Materials Question

Hi... I’m trying to dedemine the black composite material used for good quality handles for kitchen knives. I haven’t found any thing on t’internet as yet. While we’re on the subject of materials - are there any suppliers of the old style Ebonite out there anymore? John

Good quality ebonite is not all that easy to get hold of these days. Most of it is filled with chalk or other bulk fillers. If you want good stuff, look for pen blanks, swallow hard, and look again because it's very expensive. There is a German Company that I have not used, but a number of pen makers I know of have used. They are here: **LINK**

Pipe makers also use it. There are a number of suppliers from India on E-bay who sell reasonable quality material. I have no idea how good Russian or Ukrainian material is.

For fancy coloured, good quality ebonite see American Art Plastics (seem off line at the moment) as they do hard rubber & new celluloid.

Regards,

Richard.

Small bits from old pianos.

..would it be worth experimenting with black pigments mixed into epoxy and cast roiughy to shape for finish polishing?

pgk

Are you talking the solid black stuff used on Sabatier and the like, or the stuff that is layered a bit like a laminate?

The latter is Micarta

Corian?

Acrylic/polyester turning blanks from somewhere like Axminster look pretty good as laminates on either side of a decent tang. Axminster do 50mm dia blanks in horn, ivory & tortoiseshell alternative materials. They turn very nicely with carbide inserts - **LINK**

Regards,

Richard.

We have a 30 year old Sabatier bread knife on which both sides of the handle have cracked. There are no visible signs of any layers so I have no idea what the material is. I was under the impression that Micarta was a fabric impregnated with resin?

I have some off cuts of a laboratory bench top material called Trespa which is black under the surface treatment. I wonder if it could be something like that?

**LINK**

Thanks all for your replies - much appreciated. I’ll check them all out.

GP Agencies do quiet a few materials that can be used for handles, check the link for JB Supply at the bottom, they do knife scales and full sheets (nothing to do with me)

It is almost impossible to find out what the black material used for quality kitchen knife handles is, but, having done some research, I am convinced it may be bakelite.

It should not be confused with newer handles, which are POM (Polyoxymethylene, or Acetal).

Johnboy25, Ebonite is used extensively in the gun trade for stock extensions, butt plates etc so they your local gun shop. If you don't have any luck PM me and I will try to help

John

My father spent a few years in Ceylon(Sri Lanka) and one of his colleagues wanted some ebony to carve, the locals told him which tree it was but every time he cut the tree it was white, the mystery was solved when he found a cut tree and realised only the heartwood was black. He would be in trouble now as the ebony tree is protected in Sri Lanka.

Mike