Rehandle advice (wa)

[Pie]

I’m finally done with how the handle feels/looks/everything about the damn thing on my maz gyuto. It’s fat, mounted too far forward, and ugly as sin. AND it’s been ticking (loose) for months.

Has anyone rehandled one of these? Is it possible, if done by a pro, to mount it a little further back? I worry about the tang being too short, but would love it to feel more “necky” and balanced further out towards the tip. Konosuke feeing, if you will.

Any advice would be much appreciated, including any places to buy a new one in Canada. Thanks!

 

[tostadas]

I'm assuming that you just friction fit the handle. So from what I understand, you want to have more forward balance, and also for the knife to be installed less deep into the handle while still being stable. A very simple solution that you may want to try first is a hot glue install. Shove a bunch of hot glue shavings into the handle hole, heat up the tang, insert it and hold it in place how you want it to sit.

Balance is a little different. When you say "forward balance", I assume you mean that you want the center of gravity of the knife to be more toward the front of the knife. The quirk is that you may want to specify what reference point you are using when you say more forward. Let's take an extreme case and say that you install the knife by inserting "just the tip" into the handle. In this case, if you compare the new balance point in relation to a location on the blade, like the choil, then your new balance point will be farther back. However, if you compare the new balance point in relation to a location on the handle, like the front of the ferrule, then the new balance point will be farther forward.

 

[big_adventure]

If you want to move the balance point forward, you're going to probably want a shorter/thinner handle, or a handle made of less-dense wood.

 

[superworrier]

In my experience too, the amount you can change the insertion is not enough to change the balance without messing up the feel/grip.

 

[Pie]

I knew this was more complicated than I thought. Lighter/smaller handle is logical enough for moving the center of gravity forward. But moving the handle back messes with the balance point, in a bad way.

One effect of the handle being so large is the choil ends up getting crowded, the main reason I’d like to move the handle back. Enough weight reduction and just a few millimeters back might do it.

Thanks for the insight, I think I’m at least pointed in the right direction now.

 

[big_adventure]

Moving the handle back a few mm will give you more space between the handle and the blade, definitely. It will not change the balance point at all. Is this a ho wood handle currently? If it is, it's only 30g or so max, and moving that 3 or 5mm will have an immeasurably tiny effect on balance. Putting a fancy wood handle on the knife will have the opposite effect - ebony handles are 30 to 40g heavier, so they move the balance point back from the blade.