Handles Information

1. Birch Bark

Birch bark is fungistatic and bacteriostatic, water-repellent, moisture-resistant and slip-proof even when wet. With walnut ferrule.

2. Light Chestnut Wood

Handle made of thermal treated chestnut wood with plastic ferrule and pre-drilled tang hole. Due to the special treatment process the ability of the wood to absorb water is reduced and the resistance against bacteria is increased.

3. Dark Chestnut Wood

Handle made of dark burned chestnut wood with plastic ferrule and pre-drilled tang hole. The wooden surface is brushed after the burning process which is creating a structured appearance and gives the handle a rustic-style. Without finger groove. 

4. Magnolia Wood

Handle made of magnolia wood with buffalo horn ferrule. Pre-drilled tang hole.

5. Paduak

Now for some color! Paduak is common exotic often grown on plantations. It has a bright red/ orange tone with not a whole ton of figure. It is stable, strong and very workable. Be careful though, the dust is more toxic than average and the color fades.

6. Pink Ivory

Super hard. Super rare. Super expensive. Super Pink. This stuff comes from South Africa and is pretty crazy. It can range from pale orange to neon pink and can even come curly! Be prepared to pay through the nose for the pink stuff though.

7. Katalox

Another lesser known wood, Katalox is similar to ebony, but is much more purple. It is very heavy, considered one of the heaviest woods in the world. It is also very dense and while not very pricy, hard to find. Check online.

8. Pistachio

Yes. That pistachio. It has an amazing figure that blends swirls of green, brown and black into an interesting form. Hard to find. Reasonably workable for exotic.

9. Ziricote

Not a commonly used wood, Ziricote is none the less a gem. It is quite workable despite its weight, a strong and rather stable dark colored wood known for its rare figure. Ziricote displays a figure known as spider webbing in which complex strands of nearly black wood criss cross the more grey heartwood. A pattern not seen outside incredibly figured Brazilian rosewood.

10. Purple Heart

This is a common wood for new makers, for the reasons that it can be exceedingly purple and is very cheap for an exotic "often close to the price of walnut". The coarse grain structure means it can not be polished to a very high finish and the lack of figure and fading color means this is best suited to either a lower budget knife or a heavy work knife. 

11. Lignium Vitae

The wood of life. Lignium is widely considered one of the heaviest and hardest wood on earth. Its like working a brick, but nothing will last longer. It is so oily it can be self lubricating, tough as nails and takes a nice polish. The color is not outstanding, mostly greenish brown, but who cares! Its so damn heavy! 

12. Camel Thorn

An interesting wood. Incredibly heavy and hard, it has a deep brown color flecked with black. Imagine a cross of wenge and black palm.

 

Frequently asked questions

Our store is located at 330 Goodwood Road, Clarence Park, South Australia 5034.

On-street parking is available on George Street.

Our store is open Monday to Friday 9:00am to 4:30pm and 9:30am to 1:30pm on Saturdays.

We only sharpen kitchen knives.

Prices start at $20 each and all sharpening is done by hand using whetstones and have a two week turnaround.

But you won't be without a knife! We will give you one of our knives to try out while yours is being sharpened.

Please note: We cannot sharpen scissors, gardening tools, or lawnmower blades.

We always say 2 weeks. It may be quicker, it may take a little longer.

We sharpen based on the order in which they come in to us.

For example: There might be 2 knives ahead of yours, there may be 40.

It depends on the knife but we do offer repair and restoration services.

Bring the knife in Tuesday to Saturday and speak to our master sharpener Joao and we'll show you what we can do.

Damascus/Rainbow/Ninja Ranges: We use high carbon AUS10 67 layer Damascus Japanese steel from Aichi, Japan.

Bamboo Range: VG10 Japanese core Steel.

Big Red Range: The core of the blade is made using VG10 steel and its double-layer cladding starts at the spine with a sandblast finish.

Sabres/Steak Knives:14c28n Swedish steel.

Our wood handles are sourced from the length and breadth of Australia. We fossick for intriguing and symbolic woods for our handles, from using roots from vines in McLaren Vale to Gigee wood from the Simpson Desert.

If you're near our store in Adelaide pop in and the team will no doubt be working on something new out the back (it can be a very noisy place).

Each product will come in a range of colours.
If you're after a particular colour/set of colours, send us a email or put a note in with the order and we will contact you with what colours are available.

We can never guarantee we have all colours in stock - some are more popular than others.

We offer $9 flat-rate Shipping Australia-wide.

For all domestic orders, we ship on Tuesdays and Thursdays and use Australia Post where current delivery times are 2 to 5 days.

If you need your order quickly, give us a call, or put a note in with the order and we will upgrade to express at no additional cost.

We offer $29AUD flat-rate shipping for all regions (larger orders are rewarded by keeping the shipping cost fixed).

For overseas shipping, we use DHL or TNT, the two biggest transport companies in the world (The German's versus the Dutch). Delivery times tend to vary from a week to a month, however we do provide tracking information for clarity.

We sure do!

We use our own wrapping paper, so each gift is unique!

We sure can!
We do all our engraving at the shop, while you wait (it may take a little longer during busy times).

Send Sam an email and he'll be happy to help - samflaherty@koiknives.com