Best Wood for Knife Scales

[DanH45]

I respectfully disagree with your list of "needs stabilizing".

 

[DanH45]

Would anyone recommend cherrywood?

Nothing wrong with cherry. I have made several sets of pistol grips with cherry.
It is a bit softer than many of the woods listed in this thread.

If you like darker woods as you said in your OP, look at walnut, wenge, zircote, African blackwood, macassar ebony, etc

 

[Karoo]

Sneezewood and Wild Olive are great woods in South Africa.

 

[Britt_Askew]

Sneezewood ? thats what I call cocobolo
I like oiled walnut on a knife personally.
As for the list of "needs stabilizing" there are several I wouldnt have there. Going by my experience with these woods these would work for a knife handle without being stabilized - hickory,chechen,locust,maple,mulberry,oak,pecan, plus a few more. Just my thoughts.

 

[empty5853]

I made a knife from and old farriers rasp I had and put hickory scales on it. Man was that stuff tuff to work but it made a nice handle and the price was right as a friend gave me some pieces he had left over from a floor he installed.

Vr
Mark T.

 

[milkbaby]

These two classic handle woods can be dark, hard as heck, and stable:
Desert ironwood (Olneya tesota)
African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon)

And they won't cost a bunch either. I've bought scales for like $5, and I'm sure I could've paid less if I bought larger blocks and cut them myself.

Cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa) is a good classic choice too, just that some people will be crazy allergic to it. Whatever you get, for natural woods make sure they're well seasoned/dried and let them equilibrate to where you live for a while. If you buy a block and resaw it into scales, then let those equilibrate a little to see if they move, always good to be a little paranoid...

 

[Karoo]

I am unfamiliar with your wood in the Americas. Here is the link to sneezewood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptaeroxylon
Fence were made from it over a hundred years ago and are still rock hard and quite easy to cut into blanks. Too brittle for much woodworking, I understand.

 

[DanH45]

Sounds like it could be a stand in for lignum vitae or green heart for some applications.

 

[Hengelo_77]

I am unfamiliar with your wood in the Americas. Here is the link to sneezewood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptaeroxylon
Fence were made from it over a hundred years ago and are still rock hard and quite easy to cut into blanks. Too brittle for much woodworking, I understand.

Also I think you'll get bonus points for the name

 

[Karoo]

It really does make you sneeze!

 

[deltablade]

maple, osage orange

 

[Jerry Wang]

desert ironwood is the best!!!

 

[Alex Topfer]

I have done some research and found that hard woods (woods that come from deciduous trees that is) are typically more desired on account of their characteristics that evergreens tend to lack

looks confused in Australian
in my experience anything dense and properly dried is fine. I've been using blackbutt, tallowwood, iron bark, jarrah, and a bit of beef wood, and i haven't noticed any problems with any. maybe in 10 years i can tell you more.
I have a completely untreated ironbark handle on a kitchen knife i've been using for 6 months, and i haven't noticed anything change. it gets wet when i wash the knife, and it still seems the same as when i made it.

in regards to the list @jkeeton posted: blackwood and gidgee are acacias, ironbark a eucalypt, so they are included in two separate categories. so don't trust that list too far.
stabilise wood if you are worried, but if they are dense and rot resistant it may not make a difference. i don't like how stabilised wood finishes, so i don't bother (burls are different)

 

[Jerry Wang]

These two classic handle woods can be dark, hard as heck, and stable:
Desert ironwood (Olneya tesota)
African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon)

And they won't cost a bunch either. I've bought scales for like $5, and I'm sure I could've paid less if I bought larger blocks and cut them myself.

Like you say,I buy the desert ironwood and african blackwood each about 1 ton,so I use they anytime don't worried about reducing,but I made knife's handle always those woods....