When I first started making handles for Japanese knives I didn’t have access to many product examples to compare so I searched the internet for a sizing chart of sorts. It turns out there wasn’t a very detailed one. The best I could find was mainly just “length of handle versus length of blade”, but it didn’t get into any specifics. I kept searching and found pieces of information here and there until I pieced together some good proportions to start testing. You find out pretty quick on prep-heavy days what works and what doesn’t. After a lot of personal experimentation and feedback from others in the kitchen these are my go to dimensions for a Gyuto / Chef knife:
Octagonal Wa-Handle Dimensions
Blade length: 210-270 mm Handle length: 135 mm Ferrule end width: 18 mm Ferrule end height: 23 mm Butt end width: 20 mm Butt end height: 26 mm Chamfers: 5 mm marked in from corner.
I find these dimensions work well for a few different reasons. The handle is big enough to house the tang of the knife without becoming structurally weak or feeling too bulky. The slight taper toward the blade is balanced and gives a good secure grip without giving the feeling your hand is creeping forward. The handle is a good length for fitting a wide range of hands but not long enough that you find it hitting your wrist when doing detail work with the tip of the blade.
Shaping an Octagonal Wa-Handle
I like to use all natural wood for my knife handles, in my opinion there is no substitute for the feel of natural wood for a tool handle. The method for shaping that I’ll be showing here doesn’t require a bunch of fancy machinery or expensive tools.
I should mention that the butt end and ferrule end square (90 degrees) to the top of the handle. This makes the top of the handle in line with the spine of the knife and the bottom face of the handle taper up toward the blade. Both sides taper in from the butt end toward the blade. I account for all of this when doing my layout, which is why you’ll notice my tang slot is up from centre at first.
After glue-up I like to take a couple shavings off the top face of the handle to give me a good reference point for marking out the centre of the handle along with the tang slot.
Once I’ve established centre and marked the tang slot I drill out some pilot holes to start the slot.
At this point I start connecting the pilot holes using the drill at an angle. After that I move on to digging it out with a jig saw blade held with a small pair of vice grips. Then square things up and refine the slot with some small files.
Once the tang is tightly fitted, I begin layout of the handle shape. I find it better to fit the blade before shaping the handle so that when making the tang slot, if I go slightly out of square I can easily adjust the layout to account for it. Going the other way (shaping the handle and then cutting and fitting the tang slot) means it needs to be 100% perfect out of the gate or you’re going to have spend a great deal of time tweaking the fit. More than likely you’ll end up having to bin the handle because you’ll end up with a skewed fit or a slot way bigger than intended.
Working from my top reference face, first I mark the 18 mm wide, 23 mm tall ferrule end, followed by the 20 mm wide, 26 mm tall butt end.
Now I just plane down to my layout marks and I have established the dual taper of my handle.
Some people only eyeball the chamfers but I find it beneficial to have a visual aid of what I’m shooting for. It can be pretty difficult to mark out the chamfers accurately, which is probably why most people do only eyeball it. I made a handy little guide out of a scrap piece of walnut that gives me perfect 5 mm chamfers every time.
Once I have my chamfers marked I use my hand plane to remove material down to the line. I hold my plane in one hand and essentially use it like a mandoline (kitchen tool). The most import thing is to pay attention to grain orientation. It can look a bit wonky and be harder to keep track of once you’ve started. Lose track of it and you will quickly ruin your handle and have to start over.
At this point I’ll lap all the faces on a 320 grit sanding block. Then I’ll sand a small chamfer on the edge around the butt end and the ferrule end. This handle is now ready for finishing. My go-to for finishing woods that aren’t naturally water resistant is 100% pure Tung oil, followed by my custom wax polish.
I use epoxy to mount the blade and this knife is now ready to be put to work.
You can go ages without it happening, but eventually one of your knives will lose its tip. Whether it’s during dinner service and someone (definitely wasn’t you…) knocks it on the floor, or mysteriously you come back to your station from grabbing a coffee and no one knows what happened, but your beloved knife is missing its tip.
From what I have noticed, you really only see one school of thought on tip repair: just grind the bevel up to meet the spine of the knife. This seems to be how most sharpeners do it, and while it does give you back a pointed tip, it severely increases the belly of your knife.
Depending on how much of your tip is missing, there are two alternative methods to repairing your blade. The first method works best if only 1 cm or less has broken off. Simply grind down the spine to meet the existing bevel. The best part about doing it this way is you don’t alter the cutting edge of the blade in any way. The second method is if there has been well over 1 cm of material broken off. In this case you need to meet in the middle, grinding the spine down and the bevel up.
