Thanks lads, great comments! The black and white layer are fibre spacers, 0.8mm and 0.5mm thick. Cheers Paul
Something really cool about a smaller, slender knife that is well made like this one. It's more like an instrument rather than a knife. I like it a lot.
For some reason I have old Nickle silver spoons on the bench, finally figured out I could use the handles to make some nice crests like you did on this knife. Pays to be a pack rat some days