# Re-handle questions.



## jphy (Jan 25, 2015)

I recently bought a suisin hayate light, however the handle is quite a disaster. I have a complete woodshop that I use for hobby type projects around the house. From watching some videos it seems like it would not be too much of a challenge for me to create a wa handle that is more fitting of master Doi's forge work. That all being said I have some questions mostly pertaining to wood choices. 

What type of wood is going to be easiest for me to work with as far as my first re-handle goes. 

I would like to burn this handle on as it seems to be easier to remove it, if I manage to install the handle out of square or out of rotational indexing, does wood choice have a direct effect on ease of this process?

Has anyone played with sealing a burned in handle at just the choil area? Once i get a handle I like built and installed I would like to seal out water, so I can be less vigilant when washing around the choil area.

Do you think it would be worth my while to buy a cheaper wa handled knife to experiment on? Not that my suisin is ungodly expensive, but i definitely spent 2 years of my typical knife budget in one day, I'd rather not damage it.


Thanks for reading, and or replying. I did read the forum rules and would like to reiterate that I have no interest in pursuing handles as a profession.


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## daveb (Jan 25, 2015)

Welcome. I've nothing to offer re making handles but if you do a google search on WIP (work in progress) and handles there have been a few threads that could almost serve as tutorials. Syntax would be "site:kitchenknifeforums.com search terms here" or "site:kitchenknifeforums.com handle WIP"

You may also want to consider farming it out to one of the handle makers on the forum.


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## pkjames (Jan 25, 2015)

+1 on the WIP thread by mikey. Very informative with a lot of details. 

Wood choice is definitely a big concern if you decide to do a burn in installation. If the tang hole is not pre-burnt / pre-drilled properly, you may have a hard time doing burn in on a hard wood since the wood will turn into charcoal and you may get stuck. Softer wood is easier to do burn in but it does not look as good as hard wood like ebony.

IMO, the easier way is to make a big enough hole on the handle itself and a smaller slot on the ferrule so the handle can be installed with precision and ease, then you glue / fill the gap.


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## jphy (Jan 25, 2015)

Wow, that is quite the post, thanks for steering me in that direction daveb.


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