Another handle composition opinion wanted

[weo]

Hello all, like the title says, want opinions...
Knife is ~9" chef knife with a ladder pattern and will be on the left
Which one should I use?

Thanks!
Have a wonderful holiday season all.
~billyO

 

[Salem Straub]

Second from bottom. Thicker piece, visually, is more conventional and therefore aesthetically more accessible. The red is a bit much IMO, look at more traditional wa handles from Japan and you'll see that restraint with materials is a big part of the style. I think #3 has a good clean look and preserves the continuity of the pattern in the wood best.

In other news, what's going on BillyO? Did you get my assessment of that maple you sent me? This looks like more of the same, some good pieces.
I made a couple nice handles out of that spalted stuff from you...

 

[weo]

Thanks, Salem. I agree about the mahogany, but had the piece laying around. I was really going between 3 and 4.

I'm doing OK, Salem, other than catching a cold and fever yesterday. I've been having fun with Damascus lately, though. Thanks for asking. How about you and yours?
Yes, this is from the same tree, but I didn't get any pics or message yet. Glad they worked out for you.
I cut down the tree with the big burl an have about 200 blocks drying now. I'm lucky to have Dave Lisch live close by and he convinced me to cut most of it up into blocks for bowies ~1 1/2 x2 1/4 x 4-5, (giving me a bit of leeway to shave if the warp a little) but I'm sure they can be cut down.

 

[Hengelo_77]

One of the bottom two.
I would have preferred the spacer to not be in the middle

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Second from the bottom for me, too. I rarely use metal spacers in handles. The wood-to-wood bond is neater looking and stronger.

 

[weo]

I'd rather have not done it either, but I don't have a drill bit long enough in the right size to get deep enough for the tang. And, I forgot to make sure the blank was perfectly square before drilling and this seemed to be to me the easiest way to fix that. Here's how it turned out.

Thanks for the input all.
~billyO