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The world of knives is vast! Tons of different steels, different blade shapes, different locking mechanisms, different opening types, and different handle materials. Each one of these areas is important and brings with it different advantages and disadvantages, so how can you choose?

The handle and more specifically, the HANDLE MATERIAL is the one aspect of knives that I feel gets overlooked the most! We all consider the style of the blade due to personal preference and perhaps our intended use for the blade.

As well we also consider the kind of steel the blade is made out of (to go deeper check out my article: The ULTIMATE Guide to Blade Steel), again taking into account the style of work and the environment we’ll be working in.

What we don’t often do is think about the material the handle is made from. This part of the knife needs to be given just as much careful consideration and thought as the rest of the knife, and perhaps even more.

Depending on the style of jobs you’ll be using the knife for and the environment you’ll be using it in, the knife handle material you may want could change. If you’re operating in a wet climate, you’re going to want something that offers more grip in your hand even when wet. If you know you’re going to be quite hard on the knife, you want a handle that can take a beating.

Looking for an EDC pocket knife, then you want a handle material that will slide in and out of your pocket easier and if you want to buy a knife for your wonderful dad for his birthday, maybe you want a handle material that will speak more to class than rugged.

In the end, no matter which material you pick, or why, remember that it is an important decision and needs careful consideration.

So….. let’s get into it.

THE BEST KNIFE HANDLE MATERIALS

Knife handle materials fall into three general categories Metal, Synthetic, and Natural each with their strengths and weaknesses. Those three main categories can together be broken down a bit more into 8 total subcategories.

SYNTHETIC

METAL

NATURAL

THE MATERIALS EXPLAINED

SYNTHETIC

MICARTA

WHAT IS MICARTA

Micarta itself is just a brand name, not the actual product and is produced by Norplex-Micarta out of the United States.

Micarta is a laminate made using thermoset composite materials. This means using resin such as phenolic, materials such as paper, linen, or canvas soaked in the resin, put in layers and then exposed to extremely high heat and extremely high amounts of pressure.

The whole process creates a very strong, lightweight and durable laminate. This style of laminate product was first used and popularized by George Westinghouse, as early as 1910. Laminates like this have been used for everything from guitar picks to electrical insulators, to plane propellers, and to knife handles.

WHY CHOOSE A MICARTA HANDLE

Micarta has become a very popular material for knife handle scales. The colour and design are extremely customizable limited only by the imagination of the creator, which makes it great for knives.

Micarta thanks to its production process can resist extreme levels of heat and cold and is very moisture resistant which makes it suitable for all climates. It is also extremely strong, extremely hard, very lightweight, and is quite resistant to being scratched up and dinged.

A downside to Micarta is that it has no natural texture of its own, so without any added texture, it is very smooth and therefore can be slippery in your hand.

This forces knife makers using Micarta to etch texture into the handle, which due to how strong and how hard it is, is by no means an easy process. This etching increases the price of the knife due to the extra amount of work put in.

G10

WHAT IS G10

Very similar to Micarta, G10 was also created by Westinghouse around 1950. G10 was initially created to be used in electronic and printed circuit boards, but like Micarta, it was later adapted to many other uses, one of them being knife handles.

G10 is a laminate, like Micarta but has a foundational difference…the fabric used.

Being a laminate means G10 is created by combining layers upon layers of materials that have been impregnated with or covered in an epoxy resin.

After these layers have been covered in resin and many layers have been put together, it is exposed to extremely high heat and has extreme amounts of force applied to it.

This drying under high heat and extreme pressure creates a very strong end product which is G10. Now what is the major fabric difference between Micarta and G10?

Well where Micarta uses, paper, linen, or canvas, G10 uses purely one material, fibreglass.

WHY CHOOSE A G10 HANDLE

G10 is known for how tough it is, really only a hair of a step down from carbon fibre. G10 is ridiculously hard and strong, being able to withstand abuse from strikes and torsion like few other synthetic materials.

