Recommendation? Chefs knife handle material

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BOLD1

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While I love doing this as a hobby that is all its has been for the last couple years. Mostly making knives for friends and family. Yesterday I was approached by a Lady I have only met a couple of times and she wants me to make a chefs knife for her son that is a chef. This is a Christmas/congratulations on a promotion gift for him so I can't ask him details on this knife. My concern is material that can be used in a commercial kitchen setting. She wants it to have a unique special handle, but left the choice up to me to select. She did mention that he has several knives so there is no guarantee that this will be used at work or home. I am looking at some stabilized hardwoods but was not sure if they are good to go in a work setting for a chef. Can stabilized wood be used in a commercial setting? What other handle material would you suggest?
 
g10 or micarta is top choice -- there are many unique looking types available. Stabilized hardwoods or even natural woods like rosewoods or ironwoods are also common. Stay away from anything cross grain or burl unless it is very stable/strong. In my experience these type of woods are inherently weaker and take far more care. Think about dropping the knife on a hard floor. Would it survive?
 
Micarta is a very good choice. If using a stabilized wood, pick one that has a tight grain (stabilization does not fully fill large pore wood). Most of the professional chefs I make knives for like a black canvas/linen Micarta handle with Corby bolts.

G-10 is good for a shinier handle, but I hate working with it because it makes me itch and I don't like the "clingy" dust. You have to use a wet saw to cut it without ruining the blade. It is really bad to breathe, so use good dust collection and a PAPR or full filter respirator.
 
Shade tree used to make/still makes unique laminate handle materials and offered them in the for sale her.
 
There's a chance that a pro chef may not bring a blingy custom to work depending on their work environment. A couple of reasons is that it's possible to be damaged by an idiot or stolen by a thief. But... since you can't ask the end user, might as well go with the best options mentioned.
 
Though we know that a quality stabilized wood handle is very durable in a kitchen, without being able to talk to the end user, i'd go with a laminate resin. I just did some kitchen knives in black linen micarta and I love it.

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And these are G-10. A lot easier to grind and finish in my opinion. But like Stacy said, the dust is worse.

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Depending on where he works, any wood handle knife may be a code violation. The inspector won't care if it's stabilized or not. This may vary state to state.
 
Had a guy contact me the other day about making a chefs knife he could take to work. He said the kitchen he works in doesn't allow wood handled knives. So to be safe you might want to pass on wood.
 
Thanks for all the replies. G10 and Micarta are on the list that I know would not be a code violation for him. I was not sure about wood handles even if they are stabilized. At this point I am just doing some research and planning until I finish what I am working on now. I looked up Shadetree and like a the variety they offer. I will keep them in mind. I do have the proper PPE for working with G10 or Micarta. The facemask I have has worked great when I have done some African Blackwood handles.
 
Kevin McGovern said:
And these are G-10. A lot easier to grind and finish in my opinion. But like Stacy said, the dust is worse.

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Those look awesome Kevin.
This is what I am working on now AEBL with African blackwood. Its not finished. I ran out of corby bolts so the center pin is temporary.
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BOLD1 said:
Those look awesome Kevin.
This is what I am working on now AEBL with African blackwood. Its not finished. I ran out of corby bolts so the center pin is temporary.
rQjYz2o.jpg

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I really like it. Simple, tastefull and appears very capable. By examples are Nitro-v and AEB-L
 
For a home use knife, the sky's the limit, but for a commercial kitchen, the only choices ater Micarta and G-10. As I said, I rarely get an order for a chef's knife in wood. Most of the time it is ordered in wood it is from a person who is not the chef, but a parent or friend. I suspect the gift ends up at the chef's home and gets little use.


BTW - it is chef's knife, not chefs knife.
 
Thanks Stacy. And yes English is my first language but I still suck at spelling, grammar and punctuation. My wife was a English tutor at the local collage I should get her to double check my posts.:)
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
For a home use knife, the sky's the limit, but for a commercial kitchen, the only choices ater Micarta and G-10. As I said, I rarely get an order for a chef's knife in wood. Most of the time it is ordered in wood it is from a person who is not the chef, but a parent or friend. I suspect the gift ends up at the chef's home and gets little use.


BTW - it is chef's knife, not chefs knife.
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I did a handle in G-10 and solid surface recently. Not sure if there is a code preventing the use of solid surface in a professional kitchen, but it seems extraordinarily unlikely unless said code is just poorly conceived.

Some of the solid surface materials have spectacular figure and shaotiance. They are decently tough to boot. They can be somewhat heavy compared to other options, so mind the weight.
 
E.Carlson said:
Depending on where he works, any wood handle knife may be a code violation. The inspector won't care if it's stabilized or not. This may vary state to state.
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I agree. I've worked in food service in a few states and they all have laws to the effect of "non-porous, easily cleaned handles" somewhere in the mix. I've had to remove a knife from service because it looked like it had a wood handle and the inspector didn't care to listen to reasoning that it was not actually wood. "Get rid of it now or take an infraction" was the only response.

Plus that black linen micarta is beautiful.
 
ten-six said:
I agree. I've worked in food service in a few states and they all have laws to the effect of "non-porous, easily cleaned handles" somewhere in the mix. I've had to remove a knife from service because it looked like it had a wood handle and the inspector didn't care to listen to reasoning that it was not actually wood. "Get rid of it now or take an infraction" was the only response.

Plus that black linen micarta is beautiful.
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FWIW Ever seen the funk and gunk that gathers in the grooves on the handle of a Dexter Russell Sanisafe handle, which they love, or check the cullens on the blade where stuff can be also.

I've seen scary stuff come out of commercial kitchens.
 
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