Wondering about Abalone

[sunburst]

I have always wondered how in the world Abalone is made into a knife handle. It seems too thin and round to cut and shape into a handle but they do it. Does anyone out there know the process of this production???

Sunburst

[muskrat man]

you'd be suprised Sunny, just look at that hog tusk

[Gunsmoke47]

Don't know how they do it either SB, but that is one mighty fine looking S&M! Great pictures of both the shell and the knife! Kelley

[Hukk]

Not all shell is suitable for knives. The abalone you have pictured is a red abalone and anywhere from 1 - 2% of all shells are suitable for knives. The center of the abalone is the heart abalone and I've seen it greater than 3/8 th's of an inch thick. The outer portion is the lip or sometimes called eye because of the pattern it can have. Some abalone are very flat, others are almost round. The pattern where the heart abalone is also refered to as the scar, this is where the foot (muscle) is atached to the shell. Looking at that shell it appears that small areas are 1/8+ inch thick. Most knives use 1/8 thick or even less so, quite a bit can be cut and the sanded flat.

Due to a shortage in shell manufacters have come up with a way of laminatng pieces of shell together to form sheets, 5.5 inch x 9.5 inch. By laminating shell together they can use a lot of small pieces and laminate them together. Most people can't see where it is laminated together. I can spot some seams just because I've handled thousands of shells in my life. The seams in laminated abalone can be hard to spot due to the fact that there are a lot of natural breaks in heart abalone pattern. When I see a long continuous break, that is usually a sign of a seam where shell ha been laminated together.
Here is a site hat sells laminated sheets, but they have not had much red heart abalone lately.
http://www.knifehandles.com go to that site and click on mosaic abalone. There you can see some that are laminates and you may also get sticker shock, one reason I believe abalone handled knives may increase in value greater than a similar knife with stag. The shortage was caused by California banning all commercial abalone harvesting in 1997. Northern California never had a commercial season, only southern California did. Now only a very small amount of red abalone come out of Mexico and green abalone also. The Paua and Awabi abalone are ony about 5 inches accross. So, the only way to use these smaller abalone for handles is to laminate them together.

PS, If you don't see an item pictured on this mosaic abalone page, don't buy it. The stuff that does not have pictures looks like junk, IMO.

[useem]

Good question Sunburst. And a lot of great information (very interestig) Hukk. THANKS GUY.

[Hukk]

You're Welcome

Here is a little bit more on abalone, a previous link. The shell my wife is holding, is a trophy and there are many that would try to buy it for as much as $500.00 It is illegal in California to sell ANY PART of a sport caught abalone. 10 inch abalone are rare and this picture shows many problems why so many shells are not suitable for knives. This shell is from 1/8 inch to almost 1/2 inch thick in the center, uh, larger than 3/8 but certainly not 1/2. This is an unusually large specimen that I took with 3 other large abalone in the 1990's. It lives on my living room wall now.

http://allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_f ... php?t=1559

I'll include a shot of the largest limit I ever got, about 42 inches of shell. The one my wife is holding is second from the left. From 10 inches to 10 and 5/8, I believe it was.

http://allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_f ... php?t=4171

More abalone information is within the above post and is up to date. Because abalone is a slow growing shellfish, laws are changing rapidly to combat a world wide black market that is selling abalone to asian countries, with China being a major player. This affects abalone stocks in Mexico, Caifornia, Oregon (around Brookings), South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. There are even abalone in the North Sea. Laws are changing as fast as they can to combat the illegal take (poaching) of abalone worldwide. There are about 130 species of abalone, with only 3 species used in knives that I've seen, or rather took note of. Those being Red, Green, and Paua abalone. Eye or fingerprint are not species that I know of, but rather trade names for patterns within the Red abalone and Green abalone, the Paua is to small to get such patterns.

The last I heard, in 2001, a restraunt (Tides) was paying $135.00 per lb, WHOLESALE for farm raised abalone meat. They don't carry it and it must be ordered ahead of time.

In South Africa, poachers (re:Pirates of South Africa) used to be quite brazen and armed with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades. One Game Warden actually had his house set afire in the 1990's. I met many South African wardens who came to Sonoma County to learn how to combat poachers. Sonoma County has taken the lead in prosecuting poachers using a new law that allowed them to prosecute poachers with Conspiricy against the State of California.
Fines can be $40,000.00, loss of home, vehicles, boats, gear, and UP TO 3 YEARS IN PRISON.

At this time I have heard nothing further about problems in South Africa. There are major poaching oprations attacking the Paua population.

All the above makes me think abalone handles may one day be quite valuable.

[justold52]

How about a trade for a shell????

Hukk you real know how to hurt me bad....

[sunburst]

You know Hukk I have learned things about Abalone from you that I'm sure I would never have the chance anywhere else, thank you. This is extremely interesting to me on an educational level but even more so since we have the opportunity to combine this with our knife collecting hobby..

Thanks again for taking the time to share with us your experience..


Sunburst

[useem]

HUKK, any chance of you posting a podcast? I enjoy those.

[sunburst]

HUKK, any chance of you posting a podcast? I enjoy those.

Now that's a good idea..How about it Hukk??? Hey by the way, how does the $135.00 abalone meat taste??

Sunburst

[El Lobo]

Why sunburst.....







Like Gator, of course!!



Lobo

[Hukk]

You're welcome! I have spent many years (oh-oh, decades ) 30+ years of diving. I also have been doing a lot of studying on this critter.

Abalone is a rather primative mollusk that dates back before the dinosauers. They have found fossil abalone, thought to be related to the black abalone that is older than the oldest dinossuers.

