African Blackwood Wa Handle with Pink Coral Ring & End Cap

African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) is among the densest woods used for handles — naturally oily, fine and even in grain, and it polishes to a near-mirror black with faint purple undertones. Here the wood runs into a black buffalo horn ferrule, so the handle reads as one dark piece, with pink coral in two places: a ring where the horn meets the wood, and an end cap at the butt.

The capped butt is not only visual. It protects the end grain from the knocks a bare wood end picks up on a rail or in a drawer.

• Species: Dalbergia melanoxylon
• Origin: Mopane savannas, southern Africa
• Density: 1.08 g/cc
• Build: black buffalo horn ferrule · pink coral ring · pink coral end cap
• Care: wipe dry; re-oil every 6 months