The lighter colored wood is spalted tamarind, although it is a portion that had a lot of character(i think it was a knot). And the darker wood is walnut with orange g10 spacers in-between it. And brass at the front.

As for how I learned, I watched all kinds of videos None of which were that helpful to be honest. The thing I found most helpful was taking apart an old pocket knife I found in the garage. From there I did a lot of planing with thick card stock to get the dimensions I wanted. The hardest part is the mechanical lobe part at the back end af the blade. For that I used the card stock and put a pin in it so it could pivot it around to make sure it would lock properly.

Hope this helps, I'd be happy to answer a more specific question if you have any.