Repairing your broken tip using one of these alternate methods has the advantage of keeping the blade profile as close to the original as possible. This means the knife will perform and feel much like it did before. Do your clients a favour and repair their broken tip in this manner. When it comes to doing finer work that requires the tip of their knife, they will notice the difference and be grateful for it!
You don’t need any fancy equipment to do this but I would recommend using 60 grit sandpaper adhered to a flat stable surface instead of your waterstone. I use much the same motions as when sharpening except I gradually increase the angle to 90 degrees as I’m shaping to create a square edged spine.
I discovered some Japanese style handle makers out there use a method of construction involving a dowel insert. Essentially the handle and ferrule are drilled out to receive a matching size dowel with a slot cut from the dowel to fit the tang of the blade. I found this method has a few advantages for assembly and makes tang fitting a little easier.
I decided to try it on my Tojiro knives that needed some upgrading.
Knife Specs
Type: Tojiro Shirogami Gyuto Length: 210 mm Steel: Shirogami #2 (white #2) Handle Shape: Octagonal Handle Material: Claro Walnut, Wild Apple wood Handle Length: 135 mm Ferrule: 30 mm Ferrule End Width: 18 mm Ferrule End Height: 23 mm Butt End Width: 21 mm Butt End Height: 26 mm
Type: Tojiro Shirogami Petty Length: 150 mm Steel: Shirogami #2 (white #2) Handle Shape: Octagonal Handle Material: Claro Walnut, Wild Apple wood Handle Length: 120 mm Ferrule: 28 mm Ferrule End Width: 15 mm Ferrule End Height: 18 mm Butt End Width: 18 mm Butt End Height: 21 mm
Saya – Knife Covers: Poplar
Walnut and Apple squared up and ready for drilling.
To mark the dowels I start by marking the end with the thickness I want. Then I lay it flat along the mouth of my vise and use the jaw as a ruler. Rotating the dowel as required.
Holes drilled to receive dowel insert. The tang slot in the dowel will be paired down with a chisel to better fit the tang. The ferrule will be rough fitted to the tang before assembly.
Using two clamps during glue-up allows you to insert the knife tang to ensure the dowel is aligned correctly.
I find it easier to mark out my chamfers so I know exactly what I’m aiming for. I do this on both ends because grain direction can change and it requires planing from either end.
I lightly sand with 220 grit to break sharp edges.
First coat of Tung oil on the gyuto handle.
First coat of Tung oil on the gyuto handle.
Six coats of Tung oil applied with cheesecloth. A dry piece of cheesecloth is used to burnish in between coats.
Dry fitting handles.
Making a saya without the handle is easier to do when possible. This way you don’t have to cut out the notch for the handle first, making it more stable against the stop when chiselling out the waste.
Marking and cutting out the retaining pin hole is best saved for near the end.
It is always better to have the blade spine and cutting edge in one solid piece opposed to directly over a glue line.
Finished Claro Walnut and Wild Apple handles with Poplar saya – knife covers.
Fujimoto Nashiji knives are made exclusively for Knifewear, a Canadian importer of high end Japanese knives. The core of the blade is Aogami #2 (blue #2) carbon steel clad in stainless steel. This gives all the benefits of a carbon steel knife with less maintenance since the only part that can rust is the exposed cutting edge.
The request for this knife was to make it stand out from the crowd. After some dialogue back and forth the only real request was that I use some funky figured wood. Here is what I came up with.
Knife Specs
Type: Fujimoto Nashiji Gyuto Length: 243 mm Steel: Aogami #2 (blue #2) Blade Height: 47 mm Tang Thickness: 6 mm Handle Shape: Octagonal Handle Material: Maple Burl, African Padauk, Ebony Handle Length: 143 mm Ferrule End Width: 19 mm Ferrule End Height: 23 mm Butt End Width: 21 mm Butt End Height: 26 mm
I particularly like the size and dual taper on this octagonal handle. It is a good size for a workhorse knife but is still nimble for finer work. The ferrule has been sealed around the tang of the knife with epoxy to prevent moisture from entering into the handle. The blade road was lightly polished out to give the knife a bit more of a refined look. I think the contrast with the hand hammered finish goes nicely. The knife was then hand sharpened on a progression of synthetic Japanese water stones and finally stropped with 0.5 micron compound (30,000 grit).
Original Fujimoto Nashiji Gyuto
The original burnt chestnut handle with plastic ferrule
The handle appeared to be burned in but then epoxied after.
