No problems with the wood in my African Blackwood. Still look great give the knife a nice hold even though it is a small (I don't know that I would want a small sebbie without inserts with my hand size). Overall I am not concerned with longevity issues as I think it will be fine. In addition to everything said before I would add however that this is not my beater knife (crawling under cars on asphalt and concrete, construction etc. In that scenario I think that I would want micarta or plain. That doesn't mean that I don't use mine regularly and hard but for my normal edc (boxes, carpet, rope, hose etc.) I have complete confidence in its durability.