I was asked buy some friends to put new handles in these marital art knife,s what is the strong,s dowels or wood that I can turn down to make these handles. any advice would be greatly apericated.they need to be 2ft long and about 1inch round.

First thing that comes to my mind is hickory.

Big Dave had a good suggestion. A few other species that might not break the bank and may be readily available are Maple, White Oak, or Ash.