About the California Buckeye Burl

California buckeye burl is sought after by many, and is a material used for everything from handmade pens to custom-made tables. In the knifemaking world, it is considered a premium handle material, known for its dramatic character, natural color variations, and impressive patterns. Patterns and colors vary greatly from piece to piece, and the taste is like the butt.

Buckeye often has a lighter and a darker part, where the darker color comes from a special type of fungus growing in the wood. This effectively highlights the structure of the wood. In addition, in some cases, a translucency and depth will occur in the wood. On the way from ricule to blank, a stabilization process is carried out, this stops the development of fungus in addition to strengthening the material. Like other woods, Buckeye can also be stabilized by adding color, which gives extra character to the material.

Buckeye burl, due to the way the tree grows, often has bark pockets, or voids within the material, and it is up to the individual how this challenge is resolved. When a stock has a bark pocket, it is common to run a process where these are filled with a type of colored epoxy so that the stock is void-free.

The price of the material largely reflects the rarity and pattern of each item, but what counts most is the work that goes into each individual block or grip plate set. There are many steps from harvesting to having a block ready to take its final shape. The result speaks for itself:

The final product will not be better than the material you start with.

In Norway, there are few (or none) who sell buckeye burl, but Storbua.no does its best to keep the shelf marked "buckeye" stuffed with premium stabilized buckeye. If we don't have it in the online store, we can probably help you. Contact us at mail@storbua.no

See what we have available here:

https://storbua.no/collections/skaft-handtaksmateriale