I like the old Gerber Kitchen knives so I purchased one on eBay. The handle is of cast aluminum with a textured black finish. Note that they also make the same knife but with a Walnut handle.

01_gerber_handle.jpg

Notice that there is a flaw on the handle near the blade.

02_gerber_handle.jpg

I read that this is cast aluminum with a "textured" black finish. I also read that these knives were prone to heavy flaking and chipping of the handle finish with repeated dishwasher exposure. I have never seen a knife that is dull, I mean "prop knife dull". It is insane how dull it is. For me, making it sharp will be easy, however. Not sure what I should do about that flaking part on the blade. Also unsure why it has some odd coloring there. I scraped it off with my finger nail and it looks like I might have pull some of that textured finish off when I did it. On the other hand, it also look like that yellow stuff is around the rivet.

I am considering just trying to paint that particular section with "textured black finish" if I had any idea what it really is. Then again, I might just drill out the rivets and rehandle the knife.

I have two knifes (cheap Henkels) that have cracked plastic handles that I intend to rehandle. I also have this exact same knife with a Walnut handle that I intend to rehandle because there is a chunk out of the handle; but I liked the knife so much I have just been using it.

I have some Cocobola that I figured I could use for the scales, so I would need to figure out a decent finish for Cocobola (probably just buff it and wax).

Andy