Evolution of the Weber handle (Plastic)

[Timothy Hoffman]

Here are a couple shots showing the difference between 3 Weber handles. The first photo shows the new dark grey, the middle one is the type used for the last 5-6+ years. The bottom one is from my 1998 Performer.

This next pic shows the insides. Same order as the last photo. Notice how there is less plastic and more hollow area in the newer handles? This is to help reduce cost I am sure. I wonder how it will effect the handle heating up?

 

[George Curtis]

interesting. thanks for that. still not a fan of the plastic though.

 

[Andy Erickson]

I have the middle plastic handle on my performer and it is sometimes very hot. So hot, that I can't keep my hand on it. I also have the same handle on my chimney and it is always too hot to handle with bare hands.

 

[Joon O]

I have the old wood handle. So good.

 

[Guest]

Hey Timothy,

Thanks for the info. Where did you get the newer drak grey handle from? I would like to get one.

 

[Phil Perrin]

This is why I'm going to make some wood handles for my Webers this next year. I've got some cedar leftover from a project.

 

[JSMcdowell]

The top model is on my '10 Performer. Last night I was doing Kettle Fried Chicken at about 450 and realized how hot that handle gets and about burned my hand. I always have a welding glove laying around, I will make sure to use it when doing higher heats.

Phil, you should just start selling them!

 

[TroyRedington]

i have a '10 performer with the dark grey handle,
but I've never had any serious heat issues.

Even when i get a CRAZY hot bed of coals going, the handle isn't too hot to touch. Hot? Yes. But it's never been too hot to slide the lid into the side tuck thingie.

 

[Craig H]

As far as the design of the plastic one's go, I prefer the shape of the first (1998) one. It looks more like the old wooden handles. They seem to have gotten more "sophisticated" looking over the last 10 years. The new dark ones...not a fan! But that wouldn't stop me from picking up a brick red OTG if Weber ever decides to offer one in that color.

 

[Mike Durso]

less material less mass less heat.

the wood ones are too $$ to make and the nylon 6/6 handle is considerably cheaper. it also hold up under weather and UV better than wood.

the actual temperatures that the handles are when you're cooking are the same. the wood just feels cooler buy how it transfers the heat away.

 

[Chris E]

Wood does absorb less heat than the plastic. I like the darker shade of the new handles. My light gray handles are all dirty from soot.

Wood handles are a piece of cake to make and if you have a router you can make them exctly like the originals except for the weber logo.

Cedar handles out of some leftover fence post or siding work fine and are easy to cut. I'm going to use some teak for my grills--looks good and wears like iron in the weather.

 

[Craig H]

Rethinking what I said earlier in the thread. I think that I would take the dark shade of the 2010-11 handle but make it the shape of the 1998 one. That is, if I HAD to have plastic handles. I went as far as changing the handle on my chimney by taking the one so-so condition wood handle off my <span class="ev_code_RED">red</span> 22.5 (i got all new wood ones for the 22.5 Dad has a router

) and put it on the chimney. The plastic ones sit in the garage.

 

[JSMcdowell]

I definitely agree, I like the color of the dark the best. My '02 WSM handle is pretty dirty, but the '10 Performer handle still looks unused.

 

[Ron G.]

You know:

If someone had access to a router and some scrap teak / lignum vitae / other suitable durable wood - you could probably make a jig that would let you quickly and easily bang-out wood handles.

I'll bet that if you did this, and set-up a site on E-Bay or something - someone could make a bit of beer / golf / fishing money......

 

[Kaz S]

I for one would very much like to see some pics of the wood handles too!

I found it extremely tough to find any good photos of the wood handles when making a handle. I just had to figure it out on my own. And this week I found a wood handle off a '98 (EZ) OTS. Much different than what I was thinking. And this handle I got was faded silver with smokey black edges and most of the emblem faded off. So I was looking all over the site for pics to see what color the handles were earlier to refinish it. I ended up just sanding it down and applying restorative oil to save as much of the orignal color as possible and a few coats of polyurethane. It now looks great and looks right in place on my old wsm. But it sure would of been nice to have some pics of some wood handles installed and/or uninstalled.

Also if someone had a plotter for vinyl decals you could cut a negative image apply that to the handle then stencil the logo onto the wood.

Edit: found this photo.

Is this the same as the wood handle lid logo from the 90's?

I'm sure a vinyl sticker place could make this work for u. They would do a reverse image apply that to the wood handle and then spray paint it black and peel off the sticker when it dries.

 

[Kaz S]

Pic of the refinished handle off a '98 OTS to go on my '90 WSM

Does the color/stain look right?

 

[Jeff Kolodziejski]

Hard to tell Kaz. You have some bad lighting and shadows going on, along with the blue background. Try taking a few other pics of them.

 

[Kaz S]

Ok. Here is another one. I can take more tho.

And yep, I too found the K comp for cheap at home depot yesterday. Bought the last 3 bags. You guys are great!

 

[Kaz S]

How bout an installed picture. Does this look like the right color stain? What color should the logo be? Black or brown?

 

[Chris E]

Originally posted by kaz S:
Ok. Here is another one. I can take more tho.

And yep, I too found the K comp for cheap at home depot yesterday. Bought the last 3 bags. You guys are great!

Can you post a pic of these upside down? i believe the underside piece has a groove in it to accept the metal frame. I think the top piece is flat underneath.