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Hello My father turns 50 in march and I'm going to make a knife for him, but I need advice on the wood and how to finish it. I haven't made many knives, and I'm still learning but I sure am going to make the best knife I have ever made. It's going to be a full tang knife with brass guard, brass butt, mosaik pins (black and brass) with either ziricote or bocote as wood. This post is all about the choice between bocote and ziricote (both unstabilized), which is best combined with the rest of the knife etc. I wan't something that'll give contrast between the shiny, gold looking brass and the (hopefull) dark wood. I've done some reading and they both react very differently to boiled linseed oil, which is my favourite finish. Ziricote supposedly turns VERY dark and bocote seems to look like oiled zebrano. So yesterday I applied a thin coat on the ziricote and a few on the bocote to see how they look. Here's how they look today: The bocote on the left and the ziricote on the right. The ziricote will show more lines after I'd shaped the handle (they were cut that way). Just by looking at them now, it looks like really nice wood with lots of lines on the left and 2 huge chocolate bars on the right so I'd normally chose the bocote anytime. But since I have brass (even on the mosaik pins) I really want that brass to pop, to be really visible. Here's a pic of the mosaik pin cross section: So here's my question: What's your opinion: boiled linseed oil finished bocote where the brass doesn't pop as much and where the pins might blend in too much, or ziricote (just buffed or boiled linseed oil finished) where the brass and pins will really pop but the handle would probably look like dark chocolate. Right now I'm sort of leaning towards oiled ziricote, since I don't hate dark woods. I actually thought about buying bog oak for the project, but man, bocote is nice! I hope I posted in the right section : )

Hi All, This is the most technicality challenging knife to date also probably my nicest. Its done in the old school fashion bolsters front and back with the scales between. This knife is entirely made from Aldo’s 154-CM that would be the central blade as well as the four bolsters. The wood scales are matching Bocote polished to a very high luster. Shaving sharp (I mean it) hardened and triple tempered to a very solid Rockwell 59. Red spacers and brass pins finish it off. A special knife done slowly with a lot of care. The Specifics: Material- All steel is 3/16ths 154-CM Hardness- Rockwell 59 Over All length- 9.25 inches Blade length to the bolster- 4.5 inches Blade at it’s widest- 1.5 inches Handle thickness at the bolsters 3/8 inch Handle thickness at the center- 7/8ths height is 1 inch very firm in the hand Scales- Matched Bocote polish to a high luster File work on the spine for your thumb to rest on if need be 6 1/8th inch brass pins and 2 red fiber spacers compleat it. Weight- 8.6 ounces I have a medium to large hand and there is still room between the hand guards (bolsters). This is a really really nice knife a true Hunter/Fighter Price is $245.00 plus $7.50 for USPS priority shipping. If you want a Kydex belt sheath add another $25.00 you wont be disappointed. Otherwise it’s up to you. Enjoy the pictures comments are always welcome.