Abalone

[coalminer]

Will Abalone handles put off gases like plastic?

[Hukk]

Will Abalone handles put off gases like plastic?

Real abalone shell will not. Abalone celluloid will at some point shrink or outgass!

I enjoy collecting knives with abalone shell handles as well as making knives with GENUINE abalone shell handles.

[coalminer]

Thanks HUKK::nod::

[Hukk]

You're welcome! It's my opinion that abalone for knife handles will become increasingly scarce. Green abalone comes from Mexico. Red abalone has become ALMOST impossible to get since California closed it's Commercial Abalone season in 1997.
The most common is now the Paua, which is being overfished primarily by poachers. The annual estimated catch in New Zealand/Australia has been estimated at 85% to 90% poached or undersized.

There are other abalone (~ 130 species worldwide) that can be used, I saw a Dan Burke knife with New Zealand Blacklip Abalone. SWEET!!!

Laminated Abalone has become very popular and I do use it. I also dive for Abalone (not this year though) as it is quite tasty and I can make the shells into knife handles (beware of the dust, Health Hazard). Use a Respirator, a dust mask is not sufficient. The shell does contain a lot of calcium carbonate, as does cement.

Only 1 - 2% of all abalone shell is suitable for cutlery.

[sunburst]

Does anybody understand what LVS premium abalone really means..??

Sunburst

[jonet143]

particle board.

[upnorth]

I believe it is laminated and stabilized with resin, sunburst.

[Sauconian]

Johnnie you are droll !






NO....not troll.....not drool.......DROLL.

Fran

[jonet143]

thanks fran.....i think. reconstituted shell, stone, wood all are basically the same. particle board was the first thing that came to my feeble mind! not very technical though. to an untrained eye, such as mine, they are pretty. some purests don't care for it.

[Hukk]

Yes, I think it is laminated abalone. I have knives that have pure shell and others with laminated abalone shell. I really appreciate how good some of the laminated abalone looks. I know that only 1 or 2 shells of every 100 are suitable for knives, so I'll take the laminated any day.

I also keep in mind that those figures come from about 1995 since commercial abalone diving has been banned in California since 1997. It's my opinion that the yield would be far less along our coast since there seems to be another critter living in the shell that was not there in 2000. I have seen more and more poor quality shell in areas that were once pristene. This new "worm" lives in the shell itself and bores holes throughout the shell.

LVS may be the name Queen uses or the name that the abalone vendor uses. I do think that sometime soon there will be an artificial abalone that will look like real abalone without any need of shell from the abalone.

LVS, Laminated Veneer Shellfish?

[lenny357]

Does CASE use real or laminated Abalone shell??

[sunburst]

Thanks everyone...

Ok so if laminated veneer is being used to handle knives these days, why are abalone knives so much higher in cost than other handling? I ask this question after looking at the prices of laminated veneer being offered in this ebay store..? These prices don't seem outrageously high..Am I missing something..?

Sunburst


http://stores.ebay.com/more-abalone_W0Q ... bZ10QQtZkm

[jonet143]

the hype. unless one is genuine.

[lbsmobile]

I agree with Johnny, a lot of it is hype. Some probably uninformed. But there is at least one more group to consider....Pattern collectors. Getting every example one can in a particular pattern is a common practice.

Here's an example from one of the pattern collections I collect: Click Here to see the List of FB-2603's

[Hukk]

Thanks everyone...

Ok so if laminated veneer is being used to handle knives these days, why are abalone knives so much higher in cost than other handling? I ask this question after looking at the prices of laminated veneer being offered in this ebay store..? These prices don't seem outrageously high..Am I missing something..?

Sunburst


http://stores.ebay.com/more-abalone_W0Q ... bZ10QQtZkm

Yep, those pieces are mostly very thin. You need about 3 mm (just under 1/8 inch) and some of these are only .03 mm or 100 times to thin.

Some are .3 mm, still thats 1/10 of the needed thickness.

I did see some stuff that was 1 mm and they called that thick. Well, that's still about .039 iches, 1/3 third the thickness you need. 0.100 or 1/10 of an inch will work on some knives, usually I have 1/8 or 0.125 inches. I have 2 sheets (5" x 9") of that I bought at $250 EACH some time ago. You have to cut it to allow for waste also.