As DW sez, a fine-grained wood & a nice tactile finish are probably the main criteria. A smooth handle is so much more pleasant to hang onto for a long planing session. It doesn't have to be especially strong, Beech is hardly the most robust wood in the world, after all. I think the most common cause of tote breakage is trips to the floor, and the danger of breakage increases exponentially if the stud is loose.
I guess it's a bit smug to say we have a plethora of suitable handle woods down here in the wide brown land, both visually appealing & tough. There are many many species of Acacia with hard, fine-grained woods that come in a variety of colours & plain or figured grain.
This is A. rhodoxylon, which has the local name of "Western rosewood" & does makes a good substitute for the Dalbergia rosewoods:
And an Acacia (species uncertain) from my backyard:
There are several "She-oaks" (Allocasuarina spp.) which make excellent handles. Despite the superficial similarity to wood of the Quercus genus, these take an extremely fine finish & are as tactile (& durable) as the rosewoods & come in a variety of shades from deep brown:
To a pale brown:
And there's a "mutation" of a Western Australian species called "Lace she-oak" that makes quite spectacular handle material. I don't have any pics of plane handles in this wood, but this saw handle will give you the idea:
Southern Beech (Nothofagus spp) is similar to northern hemisphere Beech for structural strength, but finer-grained (no visible ray-fleck) & can be highly figured. One of its more spectacular manifestations is so-called "Tiger myrtle", a type of spalting. Again, I don't have any plane handle pics, but here's another saw handle:
There are many more, but that's enough to give you an idea of the choice we have. When it comes to making a new handle for something, you can think outside the box down here...
Cheers,
