A while back, I acquired a handle made from stabilized (I believe.) koa. At some point, I noticed that there were a lot of little dents in it; impressions from objects it had bumped into. I never dropped it or anything like that yet, it is the only handle I've encountered with that problem. More recently, I had a conversation with a knifemaker about handle materials and he specifically mentioned to make sure that my stabilized material not be dented easily.
My question is this: Aesthetics aside, what woods stabilized or otherwise, will resist this "denting." Of the wood I've seen, it seems like all of the dense, unstabilzed woods are good for this (like ebony, ironwood, cocobolo, etc.). Is koa the only "bad" one or was this particular piece stabilized incorrectly?
My question is this: Aesthetics aside, what woods stabilized or otherwise, will resist this "denting." Of the wood I've seen, it seems like all of the dense, unstabilzed woods are good for this (like ebony, ironwood, cocobolo, etc.). Is koa the only "bad" one or was this particular piece stabilized incorrectly?