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ok, I will go back and make sure you have access.
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I agree with Carl but the Viscaria plays infinitely better.
The photos of my handle show that there are 4 plies on each side of the handle. So, 8 total if you don't count the 5 plies of the blade face. 13 if you do.
The photo of the Viscaria has 5. (10 for both sides, 17 with the plies of the blade). So, the Viscaria's handle actually only has one more ply on each side of the handle.
I would say, without question, I like a Viscaria handle, but nowhere near as much as the OSP handle. And the OSP handle is made of wood that is so much better than the wood of any mass produced blade I have tried. Those little dings I have gotten on my OSP handle would have resulted in massive chunks from a Viscaria's handle.
Oh, im referring to the vertical strips actually. You see, the top surface of the virtuoso handle is a single piece of a dark wood, and below that, there is a single piece of a lighter wood, and so on. While the top surface of Viscaria, is composed of lots of 1mm stripes of wood that form the horizontal greyish piece, and below that, lots of stripes of wood that form the whitish layer.
Not sure if I explained it better this time.
By the way, if you look at the picture of the Viscaria you talking about for a feel seconds, it will become a Korbel
You sure it is just grains and not plies? I always had the idea that the handles were made like this:That is the grain of the wood. Not the plies. And that was switched about 5 years ago. When they first switched to having the grain vertical instead of horizontal, there were a lot of people who worried that the new way was worse.
It still makes very little difference though.
That is the grain of the wood. Not the plies. And that was switched about 5 years ago. When they first switched to having the grain vertical instead of horizontal, there were a lot of people who worried that the new way was worse.
It still makes very little difference though.
By laminated wood I’m referring to the majority of handles that are made of “strips” of wood glued together to make a piece, instead of actual solid wood, like Virtuoso and the ones you posted.
Like this:
View attachment 19812
I have the impression that these would deal better with sweat absorption, but that’s only a guess.
You sure it is just grains and not plies? I always had the idea that the handles were made like this:
(just skip through the video and you will get the idea)
But if you’re not lucky, you could have a handle that look like a toe nail:
I have only seen wood handle that has tiny creases(is it called the grain?) oriented in the direction of the blade.I'm sorry Carl but lVegita is right. The wood that big brands use in the handles is basically thin veneers that are pre-dyed and then glued together. The wood is cut in the perpendicular direction so that the grain is oriented vertically. They used to do this but with bigger chunks of wood 1-2mm thick and the plies were horizontal like you see in the Korbel and old Viscarias. Nowadays they use thinner strips and align them vertically to get a more uniform look.
I have only seen wood handle that has tiny creases(is it called the grain?) oriented in the direction of the blade.
The grain is almost always oriented vertically, but that's a different thing. You have the orientation of the wood grain and the orientation of the cut.
Older blades have very simple patterns in the handle, usually just horizontal or vertical stripes. These were just 1-2mm thick wood plies glued together. But the wood wasn't dyed, except in some cases like clipper, because it's very hard to dye wood all the way trough. To make an handle piece you first have a block, then you shape it to desired form. So you need to have consistent color all the way trough, so when you remove material the color is still there. But is very hard to achieve this, to get the dye inside the piece you have to use vacuum chambers, which is costly and time consuming.
Nowadays they have what is called reconstituted wood, or fineline. They use thin sheets of wood which are much easier to dye, and glue them together to make bigger pieces. So they end up with blocks of wood with uniform color, which then they cut in the perpendicular direction. They usually use ayous for this because is soft, cheap and has a neutral color so it absorbs the wood dye very well. And this is how they are able to make those intricate patterns on the modern handles.
That is a detailed explanation. Is there any durability or comfort compromise with the modern method?
Perhaps it is a language thing. But there are 5 plies per side in the new Viscaria handle. Not thousands.
Yes, there are 5 plies, but within those plies you have multiple vertical lines because of the thin glued layers. Let's see if this pic helps. The black lines are the layers that are glued together, then they are are cut vertically (green lines).
View attachment 19823
Okay. Maybe you are right.
Seems like a silly process to me to make the handle that way. But I could be wrong.
I guess you skipped the video I posted, it illustrates what we were trying to say:Okay. Maybe you are right.
Seems like a silly process to me to make the handle that way. But I could be wrong.
I guess you skipped the video I posted, it illustrates what we were trying to say: