I am working (planning right now) on a sgian dubh project.

My blade an old kitchen/steak knife my wife dug up in her flower garden. It was old enough that the original wooden handle was almost completely rotted away. The tip of the stainless steel blade MATCHES the profile shape my bought sgian dubh EXACTLY, it even FITS in the scabbard. (It is NOT serated)

I will be cutting away the handle end to make a tang.

I was THINKING of making a pine handle, for the pines that are SO prominant in Georgia and the Carolinas. SO, how would pine DO as a handle? Too soft?

I am thinking and planning how I want to cut and carve the shaping.
(Baseball bat inspired??? -> unstained and heavily clearcoated??)
(Palmetto and cresent -South Carolina- on one side and Georgia related on the other???? )