How do I make steel knife handles less slippery?

Maybe you can somehow add a rubber grip to the handle. Some stores may customize one for you, or they might have premade ones for certain models.

EDIT I think they have some that you freely take on and off, so it’s not gonna ruin the knife handle like taping it would.

If it’s stainless steel, and it probably is, little cleaning is required. Just wash it like you would kitchen knives, and make sure it dries relatively quickly.

If you’re not too concerned with keeping the shiny surface, I would sand it with medium grit emery paper. If you want it maintain its beauty AND improve friction, I would have the handle sand blasted.

knurling the handles would solve the slickness, even if they were oily, it still looks nice but it would look different than they do now.

I second the sandblasting. Sandpaper would work, but it would be uneven and ugly.

Is this knife a real tool or is it a safe queen? If it is going to be utilized as a tool you do whatever it takes because we are seeking functional. If you want to have pretty, probably should get one to use, you know one that will grow some character marks…and then get one for display. You should see one of my Kalashnikov’s. It looks like it was dragged behind a Hylux through the Khyber Pass, but it runs like a raped ape. Looks like shit but there is a lot of freedom to be had with something where cosmetic features are a non issue. It gets used a lot more than the others.

Get some ugly green tape and be creative.

If you don’t want to alter the knife, ‘alter’ your hand. Wear a glove with a rubber palm grip.

The part that gets me is that the only way to make the grips less slippery is to alter it. Polished metal is slippery, and there is no way around that. In fact, cleaning it will make it worse! The only thing you can do is “unpolish” it, either by covering it, or by making permanent alterations.

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!

Have you ever noticed that things designed to be gripped are never polished smooth? My steel-handled knives all came with handles that were either knurled or have a sandblasted finish on the part where the fingers so. Any knife with mirror handles is only good for a display case.

To back up what @woodcutter says, I remember an old farmer buddy of mine had a knife that looked like hell and was probably older than me, but had an edge on it that would make scalpels look dull. He explained to me that the only pretty knives are those that are never used. And I have a couple of old knifes in my kitchen that back this up.

If you really don’t want to change the look of the knife, you could maybe consider dusting your hands with the kind of powdered rosin gymnasts use.