mahogany for knife handles is very very nice.
Stable and dense.
It can be oiled and treated as you wish. I prefer it for knives that will work in saltwater environment, beacuse caring is minimal.
Cheers.
I found it thanks to my brother-in-love because we share the lab and he is a luthier.
Me is lucku, plenty of fancy and nice woods!
mosto raises a very good point; luthiers (instrument makers) like quality wood as much or more than knifemakers do, and prize figured woods of various exotic species. Check around online for luthier-supply places. A slab big enough to carve a guitar neck out of would yield a LOT of handles!
Nice score man. I was a Paiting Restorer in another life and that is my other source of fine woods.
By the way you can consider other than luthiers also the scraps from furnitures (that seems to discard small burls), shipping yards and old farms.
But I prefer luthier and restorer woodies because only the most premium dryed woods can be used, better when they are striped, veneered, curlied or swirled etc. And also we can hand pick
Cheers!