Roger, my use of the word marblecake come from my background in collecting custom rifles and double shotguns, just as Joe mentioned. The finest guns were nearly always made with thinshell walnut known by many different names. The stockers love it because it was light, very dense/hard/strong, cut like butter, take and hold the smallest checkering, and was exceedingly beautiful. The bespoke wood was called marblecake and was really rare and expensive. But if you were willing to lay out 150K for a Purdey sidelock, 2k for the buttstock/forend was peanuts. I had a fortune tied up in just wood, and the last piece I sold when I sold my guns/wood was a buttstock for a shotgun/single shot rifle for $850. The Las Vegas collector didn't blink at my price, which tells me I undersold it. That was 15 years ago.
I'm really surprised to see how little thinshell walnut is used in knife handles. I can't tell you how many fantastic knife handles end up in stockmaker trash bins. I could have scooped them up free, but I wasn't thinking knives in those days--I had my Randall hunting knives, and they were enough.
The best ironwood reminds me of bespoke walnut in color and figure. Ironwood would be more stable and harder (and heavier). Walnut in most cases probably would need to be stabilized. Many like intricate figure, but I prefer large blotches of jet black contrasting boldly with orange/amber, just like in your bowie above, which I believe is the most beautiful ironwood handle I've ever seen, and perfect for that big blade.
Ken
