Two Ways of Removing the Handles from Japanese Kitchen Knvies 

We often need to remove the handle from a traditional Japanese kitchen knife (comes with a WA handle).
Usually there are two ways of doing so:
1.Knocking the handle off the knife, applies to handles that are burnt-in the knife. Typically a ho-wood handle.
2. Heading the knife at 80 Celsius / 180 Farenthide, between 10 to 20 minutes, and pull the handle away from the knife. This method applies to knives with handles glued in using hot melt glue (Epoxyed handles do not apply). Many hardwood handles in Japan uses hot melt glue.
Note: if both methods fail, then there is a very high chance that the to-be-removed handle have to be removed with brute force, and in that case, it is unlikely the handle can be saved for future use.
Method 1: knocking (0:00)
Method 2: heating (2:44)