G10 is also out of this world tough and durable! How does this correlate with how strong it is you may ask? Well, this means that not only can it handle extreme levels of abuse once or twice, but it means it can handle high amounts of abuse time and time again without succumbing to chipping, cracking, denting, or breaking.

G10 is very lightweight, so whether you carry your knife on your hip, in your pocket, or any other way, any extra weight you might feel will not be from this material! This can make a big difference if you carry it daily, or are carrying it for a long time.

Another shining aspect of G10 is environmental resistance. G10 does NOT rust, it does NOT oxidize, it is completely water resistant, it does not become brittle with time and the material will never soften!

It also retains incredible grippyness when wet or greasy. These attributes allow G10 to thrive in any environment and will require virtually no maintenance at the end of the day!

Some would say, those looking for a serious tactical knife would make sure its handle was G10.

POLYMER

WHAT IS POLYMER

The term Polymer doesn’t refer to one material, but more so refers to a family of materials. What determines this polymer family is the chemical makeup of the material. When the specific molecules combine a process that bonds them together called “polymerization” occurs, creating polymer.

Polymers are both naturally occurring and synthetic. Nylon is one of these synthetic polymers, it was initially created by the American chemical company DuPont in 1935.

Although nylon was good, it was soon found that combing and blending nylon with other materials could greatly increase its attributes.

These blended nylon polymers are used in everything from clothes to electrical equipment, to car parts. One of the materials nylon was combined with was fibreglass and it is this blend of fibreglass and nylon which you will find in knife handles.

Nylon polymer can be injection moulded into any desired shape and is fairly easy to texture. This means a high volume of production and low costs, making it a cheaper but still a great option for knives.

An important thing to know is that polymer also assumes numerous different names depending on the company, for example: FRN (Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon) and also GRN (Glass Reinforced Nylon).

WHY CHOOSE A POLYMER HANDLE

Nylon polymer is a material nice and cheap on the old pocket book which is always a big consideration for us average Joe’s. But even though it’s cheaper than other materials such as Micarta it does not give up any of the characteristics you desire in your knife handle.

Nylon Polymer reinforced with fibreglass is a very strong and rigid material. Thanks to its injection moulding capabilities, it can be made to any design and texture you would like, which allows for very ergonomic handles with great grip.

Polymer is extremely temperature resistant, so whether it’s very hot or very cold, the polymer will retain its characteristics without failing you. It is extremely durable and highly resistant to abuse making it ideal for hunting and tactical knives.

Polymer is completely water resistant, it won’t rust, oxidize, or deteriorate, and that coupled with its ability to withstand temperatures makes polymer a desired knife handle material when you’re in the harshest environments.

Polymer is also a very light material, so much so that when polymer was first introduced into the knife market for handle scales it was quite unpopular.

People thought the light almost hollow feeling meant it was poor quality, but as time went the true characteristics of polymer won people over and opinions changed.

CARBON FIBER

WHAT IS CARBON FIBER

Carbon fibre was first created in 1860 by Sir Joseph Wilson Swan to be used in lightbulbs.

Carbon fibre is a synthetic material, created by initially drawing it out into very long hair thin strands. After, it is sealed off from oxygen and placed into extreme heat.

It is this extreme heat that purifies the material of any non-carbon atoms through the process of oxidization and causes the remaining carbon strands to become extremely tight.

Once the material has fully gone through this process of oxidization the carbon fibre picks up its infamous black-grey colouring. These fibres are then woven into larger threads and then the threads are woven into sheets.

Finally, when the carbon fibre has been put into these sheets it is completely covered both inside and outside in resin and placed in extreme heat and pressure.

It is also after being placed in these sheets that the carbon fibre can be placed into moulds to achieve a desired shape or design and then the resin would be applied.

WHY CHOOSE A CARBON FIBER HANDLE

Carbon Fiber is extremely lightweight, it’s about %70 lighter than steel and about %40 lighter than aluminum. This provides a great blade-to-handle weight ratio.

Carbon Fiber is extremely rigid and is one of the hardest synthetic materials available today.

