Wade Holloway]

How big of a knife are you putting these on. I have a friend that grows bamboo and makes bamboo siding for a living. They sell it all over the world. I have seen some that they grow that is 6 to 8 inches in diamiter with walls about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch thick. If the handle is not to wide these could be used as slabs and you would not have to laminate any together. If you will drop me a line I would be happy to cut some for you and send you some if you would like. Just let me know.

[rebecca14531]

Originally Posted by Bob Hatfield

I have never seen any made into knife scales, but they do sell bamboo kitchen flooring at the bigger home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowes. they are about 1/4 inch thick by 4" wide. the only problem you would have to purchase a full box of about 12-14 Sq. ft. You can also try to find a box of bamboo kitchen flooring that is damaged or missing a board and might get it cheaper.

Bob

Thank you for this advice...