Greetings from Nebraska.
In my opinion of course, any plastic blank would be far superior for use in kitchen applications. Among it's advantages are that it is essentially impervious to water and it can be wet-sanded and/or polished to a high gloss without any finish being applied.
Wood on the other hand is affected by water and typically requires some kind of finish. It is also my prefered material simply because it is natural and in my opinion looks less commercial than the plastics. The wood of choice for me would be Cocobolo which has been a premier material for high end cutlery for over 100 years. In 1924, Samuel James and Clayton Dissinger Mell published the following in "Timbers of Tropical America", Yale University Press.
Cocobolo is one of the most important woods in the cutlery trade, being extensively used for knife handles on account of its beauty of color and grain, fine texture, dense structure, ease of working, and the presence of an oily substance which not only tends to waterproof the wood and keep it in shape after manufacture, but also makes it very easy to polish . If the smooth surface is rubbed with a cloth it acquires a wax -like finish without the use of oil, wax, shellac, or filler . Prolonged or repeated immersing in soapy water has little effect on the wood except to darken its color, an important consideration in the case of kitchen and butcher knives.
Although the density and "oiliness" of Cocobolo makes it a good choice for use in wet environments, it is the unique beauty that makes it one of my all time favorite woods. Cocobolo can simply be sanded using very fine grits and buffed with no additional finish. I have sanded it down and then applied linseed oil, although it probably wasn't necessary. I suppose a shellac-oil-wax product like those sometimes used on cutting boards might also be a good top coat finish.
Good luck with your project - Dave
