Hande material on most kitchen knifes?

[alexkuzn]

I am going to buy a cleaver blade from Texas Knife supply and want to make a handle that look close to the rest of my knives. Does anyone know what is a handle material on most kitchen knives?

BTW Texas Knife supplies has only one cleaver blade. Is there any other place which sell cleaver blades(with/without bolster)?

Thanks,
Alex

[JUNGIANEINSTEIN]

Not sure what the store bought knives are made with, but I would probably use black G-10 or black paper micarta.

[Ray Rogers]

There are billions of kitchen knives so no one could easily say what handle material is on "most " of them. But, if the handle is black plastic it is probably Zytel or a similar product. White plastic handles (often found in the food service industry) are often Delrin. Both products are available from Sheffields knife supply.

Micarta makes a more attractive handle than either Zytel or Delrin if you are willing to upgrade your cleaver a bit. Jantz sells a lot of kitchen knife blades and I'm fairly sure that includes cleavers. If you don't already have catalogs from Jantz, Koval, K&G Finishing, Texas KnifeMakers, and Sheffield's you would be doing yourself a HUGE favor by ordering yourself a set .....

[JUNGIANEINSTEIN]

Yeah, what Ray said.

[tmiller5087]

Most of mine have file handles or pieces of broom sticks. my favorite one has black eletrical tape wound around it. hmmmmm ,wonder when the last time they was sharpened

[Ray Rogers]

TMILLER,

Did you have the brrom stick stabilized? NOTE: if you use a mop handle instead of a brrom stick having the wood stabilized will help remove the smell of Pine-Sol from the wood......

[tmiller5087]

Well one of the broom handles does has mop inlay. I stablezied them by soaking them in Dawn dish water for days on end so its pretty well soaked through. Finished them with Crisco buffed using a pot scrubber. I obtained a very nice patina using that meathod. You should try it..its pretty slick...in fact I use Platex gloves to get a grip

[dudeinthehut]

Ray,

I find it very interesting that Delrin is used for knife handles. I didn't know that. I have been an on again-off again paintball player for over 20 years and Delrin has recently become very popular in paintball gun construction due to it's dry lubricity. It seems counter-intuitive to choose a material with that quality as a knife handle. It does wear very well though!

facinating...

Andy

[Ray Rogers]

Andy,

I know what you mean, it does seem strange. But, I think it may have something to do with that lubricity possibly making the handle anti-bacterial. They don't care how ugly or slick or heavy or anything else it may be as long as germs won't grow on it...

[Jim Charles]

A lot of people have given me one thing or another that they had laying around the house that they thought would be good for me to use in making a knife. About a week ago my wife said she would like a new and larger paring knife that was of thinner material. I had some stainless for the blade, but didn?t have anything around for handle material that I liked. Then I remembered all the slabs of Corian that someone unloaded on me from their kitchen remodel. I hated grinding the stuff due to the white powder that permeated the shop, but it seems to be perfect for that application. It?s really easy to work with.

[Ray Rogers]

I've used Corian (which I got the same way Jim did, God bless those helpful souls) on kitchen knives. It is easy to work with and very easy to finish, can be used to match your kitchen decor, and will not be harmed by food or kitchen chemicals That's all the good news there is though. The bad news is that it is very heavy for its volume and very slick when wet. In small pieces as might be used on a paring knife it is very likely to chip or break if dropped....

[DiamondG Knives]

I have a large Chicago cutlery chefs knife that I have had for years. It has the "Ergo Grip" white derlin handle which came with kind of a roughened finish. Its as ugly as a mud fence, but its grippy, and it looks like it was injection molded to the blade. Its goof proof, so when the dishwasher dude runs it thru the dishwasher its no biggie. It isnt the most high end knife out there, but its earned its stipes with me. I guess I like it so much because its taken a lot of abuse, and is still around.

Now dont get me wrong, I have several High end kitchen and Chefs knives, and make them for others, but that white handle stuff while not pretty sure does hold up!!

I used a slabs cut from a bowling ball once! Worked great, but was hell on belts!! Kept wanting to melt!

Sorry for the rambling! Its late and Ive had too much caffine!

God Bless
Mike

[tmiller5087]

There are some pretty tough Plastics Delrin is one of them...i made prototype plastic hinges out of it for a fella I don't know if the hinges ever got off the ground but we took the hinge pins and drove them through two two 2 x 6 pieces of wood like you would a nail. Instead of using a metal idler sproket that rotates with the chain we have built chain convyers that has half round pieces of plastic that the chain slides over we use these convers to move pallets of product 7 days a week 24 hrs a day 364 days a year . they have showed very little wear in the last 5 yrs. plastics can be some tough stuff but most types does melt on a belt sander or even when cutting with power saws . My personal choice would not to use it on a knife I make though, well maybe Corian. i believe thats a type of plastic. Nice thing about Corian is if it gets a stain you can sand it out. Its one of the few you can work like wood. Makes great kitchens and Baths...expensive though. but like Ray said if its thin it would probably crack. Theres nothing man makes like the feel of Wood or bone in your hand.

[tmiller5087]

I made my ex a set of kitchen knives with hidden tangs.......used rubber hose for handles, she left them when she left me . If anyones interested I would coincider letting them go for the right price. kinda rusty though

[christian609]

I have made a few kitchen knives with canvas micarta. People have told me it grips even better when it gets wet. Its available in black and other colors. Its alot stronger than some of the plastics they use on alot of the commercial stuff.