Our Wood Handled knives are made with the same D2 tool steel as many of the other styles you'll find on our site. At the moment we use three types of wood, Black Walnut, Burled Maple, and Cocobolo. The wood by itself tends to be softer and can dent/scratch easily. To make our knives hold up to the extreme use our customers have come to expect from a Silver Stag Knife, we send our wood to be stabilized. This process brings out the beauty of the wood, feels great in the hand, and makes our handles tough enough to be used in the field. With stabilized wood you don't have to worry about it shrinking/expanding, cracking, soaking up blood or other liquids when using our knives.