Before I started down the road making knives, wood was just that, wood. It was something that would stir up memories of trucking out hand loads of firewood with dad as a kid in the dead of winter...🥶🪵
Oh Not Me in Photo....I break cams😂
Ok! Enough of those memories, that was no fun?
But then I ran into knife making and it wasn't long before I found myself looking for pieces of wood people were giving away so I could put them to good use on a knife handle.
We found many willing to give us some pieces useless to them as firewood so we capitalized on those findings.
I still today capitalize on these findings, even reaching out to my brother Greg Precht when I saw he posted some yard work, and Whoa-Nelly I spied some spalted pieces of wood! He graciously put some pieces back for me. 🙏
Honey Locust wood is one of the most sought-after wood for knives due to its colors, hardness, and epic spalting that can occur...it grows right here in the Ozarks and this piece is from a farmstead just north of the Springfield area...Beware the Thorns! It is not bashful even after being dead a long time it will gain your respect quickly, trust me, I know 😶🌫️ #honeylocustwood
It is a lot of work but the end results outweigh the hard efforts that go into the processing of raw wood.
If it wasn't for my partner Walter I would be missing out on so many good products, he is a true friend and partner that knows what it takes to do the process right, and I have found by watching him that there are no short-cuts when it comes to curing the wood harvested. He spends hours perfecting the wood so it is stabilized properly for heavy knife use.
After chain-saw and/or Band saw the wood starts to take shape into big rough blocks that will be cut down to smaller sizes so they can be put into the kiln for slow even drying to keep the wood from checking...Heavy checking can ruin a valuable piece of raw wood quickly.
Burls are some of the most rewarding finds and require more work harvesting due to making sure you cut to maximize so there is little waste.
Burls come in all sizes and shapes and one of the greatest traits of a burl is that you do not know what the burl will be like till it's cut open.
The rewards can be epic!
I know, the next one looks fake but it is one of the best pieces to date and will soon be going to Adam Shoalts with Canadian National Geographic on a custom build.
Ozark Mulberry Burl that my partner Walter Rogers added some green dye to for me🔥
The Reds and Golds will make this piece striking on a custom build coming up soon for customer.
The green dye makes the fiddlewood pop......#ozarkedgy #jhunter72pilot
Sometimes the customer needs exotic woods instead of the local wood found here in the Ozarks so we have extensive resources now to get the premium products wanted by customers. One of our many suppliers for these types of woods lives here in the Ozarks so it is a quick drive over to his shop. Wes provides woods that have been inspected by himself to ensure the best quality of products. www.facebook.com/wes.roberts.7902
His products are always premium and the leopard wood plank I bought was some of the best spotting that I have ever worked with to date!
Walter has contacts in several countries and has been able to land some of the best burls to date in the exotic field of wood. He spends countless hours tracking down the sources and arrangements to have it direct shipped and it shows with his findings on Honduran Rosewood Burl which is unbelievable! #honduranrosewoodburl
So I hope you enjoyed a little insight into how #OzarkEdgy comes up with the wood scales and gear for knives and camping gear.
So if you are ever in need of a good custom knife build that will stand up to heavy use please reach out and we would be glad to help you make your dream blade come true.
Follow my website at ozarkedgy.com for supplies or to browse photos in the Gallery section as we load up our recent builds etc. as we move along.
Thank you for stopping by and giving us a visit, if you liked the blog and would like to see more please drop a message and let me know your thoughts.
Till then 'May the Force of Steel be with You'
Jeffrey Hunter
Awesome information brother