# Mammoth vs. mammoth



## mark76 (Jan 16, 2016)

By now you may know I am quite a sucker for beautiful knife handles. Two of the most beautiful handles I own are also made of a special material: mammoth tooth.







US chef and handle maker Matt Delosso made a handle for my Masakage Zero out of Mammoth tooth with a brass bolster and anodized titanium and brass pins. Dutch knife maker, handle maker, leather worker and much more Frederiek de Vette made a handle out of mammoth tooth and bog oak for my Masakage Koishi. The bog oak is, like the mammoth tooth, very old (over 5,000 years) and both materials come from the same corner of the world: the former Soviet Union.

I will write a separate review of the Masakage knives. This post is about the handles.

*Matt Delosso handle*





















*Frederiek de Vette handle*


----------



## ecchef (Jan 16, 2016)

Two beautiful examples! I like the idea of the ancient mammoth with the high tech substrate. I think that works well together.
The light tone of the bog oak is gorgeous and the way the grain aligns with the tooth is perfect.


----------



## Matus (Jan 16, 2016)

Mark, those handles are really awesome. I am very tempted to have a custom pocket knife made with this handle material. But I would like to ask - how do you find the weight? I expect this material to have higher (volumetric mass) density than wood.


----------



## mark76 (Jan 16, 2016)

You're right, Matus, mammoth tooth is heavier than most woods. Yet it's not too bad. On the Zero the balance point is about 1 cm in front of the choil, on the Koishi it is right at the choil.

I forgot to add: as always you can read this back on my blog, nicely formatted: https://japaneseknifereviews.wordpress.com/


----------



## cheflarge (Jan 17, 2016)

Damn, dude!!! :ubersexy: :goodpost: lus1: :bigeek: Both specimens are absolutely STUNNING!!! :doublethumbsup:


----------



## Smurfmacaw (Jan 17, 2016)

is the wa handle dyed or is that natural? I really like it a lot, some of the first mammoth tooth that I think looks really good.


----------



## mark76 (Jan 17, 2016)

The was handle is natural, not dyed, Smurf. It was stabilized (in Raffir, I believe), because otherwise it is completely impossible to work with it. It is already very hard to work with when stabilized.


----------



## aboynamedsuita (Jan 17, 2016)

That's a lot of mammoth in the wa handle. Must have been a PITA to drill the block of it. The bog oak looks neat too, I've never seen it other than black


----------



## Smurfmacaw (Jan 17, 2016)

mark76 said:


> The was handle is natural, not dyed, Smurf. It was stabilized (in Raffir, I believe), because otherwise it is completely impossible to work with it. It is already very hard to work with when stabilized.



Hmmmm, now that gives me some ideas. Gorgeous handle. I'm really liking the lighter handled wa's. Also I really like the bog oak, it's nice to see something other than black. You have good taste.


----------



## Mrmnms (Jan 17, 2016)

Both if them look outrageous .


----------



## YG420 (Jan 17, 2016)

Beautiful knives! Matt makes some bad ass handles!!


----------

