Best wood/material for kitchen knife handles and why

[jedy617]

Yes I can.

Ho is better than slippery-ass burl.

Ho.

I never understood this, are peoples hands made of soap? Even when my hands are as wet as they can be, no handle has ever felt slippery to me. My ho wood looks disgusting covered in stone grime and whatever other liquid they wanna drink up, and they don't feel nice in the hand either to me. Smooth for life

 

[M1k3]

Yes I can.

Ho is better than slippery-ass burl.

Ho.

Y u no pinch grip?

 

[esoo]

I never understood this, are peoples hands made of soap? Even when my hands are as wet as they can be, no handle has ever felt slippery to me. My ho wood looks disgusting covered in stone grime and whatever other liquid they wanna drink up, and they don't feel nice in the hand either to me. Smooth for life

Sand a ho wood handle to 1000 grit and then coat with beeswax/mineral oil. Feel great and pretty resistant to getting dirty.

 

[jedy617]

Sand a ho wood handle to 1000 grit and then coat with beeswax/mineral oil. Feel great and pretty resistant to getting dirty.

But they are ugly and still to light for me...and I coat all my handles in beeswax/mineral oil regardless. Never have a problem with grip. I'm big into wood though so I can never keep a ho handle. Just so uninspiring to me

 

[M1k3]

I'm big into wood though...

 

[nakiriknaifuwaifu]

grippy when wet, not too heavy, and attractive to look at.

was there really no other way to describe burnt chestnut

 

[big D]

was there really no other way to describe burnt chestnut

Attractive to look at, not to heavy, and grippy when wet.

 

[blokey]

I like desert iron wood for full tang, they are heavy tho and may throw the balance off in a thinner knife

 

[captaincaed]

I'm admittedly a fan of some overly fancy handles, but I think Ho is a classic for a reason. Light, grippy, practical, inexpensive. For a handle that’s meant to be semi-consumable, it’s a good choice. I think American sycamore would be a good local alternative. Poplar wouldn’t be terrible either.

Maybe I have soft hands from working a desk for too long, but I like the texture and facets of a classic Ho octo for grip.

Pretty sure I’m on the left side.

 

[jedy617]

middle sounds pretty good to me Idk a really nice blade with a ho handle feels like a ferrari with steel wheels and hubcaps. But that's just me. I don't think you need to be super flashy either. Nothing wrong with a good ebony and horn handle.

 

[JoBone]

With a buffed, sealed and stabilized wooden handle there may be an initial glossy feel. However, unless it is maintained, the handle will naturally wear to a nice feel, more grip, less gloss.

The sealer is important as it penetrates the wood, giving long term durability. Additionally, it really makes the figure pop and maintains the beauty.

If you have a glossy handle, 20 seconds with 0000 steel wool will give you the grip you want. You can also use a wool sock….

 

[esoo]

But they are ugly and still to light for me...and I coat all my handles in beeswax/mineral oil regardless. Never have a problem with grip. I'm big into wood though so I can never keep a ho handle. Just so uninspiring to me

As you said, ho wood is light. Makes it the best choice for shorter lasers to keep the balance at the pinch or just in front. Put a heavier handle on knives like that and it just throws off what makes them great.

I think the biggest problem with ho is that it is treated cheap with very little done to "finish" it. The best ho handle I have is the one below, on a $30 tojiro that I had to work on and finish. It was originally a d handle with an oval ferrule. I sanded it oval, went up to 1K with it and it has been treated with oil and beeswax. After about 7 years of being beat on by the wife and daughter, still looks not half bad.

 

[ashy2classy]

Ho wood is all about grip and balance for me. D handles feel great in my hand, provide a blade heavy balance, and give me confidence in my grip, especially when my hands aren't 100% dry. I'll be the first to say that I love the look of a hardwood handle, but it just doesn't instill the confidence in my hand that a ho wood handle does and I know they're all the same size for consistency.

 

[esoo]

A handle has three tasks in my mind
1. Balance the knife to my preference (neutral to slight forward in the pinch)
2. For when I slip back from pinch to handle grip to maximize usable blade length while slicing
3. To hold onto while I'm washing the knife.

If a handle does these things well, especially #1, I care little about how it looks. Sure it's awesome when I have something like the sapele on my Shihan that has chatoyance for days and days, but I'm not pulling a handle the creates perfect balance just for looks.

 

[JustAnotherJoe]

I am suprised I don't see any makers using torrified woods. I suppose it might be too brittle, but they check so many boxes. Impervious to rot (with out any finishes), can be as light or heavy as the original wood, is quite dimensionally stable, and typically looks pretty nice for straight grained woods.

 

[JoBone]

The popularity of ho wood has always fascinated me.

Why is it used over other woods? I hear light weight, stays grippy when wet….

While both are true, I wonder if the reasons are more practical like: easy to source, not imported, cheap and easy to burn the tang in.

If hickory was fast growing and native to Japan, would it be used instead? Or is ho wood really that good?

 

[esoo]

The popularity of ho wood has always fascinated me.

Why is it used over other woods? I hear light weight, stays grippy when wet….

While both are true, I wonder if the reasons are more practical like: easy to source, not imported, cheap and easy to burn the tang in.

If hickory was fast growing and native to Japan, would it be used instead? Or is ho wood really that good?

I think you have it spot on - cheap, easy, plentiful and functional. I do suspect that other local woods were tested (historically) and ho wood fit the bill best.

 

[Jovidah]

Yeah for the same reason you see stuff like beech wood being used a lot in Europe (for both handles and boards). Not because it's the absolute worldwide best but because it's the best option that's widely and affordably available locally.

 

[tostadas]

While both are true, I wonder if the reasons are more practical like: easy to source, not imported, cheap and easy to burn the tang in.

I suspect these are the primary reasons for Japanese knives. Low cost if locally sourced, and very easy to work with due to how soft it is. Why spend more if this works fine?

Along a similar line, these are also several of the reasons I really enjoy working with maple. Various species domestic to US, durable, good working properties, not poisonous to work with, and available with nice figure in the form of both curls and burls. White maple is good enough for baseball bats and gunstocks, so there's no worry when using it for kitchen knives.

I've also mentioned before about grip, but the finishing of a handle plays a big part in how it feels. Taking just white maple again as an example, if I rough sand it and don't raise grain and remove the fuzz, it will get similar "grippy when wet" that people like from ho wood. If I take it up a little finer and finish with a penetrating oil, it will retain most of the wood feel, still get some of the wet grip, but reduce the amount of water it absorbs. Then if I sand it to the highest grit and finish with a polymer coating like Tru oil, then you replace the wood grain feel completely.

And then regarding stabilized woods, if you have wood that's stabilized by the pros, like K&G or wood dynamics (not just the average Joe with a vacuum pump in their basement), the primary difference is dimensional stability and density. Much like unstabilized wood, texture depends highly on the finish applied. If it feels "like plastic" then it was probably finished in a way to maximize the appearance at the expense of texture.