While hardness and rigidity can often be accompanied by the unfortunate quality of brittleness and it is not so with carbon fiber. It can handle all the hardships this world can through at it without chipping, cracking or breaking.

Carbon fibre also registers in the Hulk department for strength and toughness! It is known to be stiffer than steel and said to be approximately five times stronger than steel as well.

Carbon fibre also performs superbly in both extreme heat and cold. Carbon fibre will NOT rust when left wet and is extremely corrosion resistant, so whether you’re operating on sea, land or in the air it will stay strong, tough, and unaltered.

Its strength, toughness, hardness and other attributes are what also all add up to the intense durability carbon fibre provides.

The only negative property you’ll find that comes with a carbon fibre blade handle will be the price.

Carbon fibre is much harder to work with than both G10 and micarta, so due to the complexity of the creation process, and the end product, carbon fibre is not cheap.

METAL

STAINLESS STEEL

WHAT IS STAINLESS STEEL

Steel is an alloy made up of primarily iron and carbon. Stainless steel among other elements added to it has at a minimum %10.5 chromium added to its makeup.

It is this %10.5 amount of chromium added to steel, that specifically makes a steel, a stainless steel. There are more than 100 different grades of stainless steel.

The majority of these are then divided into 5 major groups: Austenitic, Ferritic, Martensitic, Duplex, and Precipitation hardening.

Out of these five groups, the most common one you will hear of in the knife industry is Martensitic steels.

Martensitic steels typically contain %11.5 – %18 chromium and up to %1.2 carbon. Stainless steel is a popular type of steel for blades in the knife industry ranging from your budget steels such as 420HC up to your “SUPER STEELS” such as CPM-20CV.

If you want to learn more about that topic you can check out my other post “The ULTIMATE Guide To Blade Steel“.

WHY CHOOSE A STAINLESS STEEL HANDLE

From an aesthetic point of view, stainless steel brings a fair amount to the game, like a wide variety of surface finishes from matt to bright including brushed and engraved.

Stainless steel has strong physical properties that steel exhibits upon the application of force such as tensile strength, elasticity, and hardness.

Stainless steel is the strongest metal on this list. The hardness, toughness, and strength of stainless steel make it an extremely durable material.

Thanks to its high chromium content it is also quite corrosion resistant and the more chromium it is made with the more resistant it will be.

However, you will still need to take proper care of it as it is not rust-proof, like synthetic materials, but this is as easy as applying a light oiling from time to time.

Stainless steel also maintains all of its mechanical properties regardless of whether it’s operating in cold or hot temperatures.

Unfortunately, stainless steel is naturally quite smooth unless it’s had etching or ridges put into it, this can make it quite slippery in your hand especially if you’re operating in wet environments.

Out of all the metals on this list, it is also the heaviest and not there for not ideal if you’re going out on a long rucksack march or spending considerable time outdoors. For this reason, a stainless steel handle is avoided by many as an EDC, tactical, or hunting knife.

TITANIUM

WHAT IS TITANIUM

Titanium was first discovered in 1791 by William Gregor in Great Britain and was named after the Titans of Ancient Greek mythology.

It is the ninth most abundant element in the earth’s crust and the seventh most abundant metal. Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and its atomic number is 22.

Pure metallic titanium considered to be %99.9 was first prepared in 1910. The Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s led the way in first using titanium for military applications during the Cold War.

It was during the Cold War period that the U.S. government considered titanium a strategic material.

WHY CHOOSE A TITANIUM HANDLE

Titanium has very quickly become a standard knife handle material among premium knife manufacturers!

One of titanium’s most defining properties is its amazing strength-to-weight ratio. Pure titanium can handle up to 63K lbs of force applied to it before breaking.

Titanium alloys have also been created that can withstand up to 200K pounds of force. In comparison to aluminum, it is said to be twice as strong, but only %60 more dense.

This strength or toughness means that your titanium handle can take extreme amounts of punishment and abuse while being used in the field without showing any of the wear and tear that a weaker material might show.

This makes it physically as strong as most common steels and even though it’s on par with steel for strength it lands in at a whopping %45 less weight than steel.

