Hey. My name is Michael Miller and I am learning to make knives.

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Put in an hour or two in the shop today putting some Wa-handles together. Thought y'all would want to see.

This is stabilized claro walnut with micarta ferrule and nickle-silver spacer. It is about halfway through rough shaping.
20140113_175306.jpg

I threw a little water on it to get it a little closer to a finished look.
20140113_181208.jpg

This one is stabilized redwood with silver spacers and micarta. It is freshly glued in this picture.
20140113_175331.jpg

Anyway I just wanted to get your thoughts on these and pick your brains for a second.

Which one do you like better? (I know it is very early to tell how these will turn out.)

Also a more general question is: Which type of handle do you prefer? a more simple and clean handle or a more intricate handle with lots of burling? Lots of pieces and spacers, or just 2-3? I know this is a very subjective question, just wanted to get your opinion.

Thanks everyone.
 
I like the walnut and nickel silver its clean and strong. I have a handle like that on my 240 takeda. strong, simple lines, and a little shiny does the trick for me.
 
They both look pretty similar, but I think I like the top one better. Hard to say tho since they're both not finished yet, like you said.

They both look like they'll turn out great.
 
I think they will look a little more different when I get them both rough shaped. I have 2 different knives that need handles and I am trying to decide which handle will go where.
 
Here is a better comparison picture of those two handles, both are still just blanks right now.

So do you like more simple handles like the one on the bottom? Or do you like handles with a few more pieces and a lot of figuring in the wood like the one on the top? Or maybe a simple 2-3 piece handle with lots of burl?

I would love to hear your input. Thanks to everyone who has already given their opinions.

20140114_102545.jpg
 
Hm, I like the one on the top in that new picture more. The wood looks more unique, kind of looks like fire.
 
I like the rosewood burl handle more, but I would make the micarta spacer smaller. Maybe half the size.

If there is going to be lots of figure in the wood I would prefer letting the burl stand out, what you did on the top one is great, but if there is not much figure I would prefer an end cap and some spacers
 
Thanks, everyone. The compliments mean a lot and the advice is very welcome.
 
I really like the second very clean and classic looking
 
Also a more general question is: Which type of handle do you prefer? a more simple and clean handle or a more intricate handle with lots of burling? Lots of pieces and spacers, or just 2-3? I know this is a very subjective question, just wanted to get your opinion.

I was asking myself similar questions lately and here's what I found so far. You'd better stick with simple design for a workhorse type of knives. I would refer to DT ITK knives as an example of simply and good looking handles. Most Japanease made workhorse knives are supplied with pretty simple black and white traditional handles… and there's a reason for that. Just by looking at the knife you can tell that it's a serious tool, not a kitchen toy. So take it as simple as possible.

The whole different story comes when we are speaking about knives, that aren't workhorses. The knives that you would polish to the mirror death and baby for the rest of your life. Those knives DO look better with fancy handles. Just by looking at those knives you would feel how awesome they are. And you'd want to take those knives into your hand just for the sake of holding. To feel awesomeness in your hand. So go for the craziest handle you could imagine!

Another thing which I never thought about until I started making handles is interest. Right now I'm making a new very simple handle for my Shigefusa and I'm bored. It's just 2 pieces of wood. Nothing special. The wood isn't special at all. Just boring to make. But it will look good. And I'm also making new handle on a small petty knife for my sister. And that handle is interesting because I tried to make curved wood joints along with triple spacers and really special wood. Can't say that I like such style of handles, but it's really interesting to do.
 
I see your point, but I disagree a little. There is no reason why a heavy use kitchen tool can't be pretty, and I have seen plenty of kitchen toys that weren't.

I guess my views on handles is: if they perform the same job equally well, but one is pretty/cool then why not have the cool looking one. Although there are trade offs between custom handles and factory (price, , balance in some cases, etc.) but generally durability is the same.
 
I see your point, but I disagree a little. There is no reason why a heavy use kitchen tool can't be pretty, and I have seen plenty of kitchen toys that weren't.

While is purely subjective let me make an analogy with cars for example.
Here's Bentley
2012-Bentley-EXP-9-F-Concept-Interior-1.jpg

Here's taxi
2007-kia-rondo-interior-view.jpg


Both are just cars, but imagine for a second that taxi drivers starts using Bentleys. You take a taxi to nearest airport and they give you a bill for 12500$. Does it makes any sense? :)
The same IMHO goes for knives. If DT start using mammoth tooth and golden pins for his ITK series it would cost 2-3 times more and would be a much less of a value for anyone, who needs knife for everyday cutting tasks.
 
Ahh. I wasn't even considering price right now. I was considering the differences between a fancy custom handle and a less fancy custom handle, so in my mind I was thinking of similar price points.

My bad.
 
I like the bottom handle better. Great job on everything, by the way.
 
Here is one of those 2 handles. I am still looking for something to put the Redwood handle on. The forgie I had intended it for may not be good enough for it, since it has some pitting.

This is the claro walnut, nickle silver spacer, and micarta ferrule. It is on a stainless damascus Goko 240mm gyuto.

20140124_113538.jpg

20140124_113550.jpg

20140124_113600.jpg

20140124_113614.jpg

20140124_113642.jpg

I have some epoxy dye on order so that will fix that epoxy mediocrity, but this is the cleanest tang hole I have made so far, so that is cool.
 
Well… I see no flaws here. Looked hard enough but it just clean and nice. And of super right size :thumbsup:
 
20140130_184857.jpg

20 inches of pure unadulterated bakelite. Red and cream. I am super excited to start working with this.
 
I rehandled my konosuke 240mm ginsan with that redwood, micarta, and nickle-silver handle I ask yall about a while ago. I also made a rosewood saya for it. Let me know what you think.

20140206_191153.jpg

20140206_191137.jpg

20140206_191121.jpg

Hopefully I can get some better pictures in the sunlight.
 
The handle work and saya are gorgeous. I can do about anything with metal but wood is still a mystery to me.
 
Thanks everyone.

I am not sure if the konosuke ginsan line is hand made.

Also: Science
 
Back
Top