All About Pocket Knives

I picked up a couple; different kinds of handle material; but after getting it; not sure it will work. One is Stellar Seacow; one side is porous and the other looks like driftwood. The other is Mammoth interior ivory; but they look like a Popsicle stick.

My question is; do these need to be dyed; to improve their appearance? Or after they are buffed/polished; not sure how you do it; will it bring out some nicer looking scales? And on the Seacow; which side normally shows. Thanks.


Luckypaul777

Ohhh, seacow I've heard of people using both sides, but if it were me, I'd use the smooth side as my handle. It may not have much "character", but the fact it is a reasonably rare material, and a conversation piece all by itself would lead me to not dye it. The back side looks like it would be to fragile to use, almost like the pith on antler. even stabilized I'd worry.

mammoth interior ivory is basically an off-color, easily attainable elephant ivory, if you want to look at it that way. Some pieces are going to have little to no color variation in them at all, it just depends how deep the mineralization has gotten. Bark and surface ivory gets all the glory It looks like you have some nice "rings" through yours. at a high gloss polish, they will look quite nice.

*edit* it deserves being mentioned. I don't buff ivory, cause it's not really heat friendly, and I'm super paranoid . I use micromesh from 3600 to 12000 grit once I finish normal sanding to 2000. that gets me super gloss, like liquid glass.

You can sand and buff both, use the smooth side of the seacow. with sanding they will smooth out and show color (for the seacow) and the buffing should give it a nice shine and enhance the color and any fissures it might have. buff the ivory and it will show the "grain" better after being properly sanded.

What I would do is to sand down the rough side of the Seacow before attaching the scales to the knife to see what I have. You need to do that for good adhesion for glue anyway if you chose to put that side down, assuming you plan on glue or glue and pin. Once it's sanded down - then I would decide.

This is assuming that the scales are thick enough to do that.

Watch out for heat on the ivory, it's good to use as is.

I am waiting to see your cowbone when your done.

Here is one that is not dyed.

justtold, nice , hope mine turns out as nice as those handles.


Luckypaul777