A piece of stabilized Sheoak I got at this year's Blade Show.
The clipped and clay quenched 8 1/4" W1 blade was forged down from a 1 1/8" round bar of W1 drill stock.
Take-down stainless fittings are faceted and selectively polished.
13 1/2" overall.
Thaks for letting me share!
I'll be taking this along to  http://www.americanbladesmith.com/MidAmerica08.htm.

awesome knife!

that's a different handle design for you, but i dont see a thing on it that i dont love!

Nice knife!!!!

I got asked for a little better picture of the handle material.
I did a "quicky" on the porch handrail - hope this helps:
 

i just got that nickel/silver you sent me karl, thanks amigo!!! that was alot more than i was expecting and it just made my day lol.

Karl,
     Would you explain the reasoning behind selective polishing? I use this on some knives and think it is an often overlooked form of embellishment. Nice knife. Lin

Nice all the way around!

Sure, Ray - I mean Lin!. It's a method of really making the knife hardware appear to "dance" in the light, and unless you know what you're looking for, it's very subtle.
My photography stinks, but maybe you can get an idea of what I'm saying by looking at the top photo.
On that guard, the front leading edge - not the face or the sides - but the very front corner of the guard has been relieved at a 45 degree angle. Leaving only about a 1/16" flat area that goes all the way around the guard. This is handsanded up to 1500 grit and buffed/polished. Then, the remainder of the guard, which had been previously finished, is finished again with really straight, deliberate 800 grit, avoiding the poished edge.
As well, the butt cap corner was relieved the same way, polished, and then the flats re-sanded at 800.
Now it takes time, but the interior grooves in fluting and other file work are done the same - then the remainder sanded flat.
If the entire guard, butt cap, collar, etc., is either fully polished or sanded flat, it just sort of disappears. It's dead and lifeless.
You can't tell from this photo, but the very point of the take-down nut was sanded flat - that you can see. But that little flat point is polished, and the tapered body of the nut was sanded "flat" to 800.
You just wanted me to type all of this - didn't you?

Karl,
     I think you explained it pretty good even with all the typing.      

  I was thinking this is one of the fine points of design that is good to ask about. I certainly agree that a seemingly little thing like this adds up to make the knife look really classy.

                            Lin

Did you see that I called you Ray?
Just before I made that post I had emailed a picture of the handle material to Ray Richard and must have had him still on my mind.
Oh, well.
I edited it.

Beautiful knife. I love your attention to detail with the selective polishing. Very classy. Skippy

It's those little details that make a good knife into a great knife.
By the way, I guess a sheoak is a female oak tree?

Sheoak comes from a small area in Australia.  The settlers described it as similar to English oak, but weaker... she-oak
That's a spectacular piece!

Oh, the knife is OK too... I guess...  :D    

Believe it or not, you are really close on this one!
When the English discovered it on Austalian islands, they compared it to their English oak and determined it was just a tiny bit softer, so they named it SHE-oak.