Yep, Ho sounds familiar. Guess I can remember things right sometimes. Anyway, I surfed around a bit. Honoki wood is another name.
"Saya and shirasaya are traditionally fashioned from honoki wood which is a specie of magnolia. Honoki has unique quality in that it is a "firm wood", not too soft nor too hard and it is easily worked with hand tools when properly seasoned. Honoki is also very resistant to the absorption of atmospheric moisture making it a very stable base for decorative applications."
http://www.sayashi.com/articles/saya.htm
Also known as
Magnolia hypoleuca or whitebark, or silver magnolia.
"The name M. hypoleuca has been in use for some 30 odd years. Before that this species was known as M. obovata"
http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/p1/gw1024956.html
also
"The handles are made from Ho (A relative of the Magnolia)known for its longevity when exposed to water."
http://www.justknives101.com/Japanese_Imports/japanese_imports.html
So I guess it's not a hard, "tough" wood--main thing seems to be easy to work, and very stable regarding exposure to water. Maybe not the best choice for premanent handles or "heavy" use-- The traditional handles are a push-fit, with provision for eventual replacement if needed. Fred Lohman seems to use it for the core of Japanese-syle sword handles, so it seems strong enough, if not the strongest.
http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_lohman.htm#Shinken
As far as figure goes, I haven't seen any top-quality Japanese kitchen knives, so I don't know if the handles on those are polished, or left rough like the inexpensive ones. At 80 grit or whatever, no figure was evident. I decided to sand and oil the handle, since the raw wood was turning a kind of dirty grey color with use. Once oiled and polished, subtle cross grain stripes that change with movement in the light are visible, sort of like fiddle-back maple. No, it's not as dramatic as the woods commonly used. Subtle light gold flashes against the cream-colored wood. Very smooth grain.
Hey, found a picture here:
http://www.unibas.ch/botimage/h/Magnolia_hypoleuca.htm
Go to the site and click on the picture to see a big version. that's pretty similar to what my polished handle looks like.
I was kind of suprised, especially since the knife cost less than $20. This is only one example, so I can't say whether most pieces will look as nice. Anyone interested might want to try and get an example at an asian grocery and polish up the handle to see. You might get a handy kitchen knife out of it, at least. This thing is like a big, rectangular X-Acto knife and takes a great edge on a fine waterstone. I think it was a bargain, even though I really don't think much of the transparent coating they put on the blade.
I'm betting most trees in the US are
Magnolia grandiflora "A native of the southeastern states...It is somewhat harder than that of yellow-poplar, but is easy to work and holds its shape well. Sometimes it is streaked with black. Used for cabinets, special refrigerators, models, furniture, fixtures and veneers."
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/forsci/woodcoll/boards.htm#MAGNO
I suppose it behave similarly as far as water goes, since being in the same genus is about as close a relative as possible.
I did find this mentioned:
http://www.urbin.net/EWW/MA/ma-mo.html
"Hida Tool Company
Berkeley, CA
(510) 524-3700
Carries Ho wood from Japan - the real stuff, and expensive. Hida Tool specializes in Japanese hand tools ... nice stuff ... hold on to your
wallet!"
Couldn't find the wood on their web site, but it's fun to look at anyway--see some hand-forged $100 dollar chisels.
Some *ssh*le hacked their home page, so access through a lower level like:
http://www.hidatool.com/woodpage/chisel/fnfinish.html
(remove woodpage/chisel/fnfinish.html to see spoor of adolescent dork.:barf:
Warning: there seems to be another asian wood called Ho that is processed for it's oil-
Cinnamomum camphora
