Walt,
Ironwood is maybe the most popular choice of handle wood by veteran knifemakers for a reason. It looks great, it's tough and works well. Ed is right about sharp belts and lower speeds. It will burn. Rough it out and hand sand the final 20%. When I started out knife making, I always thought the better my grinding skills the further I could take a knife. I learned after awhile that finishing a higher quality knife takes more hand work than power tools. Others may have different experience or opinions on that but that's been mine. You can stop at 400 grit but it will benefit from taking it to 1200 to 1500 grit. You can see the difference between the two finishes. Ironwood usually doesn't have an issue with splitting unless it has some inclusions or you are into the really black, rough grain on some pieces. There are dozens (hundreds?) of woods called Ironwood. Some are better than others. Some cuts from the same tree are better than others. Just like all woods. When you pin it to the handle, the pin should slide easily through hole. Put a small notch or two in the middle of the pin for the epoxy to fill and give you a mechanical lock. If the pin is tight in the wood, humidity changes will shrink and swell the wood against the pin and eventually the wood will start to crack. Tight pins in natural materials eventually crack the scales.
Ironwood doesn't need any oil but I do like to finish it with tung oil before waxing and buffing. The oil really helps bring out the grain and chatoyance. I apply it every 5 minutes with a Qtip until it stops soaking into the wood. Then I wipe it off as some weeps back out for another 30 minutes or so. If you get really fancy, wet sand it with 600 grit with the tung oil. The sanding dust will blend in and fill any pores in the wood. Let it cure a day or two and then wax and buff. Pure tung oil takes days/weeks to dry. Something like Deft or Watco Danish (clear) Oil, is mostly tung oil with some evaporants to accelerate curing.
Post up a pic when you get it done.
t