Greetings

A current project of mine is to furnish a fellow X-marks member with a hand forged dirk and sgian achlais blades, so he can have a nice project of making his own handles.
To save this guy some hassle, I burned the dirk's tang into a piece of "boxwood" and roughed out the handle on my lathe and belt sander.


The problem is that the "boxwood" handle developed a nasty crack that keeps getting bigger, and glue doesn't hold it together. Since I don't want to pass this problem onto anyone else, I figured I would make a new handle.

I've researched this and recall mention of boxwood, bog oak, and oak tree roots being especially popular, but can also imagine yew and maple being rather common.
My mother had a dogwood tree go down in her yard a few years back, and pondered the suitability of this species to use as a handle.

Since authenticity is important to both me and the dirk's new owner, I figure I would post the question and get some feedback from those of you in the know.


thanks for your help

Iain