Should the weight of my new handle be taken into account?

[99Limited]

I've been researching what gyuto I want to get so I can get it mated to my new handle. I'm leaning mostly towards featherweights, weighting in around 136g to 140g, but I'm also considering a few others. I got to thinking about how much my handle weights and how it might affect my choice. My new handle weights 72g which makes it be more than 50% of the total weight of the knives I'm considering.

Here's the list of my choices, all 240mm:

• Mizuno Akitada Hontanren Stainless(130g)
• Konosuke HD(136g)
• Ashi Stainless(138g)
• Sakai Yusuke Stainless(140g)
• Aritsugu A-Style(150g)
• Masamoto KS(162g)

Will I have balance issue? The stock handles used by most knife makers seem to be the same whether it's a lightweight or heavy gyuto, so maybe I'm over thinking this.

 

[Pensacola Tiger]

I think you're overthinking the issue, and putting emphasis on the wrong aspect of the knife.

I think you should concentrate more on the profile, geometry and steel choices.

Twenty or thirty grams difference in the blade is probably not going to shift the balance much.

Just my two cents.

 

[TDj]

I think that you have a point, but it's not something you can really "control" because there won't be that much variation of the blade weight, even among those you listed. I had a 240 suisin wa-gyuto that was rehandled and it did indeed change the balance of the knife - it was still ahead of the bolster as wa-gyuto's should be, but it felt different in my hand because i was used to the way it felt before the switch. It takes a little getting used to all over again. But I suspect that in most cases it will push the balance point closer to the ferrule but won't make the knife handle-heavy unless you're like using a metal handle or something like that.