A while back I was asked to post a photo of some of the wa-handles I have, all from Japan with the traditional buffalo horn ferrules, and showing a selection of most of the woods used for kitchenknife handle-making. Here we go:
L to R they are: kuriki (burnt Japanese chestnut), kokutan (ebony), shitan (rosewood), ichii (yew), kurumi (Japanese walnut), sakura (Japanese cherry), keyaki (Japanese elm/zelkova), and 2x hōnoki (magnolia obovata, which everyone likes to call 'ho').
The orange saya wood is also ichii (much more orange than the handle) and the other saya is a mystery wood, so I've put it here hoping someone can tell me what it is (very light, soft wood; a Heiji saya)
When posting this I checked the names and translations, but still be wary of these. I'm not a botanist or wood guru and so I won't say much more but, if you take chestnut as an example, Japanese chestnut is a genus distinct from other chestnut woods, and so seeing familiar names like 'chestnut' or 'walnut' etc doesn't give the full picture, and the local equivalent where you might be could well be a different wood if you're not in Japan.
Ebony - The handle you see must be Makassar ebony, originally from Indonesia, and so is imported. Its use could be traditional, however, as I recall reading that this kind of ebony has long been a favourite for construction.
Rosewood - There are a few types of 'genuine' rosewood, apparently, and other woods called this, too. I don't know how traditional its use is, but it does pop up a lot in handles. Like the ebony it's obviously imported from somewhere.
Ho - Sadly, this ubiquitous handle wood is much maligned on KKF, but I've always been happy with good ho handles and so included 2 in the shot as there seems to be some variety with the wood. I think the shiny grain pattern on the darker left ho handle is pretty nice, while the right ho handle (on a Shigehiro) is quite a different colour and much lighter than usual. Both good, I think
Ichii, kurumi, sakura, keyaki - I'd guess that these are not that commonly used, and so probably aren't that traditional for handles. I've seen a couple other less common woods used too, but I don't have examples of them for the picture. Some variety is nice.
Anyway, I'm sure there are some out there that will know a lot more about this, but maybe the photo will be useful as a visual reference.
L to R they are: kuriki (burnt Japanese chestnut), kokutan (ebony), shitan (rosewood), ichii (yew), kurumi (Japanese walnut), sakura (Japanese cherry), keyaki (Japanese elm/zelkova), and 2x hōnoki (magnolia obovata, which everyone likes to call 'ho').
The orange saya wood is also ichii (much more orange than the handle) and the other saya is a mystery wood, so I've put it here hoping someone can tell me what it is (very light, soft wood; a Heiji saya)
When posting this I checked the names and translations, but still be wary of these. I'm not a botanist or wood guru and so I won't say much more but, if you take chestnut as an example, Japanese chestnut is a genus distinct from other chestnut woods, and so seeing familiar names like 'chestnut' or 'walnut' etc doesn't give the full picture, and the local equivalent where you might be could well be a different wood if you're not in Japan.
Ebony - The handle you see must be Makassar ebony, originally from Indonesia, and so is imported. Its use could be traditional, however, as I recall reading that this kind of ebony has long been a favourite for construction.
Rosewood - There are a few types of 'genuine' rosewood, apparently, and other woods called this, too. I don't know how traditional its use is, but it does pop up a lot in handles. Like the ebony it's obviously imported from somewhere.
Ho - Sadly, this ubiquitous handle wood is much maligned on KKF, but I've always been happy with good ho handles and so included 2 in the shot as there seems to be some variety with the wood. I think the shiny grain pattern on the darker left ho handle is pretty nice, while the right ho handle (on a Shigehiro) is quite a different colour and much lighter than usual. Both good, I think
Ichii, kurumi, sakura, keyaki - I'd guess that these are not that commonly used, and so probably aren't that traditional for handles. I've seen a couple other less common woods used too, but I don't have examples of them for the picture. Some variety is nice.
Anyway, I'm sure there are some out there that will know a lot more about this, but maybe the photo will be useful as a visual reference.