Lightest color for wood for handle?

[cooks 7]

I am working on a design for a blade that i am going to blue lightly and want a really lightly colored wood for scales, any suggestions? I think almost white would be good but I want some character in the material, like burls or something, anybody got any pics of something like that?

 

[Steve Hayden]

Tulipwood is nice. Osage Orange too, or hard maple.

 

[delbert ealy]

The whitest wood I've worked with is holly. Its mostly clean grain, but Holly doesn't grow big and the knots do give some character.
Del

 

[NickWheeler]

Hands down, box-elder burl.

It's very light, that's why it's most often used for dyed burl, because it doesn't interfere with the dye color, and the burl is some of the best figure you'll find.

 

[godogs57]

Give Jim Frey a call and get some stabilized maple from him...beautiful stuff...will roll your socks up and down.

 

[mete]

I LIKE light colored wood. Hard maple for my kitchen cabinets , light walnut and cherry for gun stocks , hard maple for knife handles ,all clear finished.I made a few of plain hard maple which were then carved . My latest is a stabilized hard maple burl for a hunting knife practical and VERY nice !!

 

[miden]

I have some English Yew, pretty light. No knots but a nice, fine grain that is a little darker than the rest of the "flesh".

Mike

 

[howiesatwork]

The nicest light figured wood I have is some spalted sycamore and spalted beech.
The spalting is white, unlike the black-line spalt in maple.
You could use quarter sawn red oak, and fill the pores with a white pigmented shellac such as Zinsser BIN, then sand it down and superglue finish it.
Red Oak is lighter than white oak in color. Why, I dunno...

 

[Daniel Koster]

Beech, Ash, Box Elder...all good ones.

 

[Danbo]

Olive is some really nice stuff too. Very light yellow in color, with thin streaks of dark swirling around in it. :thumbup:

 

[cooks 7]

thanks for all the advice, i'll do some looking around for what everybody mentioned