The bakelite (or whatever it was) handle for the door of our log burner underwent spontaneous disintegration, so I whipped up a new one from a bit of oak. It took about ten minutes or so.
The steel of the handle gets hot, but I don't think it will get hot enough to scorch the oak. I'll keep an eye on it.
I think it looks a lot nicer than the old one, and it certainly feels nicer.
I ebonized it with ferric acetate, and it really shows the difference in tannin levels between the sap and heart wood. The heart goes really dark, while the sap is affected to a much lower degree.
Here's another bread-&-butter knife sharpening and handle replacement, this time with a bit of deer antler. The natural curve of the antler is very comfortable in the hand, and it polishes up very nicely with a clean buffing wheel and fine polishing soap.
The casein handles on these old dinner knives tends to go kind of crappy over the years, especially if, like me, you don't take good care of them and submerge them in hot water repeatedly.
However, the steel is good -- flexible, and holds an edge -- and it's worth the short time it takes to give them new handles. Also, with a little attention from grinder and diamond paddles, they make really good paring knives.