Thanks Vic. The wood... poor wood...
The wood is the stock beech on the carbon Opinel that, well, that's been through the ringer.
The beech is very hard and has very small pores which resists oil stain. I tried to use water based dye to dye the handle all black. This didn't work perfectly, so I sanded it down and found that the black dye had penetrated the dark grain more than the light wood. So, once sanded it was plain beech with blackened grain. I then gave it a good thick dousing in brown dye, washed it off after it dried (an important step, I've found) and then top coated with Tung Oil Varnish.
The "tabby cat" effect is more stiking in person than the picture shows. It's actually startling looking. I have no confidence I can replicate it but hopefully I'll have a #9 to play with on the 25th and we'll see if I can get the effect a second time (this time, intentionally).