Abalone has anti-bacterial properties AND anti-viral properties.

Abalone can atach itself to a rock with a force greater than 400 LBS per square INCH. I can verify that, I once bent an abalone iron made of stainless steel into an L shape. I use one made of tool steel now.

There is abalone info on the state site http://www.dfg.ca.gov/MRD/ab_info.html

Abalone laws at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/MRD/ab_info.html You will need to go to 29.15 for specific abalone laws.

When they say 3 in posession at any time, they are also referring to what's in your freezer at home.
For example, while camping some divers got 3 each, ate some, not all were eaten and went out the next day and got another 3. They were then over limit. About 20 divers were sited a couple years ago about 75 miles North of here. Exspensive tickets!

Can not sell trade or give away any part of an abalone. 3 guys from Cloverdale (30 minutes from me) were selling fresh shells on ebay and got busted for selling.

I wonder how ebay gets away with sellers selling abalone shells It's illegal if they are from California.

[Hukk]

HUKK, any chance of you posting a podcast? I enjoy those.

Oh-probably not, Ive never done it. I have heard my own voice and DANG, I do sound like a hick.

Well maybe with some help, I'm going to have shoulder surgery June 14, so I will have some down time and my 17 year old son will be here. Abalone is such a broad topic for me, I'd need to narrow it down some maybe to specifics of biology, farm rearing, in the wild, law enforcement and so on. I'll keep an open mind.

I do have to get a one PC repaired and one re-imaged. Currently, I just have this laptop. My network was compromised and this laptop was the only one not tied in and on at that time. (my niece is going to have her own account from now on and be monitored. I can use software to keep track of her).

[sunburst]

Why sunburst.....







Like Gator, of course!!



Lobo

[Hukk]

HUKK, any chance of you posting a podcast? I enjoy those.

Now that's a good idea..How about it Hukk??? Hey by the way, how does the $135.00 abalone meat taste??

Sunburst

It is certainly unique to itself. I would say similar to scallops, less sweet and far-far richer, pure protein. It is very rich even when eaten raw.

Here is a great link that talks about preparing abalone for a meal. It can be sliced and eaten raw, like sushi or sashimi, (awabi is Japanese for abalone).

http://diver.net/seahunt/d_raprep.htm

If you surf this site, keep in mind that it was written in 1998 and the laws have changed, a lot in fact. Abalone may only be taken from the center of the Golden Gate Bridge and North to the California Border.

EDIT: I just started surfing this site and it has many great pictures many UNDERWATER. I see some Sea Ranch dive stories, been there many times. I am familiar with everything they have here regarding N. California. Man, some of this brings back memories, I gotta go back up in that area, I've been diving North and South of there the last few years, searching for the biggest abaone.

[knifeswapper]

If you want a smaller version to work with I have bought one of these before; but as stated before you will not get a 4" flat slab out of them. But they sure are pretty all polished up. Mine was about 4x6 for $20 and I got a couple of good sets for a peanut.

http://www.traderoots.com/www/raw_mater ... alone.html

[Hukk]

No, you sure won't get much from those, good for inlays, but they are not very thick. The entire outer surface has been ground away, I have a couple of those on my wall also.

The red abalone in the pictures is about 10 3/8 and a very young shell, especially for it's size. The area of heart material is small but more will uncover as it is shaped into a scale. But as you look at the inside, it will provide plenty of material, but there are holes where borer clams have bored into the shell where they then lived. An abalone can have an entire mini eco-system living on the back of it's shell.

[Hukk]

Here is a green abalone in the raw, the shell has not been polished and is in no way suitable for knives. I took this one down in Southern California a couple decades ago. I think I was the only free diver in the group, everyone else was scuba diving which was leagal when there was a Southern California season. Scuba has never been legal in Nothern California. The Green Abalone I think was named because of the color of it's shell. But there are 3 red colored abalone, red abalone likely because of shell color, the flat abalone is red, but has a distinct flat shape and never grows very large. The white abalone has a red shell, but the inside of the shell is white pearl, not colored like the red abalone.

Abalone harvesting is likely banned in S. California due to the low population of white abalone and the fact that many divers do not know the difference. They look very much like the red, but there are differences. The white abalone was prized as being the most tender.

There are about half a dozen known white abalone left in the wild last I checked and they were all males. This may have changed in the last 2 years, I need to get back up to date on that one.

Here is the green, cleaned but not polished.

[Hukk]

Here are a couple 5.5 x 9.5 inch sheets of 1/8 inch laminated abalone. First is a Paua and then a Green Abalone.

I left them full size so you could look for lamination seams vs. natural breaks. Warning, it can drive one nuts.

The seams will be far less visible once the scales cut out and mounted on a knife and buffed out.

[sunburst]

Interesting stuff Hukk, thanks...So what is the percentage of laminated abalone used on knives..?? Or is that impossible to tell..?

Sunburst

[Hukk]

By now I would assume that almost all are unless they are small knives, These days a piece 2 3/4 inches that is a whole is considered very large. I have seen knives made around 2000 that are definitely laminated abalone because I can see the seams. But then I have been looking at shells, mostly Red Abalone for 30+years. I do have a collection of shells that include all California species, 4 of which can be found in Northern California.

If you see fingerprint or eye abalone those may either be from the lip of the shell or farm raised Red abalone. These are trade names for patterns of abalone shell, not specific species.

[sunburst]

Fightin Bull Muskrat & Bulldog 6 Blade Congress

[justold52]

FANTASTIC...

[dkronholm]

Hukk,
Many thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience. Very worthwhile and makes one appreciate abalone in a whole new light.

[El Lobo]

I especially like that Fight'n Bull sunburst...