African Blackwood & White Buffalo Horn Wa Handle with Horn End Cap

African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) is among the densest woods used for handles — naturally oily, fine and even in grain, and it finishes near-black. Here it runs straight into white buffalo horn at both ends: a horn ferrule at the blade end and a matching horn end cap at the butt, with no metal ring between the horn and the wood.

White buffalo horn is a natural material, so its color varies from piece to piece: the handle pictured has amber streaks through a cream ferrule. The capped butt 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: white buffalo horn ferrule · white horn end cap · no metal rings
• Care: wipe dry; re-oil every 6 months