I stain (when I stain) with aqua fortis and heat.
Then, I use Formby's Tung Oil finish. A lot of thin coats. Takes about a week or one or two coats per day with the finest steel wool rubbing you can get between the first several coats. These are to fill the grain of the wood. The last few coats are to seal everything. You get a translucent but slightly yellow layer over everything that his hard and water proof (but not water vapor proof). Then, due to my obsessive pleasure from polishing finished handles, several coats of Johnson's or Ren Wax.
These knives, like so many, are likely to be used by hunters, so barriers to fluids and also stains are important. Tung oil is supposed to be the most resistant of the natural oils for these things. It is used to coat paper and make umbrellas, so it has to be pretty good with water, right?
Just what I have learned.
Tru Oil is quite promising, also. Boiled Linseed Oil gives a finish much like Tung oil. I just happened to learn Tung Oil early on, and I have stayed with it.
a lot of this stuff works that way. Go with what you know works, and all.
kc