However as strong and tough as titanium is, it is not a super hard metal, which does mean it can tend to scratch.

Titanium is also a refectory metal. Which is a special term for a special class of metals which are EXTREMELY RESISTANT to heat and wear.

It is also naturally corrosion resistant, blades and handles made with titanium are non-ferrous meaning there’s no iron, hence a natural resistance to rust and corrosion.

ALUMINUM

WHAT IS ALUMINUM

Aluminum was first discovered in 1825 by Danish physicist Hans Christian Orsted.

In its pure form, it is not naturally occurring, hence why it was discovered a little later than many other metals. Aluminum is the most widespread metal on Earth making up more than %8 of the Earth’s core mass.

It is also the third most common chemical element on our planet after oxygen and silicon. Electricity is what is used to create pure aluminum in a process called electrolysis.

To produce aluminum it takes a gigantic amount of electricity, approximately 15 MWH per tonne of output.

That’s about as much as a 100-apartment block uses in a month.

WHY CHOOSE AN ALUMINUM HANDLE

Aluminum is known for how EXTREMELY lightweight it is! It is approximately 3 times lighter than steel and copper!

Aluminum even though it’s extremely light and although not as strong as steel or titanium is still fairly strong. Where aluminum gets its strength is its ability to be combined and alloyed with other metals.

Being combined with metals with greater properties than itself can greatly increase its physical strength and toughness.

Although strong, it is not a hard metal and because of this can scratch fairly easily and will show its physical abuse a bit more. It is also naturally quite smooth, so for there to be any real secure grip the manufacturer needs to etch the handle.

It is a non-ferrous metal, meaning there is no iron combined with it. This fact as well as the fact that it naturally protects itself through oxidizing that make aluminum highly corrosion resistant!

Aluminum can also handle extreme amounts of heat. So the natural corrosion resistance, which can be increased through alloying the aluminum, and the ability to handle extreme temperatures of all degrees, makes aluminum handles a solid choice for any environment!

NATURAL

BONE / ANTLER / WOOD / SHELLS / PEARL / LEATHER

WHAT ARE NATURAL MATERIALS

The category of natural materials for handles covers quite a few different actual materials such as bone, antlers, various types of wood, shells like abalone and mother of pearl, leather, and more.

Since man has used knives as tools and weapons these materials have been used for handles, they were the original knife handle!

Most frequently you’ll find natural handles on traditional knives such as fixed blades, slip joints, and gentleman’s knives. Natural handles are much more commonly used these days for collector pieces as they are more about aesthetics than true functionality.

However, where they can’t keep up with synthetics in functionality these days they make up for in sheer beauty for collectors and traditionalists.

Synthetics are all about functionality, metals are in-between as far as functionality and aesthetics and nothing matches naturals for sheer nostalgia and the absolute beautiful artwork some manufacturers put into them.

WHY CHOOSE A NATURAL MATERIAL HANDLE

Natural materials are not the toughest, the strongest, or the hardest material, and are therefore not the most durable.

They are also not the most lightweight, waterproof, or temperature-resistant. Natural handles tend to crack, break, and become waterlogged as some natural materials are quite porous.

Unfortunately, as far as tactical, real-life, hard use, outdoor knives and EDCs, natural materials in todays world just do not compare.

Now that’s not to say they don’t have their place, quite to the contrary! Natural-handled knives fill the decorative market very nicely as these handles are unmatched for beauty.

As well, there will always be your traditionalists that prefer these materials simply because they were the original materials and that holds merit in their eyes.

So depending on your desired use a natural handle might be exactly what you’re looking for, or it might not.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The type of handle material on your knife is very important.

Depending on your intended task some materials are amazing and some are downright horrible. I personally believe for tactical knives the absolute best handle material is polymer, it’s grippy and sticky in every situation.

This means, no matter what weather you’re operating in, and no matter how harry the situation is, one thing you won’t lose control of, is your knife.

Know your task, choose the right knife with the right handle and you’ll be set. The proper tool makes any job an easy job!

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