Strikes me that Woodlore have gone out of their way to use uninteresting handle material but looking on the bright side this should make for a nice little earner for someone capable of offering a replacement scales service.
Why not "personalise" your RM knife and with no less than the great man's material of choice that I understand is "stag antler" for grip? Then there is mammoth ivory, walrus p***s bone .............................
Cheers
I have considered this...many times...I rang Alan, years ago, when I got my Woodlore to ask if he could re-handle it in Antler...ideally Sambar Antler from India which is thicker and shows less blood distortions...and he said he could'nt...later I learned that Antler was reserved for instructors...
However in fairness my own "user" bushcraft knife is a Hattori knife in Cowry X done by Ichuro himself and which I modified a lot.
Personally after buying enough knives to settle a third world national debt and trying most of them out I found the steel in this knife and the comfort of a hidden tang to be the ultimate in using a knife....
I do find the choil a pain though and love the closeness to the handle of bushcraft knives for fine work...I end up choking up on the grip to do this work but in fairness it is no real big issue....the general use benefits are more than made up for in the knife and it's comfort...although if I were to consider the investment aspect I would change the grips...both on the SWC and the Woodlore to Samber Antler...it just makes the knives so much more asthetically appealing...but given that I use them I am happy that they are both comfortable...they are my next choice after the Hattori knife...
Mick Wardell would be my choice for changing the grips...no specific reason...it perhaps is because Mick is an ex-para and we get on well together...and I have a lot of time for someone who does work for the special clients Mick does and to the standard he makes his knives to...frustratingly for him his knives are moved on by others for tens of thousands of pounds more than he can sell them for individually....but it gives an idea of his "fit and finish"....