It is recommended that you use the best materials that you can afford, in order to put your best foot forward for JS and MS knives, but how well you use it will be what really counts.  But try to use classy materials; make us feel good about your work and awarding you that stamp. Materials that make us feel like we are judging bargain store Pakastani specials doesn't do justice the process or title we hope to award.    

The steel choice can be any simple alloy or carbon steel, stainless is not wanted because the mission of the Society is to preserve traditional bladesmithing. Unless you make it known it is not common for you to be asked what steel you use during the judging, unless a question arises from visual anomalies such as alloy banding or auto hamon or pearlite/carbide patches. 

Handle materials are at your discretion and do not have to match, if they do just be sure that the style of knives vary, we want to see you have a broad skill set and are not a one trick pony.  This is even more important at MS level; if a maker is only able to make one type of knife we cannot in good conscience declare them a master of bladesmithing.   

Thank you for the advice! I have some blocks of dyed stabilized woods. Are there any issues with these? I worry with the whacky colors.

There are plenty of stabilized woods out there that don't have "whacky" colors. I used one piece of stabilized Califoria Buckeye in my JS set. It was green and black. A word of caution about stabilized woods. There are a lot of "suppliers" who do a lousy job at stabilizing. So when you cut or grind into the wood block, or cut slabs off of it, you get into raw or half-treated wood. This will never look the same and it will be apparent to the trained eye. Also, some burls that are not completely stabilized have voids that pop out at you when you cut into them. This leaves a nasty hole that is nearly impossible to fill and make invisible. Especially with those crazy colors. Matching the dye color is never going to happen.

If you buy stabilized wood, there is a way to check it for full saturation. Drop it in a bucket full of water. If it is fully stabilized, it will sink like a stone. If it has any bouyancy at all, it is not fully stabilized. The latter should be used with caution and the supplier should be avoided in the future.

I chose to make a variety of blade and handle shapes, and to use a mixture of steels and handle materials.

What I didn't do, and I highly recommend that you don't do, is use anything you are not intimately familiar with. That goes for steels and handle materials. Use steels that you know how to finish well. Same thing goes for handle materials. 

There is no harm in using the same steel and handle material for all your knives, but it shows a lack of versatility as a maker and can be boring. I don't know if anyone has ever failed JS for being boring, but like Kevin said

Posted by: Kevin R. Cashen

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we want to see you have a broad skill set and are not a one trick pony.