Traditional Japanese OR Western Grip?!

Once again with a question.....

I really love the feel of the japanese grip but I've read somewhere to be aware of the possibility of water damage. Some handles are made from rosewood, other only mention "wood" and some are buffalo horn. Is water damage possible with all the materials?

Thanks,
Larry

Some wa handles are finished to be water resistant and others are raw. In both cases, I oil/wax regularly. The keyword is resistant not waterproof. It should not be an issue in normal usage. Don't put it in the dishwasher or submerge it or anything.

Thanks!

Japanese handles are usually made from magnolia or Japanese yew wood with the water buffalo ring. The really nice expensive knives use ebony. As IOcook said, they use a wax to help keep it water resistant. Over time though your handle will began to wear down and need replacing. When you get a knew knife with a Japanese handle you want to make sure that where the tang is inserted into the handles, there are no gaps allowing water or food to get inside the handle. If the make used a putty or glue to fill it in that good, but a lot of times they dont do this. Just melt some epoxy or plastic in yourself if it is open. If water gets into to you hand it will rot the wood and rust your tang out. Handles are fairly easy to replace when needed.

Through normal usage how would any knife handle become water damaged?

in the hands of careless cooks anything is possible.

How about dipping the whole handle together with the exposed tang into epoxy?

LKH9 said:

How about dipping the whole handle together with the exposed tang into epoxy?

Click to expand...

Sounds little bit drastic And I think it might become too slippery after epoxy dries. I would glad to see the end result tho, wanna be the guinea pig?

Set the handle in a can with paraffin oil at regular intervals then becomes the handle resistance and preserves the wood and horn in good condition

I just rub mine with mineral oil and buff them whenever they start to feel like they're drying out. It also gives the handle a nice luster and feels much better in hand than any kind of varnish or wax based finish. Mineral oil will also protect from water damage as it is impervious to water.

So long as there aren't gaps (which you can fill with bees wax) I'd be much more concerned about the handle drying out and shrinking than I would about water damage.

Discussion seems to be not Wa vs Western as much as Wood handles vs cooking environments. Wood in the dishwasher is certainly ill-advised. (Other terms may apply but it seems it's always wives and mother's in law that do it). Wood in dishwater, standing water or sink is also a bad idea for either Wa or Western.

Difference is that with a Wa handle the water between wood and tang cannot readily dry. The Western may or may not dry. A seal on the Wa is a good thing.

Any wood, be it handle, cutting board, dining room table, will benefit from periodic maintenance with oil.