We repair broken knife handles and blades here in our Brantford Ontario shop. I get a lot of customers bringing me knives with cracked handles. Usually I am able to repair them, but the problem is easy to avoid with a little care – because the single biggest cause for cracked handles is putting knives in the dishwasher.
Putting knives in the dishwasher is extremely harmful for knives and will quickly lead to cracks forming in the handle material. The reason for this is the different materials within the handle itself which respond to changes in heat at different rates.
Rule #1 – No knives in dishwashers
Steel expands a lot when heated, and expands faster than most other materials. The material used for most commercial mass produced knives are various types of plastic, and sometimes wood. The handle material surrounds the steel inside the handle. When heated, the steel inside the handle expands faster than the handle material surrounding it, causing the handle to crack and break.
Below are sample pictures of cracked and broken knife handles that I typically get. Click on the photos and zoom in for a better look.
The heat cycles of your dishwasher will cause these breaks, because the steel expands faster than the plastic around it.
I HIGHLY recommend that you don’t put your knives in the dishwasher. All knives should be washed by hand and dried right after using them.
I was able to repair all the knives pictured above by replacing the cracked plastic of the original handles with beautiful new hardwood. Here’s the ‘after’ picture of these knives with the new handles.
If you happen to have knives with cracked or broken handles that you’d like fixed, I’m always happy to help. Please feel free to contact me.
For further advice on caring for your knives, please read the following on this site.
Thanks for reading todays post, and have a lovely day!
Like to cook? Check out this recipe website by one of my favourite cooks.
