I have a business associate that is an avid fly fisherman and I am thinking of making him a knife with the helle filet blade. Does anyone have any opinions or ideas of handle material or finish that will not be so slick when wet? Thanks, Mike

something with a lot of texture...maybe the knarly base of an antler??  Stippled wood???

Mike I have some pink ivory sapwood that has some knots in it(and it's NOT pink LOL). I made a knife that is on Sponsers class. That might work? Or you can make a handle and with your talent checker the handle like Curt said.<><

Mike I could send you a pieace of the bocote I have. I don't know if that will help but it would sure look nice. Couldn't you checker the handle area?
Bill

What about cork to match the handle on his fly rods? I've seen a few really neat handles done that way.

Cork sounds like a cool idea.  Make sure you use a sealer before poly, or Deft if you take Bill up on his bocote offer.  I learned the hard way wipe on poly won't harden on bocote.  One skinned pig and a lot of the finish is off.  Time to sand, tape and buy some Deft.

Guru's got the idea! Stippled!!!! Or checkered if you can do it!

Larry

G10 with bead blasting.

If you use cork, which would go great with the fly rod. Use Burl cork and coat it with Caseys tru-oil. It looks awesome. I make fly rods and it turns out great. Here is a pic of one rod handle with burl cork and tru oil finish.



Heres another I made.




You can also get the burl cork in different colors so you can put accent rings of colored cork in there with the natural burl.

Wow

And for a fisherman, cork will float!


Jeff

Yep, as long as the blade is not too heavy it will float. I didnt even think of that. Whatever you choose I am sure it will turn out great and your buddy will be happy with it!

Micarta would be a good choice. It's a tough materail with a texture to it that water wouldn't have a negative effect on.

where do you get the cork?

Thanks for the offer Bill but I have some bacote scraps and I don't want to take something if someone else needs it. I thought about the checkering but I don't know how to do it and a while back I looked at the tools and they were mighty expensive. The cork sounds interesting and unique. Where do you get it? Maybe even spliced with another material? HMMM...

Is that cork still soft after the tru oil finish?  How does the tru oil finish stand up to water?  I wonder if finish is needed at all, since fishing rods have raw cork?
And to repeat the question, where do we get some?
Dan

Search Google for cork handle, cork material, etc.

There are a bunch of link to places you can buy boards, rings, or already made handles. Here is one link I found:

http://www.shofftackle.com/corkring.html

That one auction site that gets blocked on here has a bunch too. You know yaB-E.  

Yeah you can get it from any Fly rod building company.

And yes the cork stays flexible. The only reason that I put the tru-oil on is becuase the burl cork has alot of grain like wood and it makes the grain really pop out.

I have a filet knife with diamond wood handles and finger grooves, I have another blade and I think it will be micarta with finger grooves also. A filet knife is going to be wet a LOT and can get very slippery with slime and all, I think the finger grooves are the best bet.