Maple Burl block being ripped to thickness for the new handle blank.
One face of burl contains eyes and the perpendicular face shows radiant lines.
Ebony spacers. Helpful tip when using multiple woods for one handle is to try and have the grain of each wood going the same direction.
Handle blank mock up.
Marking out the tang slot. So far I’ve found I get cleaner results on the front ferrule face if I do these separately
Marking out reference lines on the outer faces ensures the tang slot is lined up even if the different stock is slightly different widths.
Epoxy is used for clear glue lines.
I have used the top as my reference face and marked out everything for my dual taper based off that.
Chamfers were cut by hand using my trusty taiwanese style hand plane. 5 mm marked in from the corners.
First coat of Tung Oil shows how deep red the Padauk can go.
The client asked if I had enough of the burl left to make the saya. I did technically but it required ripping and book matching.
Layout of the retaining pin and cut out for the ferrule.
The saya was proving difficult for relief carving out the slot for the knife so I opted for a laminated construction.
Rehandled Fujimoto Nashiji Gyuto
Maple burl saya with Ebony pin.
Colton Organ stamp!
Rehandled Fujimoto Nashiji Gyuto with Maple burl saya
Shun knives are quite popular in commercial kitchens. They’re very durable and usually treated as such. This early model Shun Classic 10 inch chef knife has seen hard use and better days. The blade is pretty badly curved and has seen frequent sharpening. The resin impregnated wood part of the handle is also twisted out of it’s seat. Let’s see what kind of shape we can bring this knife back to.
I had a different idea initially but due to the design of the “tang” the plan is to re-handle this knife using the existing D shape bolster and end cap as a guide. This knife has been retired for a while now and the owner doesn’t like how high the tip has been ground over it’s life. So in addition to thinning this knife behind the edge I will also re-profile the blade.
I marked out my stock for the handle and started drilling the holes to fit the “full composite-tang.” A method of tang construction I’ve never seen before. I imagine this is how all of Shun’s knives are constructed. I roughed out the D shape of the handle before assembling with epoxy.
Using a metal file I flushed up the wood and steel of the handle. Opposed to using a sandpaper block which just grinds the metal dust into the wood. Once I was happy with how the handle felt in the hand I moved on to finishing. I’ve been trying out Boiled Linseed Oil finish on my handles and with lots of coats it seems to hold up very well. It is not a film finish so you still get the feel of the wood in your hand. Unlike mineral oil, it is a drying oil so it does cure and this particular stuff is food contact safe.
I sharpen all my knives on a progression of Naniwa Professional Stones. Followed by stropping with 0.5 micron honing compound. That’s taking it to approximately 30,000 grit. Totally unnecessary since it won’t hold it very long but does it ever sing.
Shun Classic 10 inch from 2002. This knife has had approximately 4mm removed from sharpening over the years.
If you look closely you can see the lamination line, where the damascus cladding meets the VG-10 core. Note how the tip has been ground well above the original profile grind.
Hard to make out in the picture but the blade is curved in the middle in addition to being bent at the bolster.
I believe the story of how this handle was ripped out of alignment involved a frozen turkey during the holiday season. Sometimes you just need to make it happen haha
This was my initial idea for the re-profile. Making it more of a 210mm line knife.
After some thought, it made more sense to make it 240mm (9.5″). This would bring down the tip making it more useful but still keep the extra length for crushing prep tasks.
I was unsure of how Shun constructs their handles. My first thought was incorrect so I cut a couple notches and chipped away some of the handle. I was not expecting the hardware inside.
The threaded bit of the end cap was adhered into the handle. Once that bond was broken I was able to unscrew it and disassemble the handle.
Another view of the “Full Composite Tang” featured in the Shun Classic line.
Here is the blade after re-profiling down to 240mm. White Oak handle rough-shaped and ready for assembly.
After considerable sharpening a knife will start to get thicker as the cutting edge gets closer to the spine. Thinning will reduce the wedging effect and enhance the performance of the knife.
I marked out where I would ideally thin up to, removing all the marked lines. I made it about half way up to that point and was happy with the results.
Thinned behind the edge. Looking closely you can notice the hamon line now running 4mm parallel with the cutting edge. This is approximately what it would have been originally.
The finished product. The blade has been lightly hand sanded to remove most of the scratches and give it a more uniform look. Also rounding over the spine slightly to be a little easier on the hand while in the pinch grip.
The finished product. The blade has been lightly hand sanded to remove most of the scratches and give it a more uniform look. Also rounding over the spine slightly to be a little easier on the hand while in the pinch grip.
