The problem I see with burning in the tang of a kitchen knife to avoid the need to drill holes larger in diameter than the thickness of the tang is that, in order to burn in a tang you need to drill hole to the depth you want it (which is what most guys do who burn them in), which would defeat the purpose right off the bat since you would need to use a drill that is long enough, which will be larger than your tang's thickness. If you were trying to actually create the hole in the handle merely by burning, I just could't see that working. Even if you were able to get down into the wood far enough, you would need to get the tang so hot so many times that the front of the handle would be scorched open anyway, which would also defeat the purpose of trying to avoid a larger hole to get a nice, clean and tight fit.
I've just done what is already mentioned above using the dowel method, but I also use hidden pins to keep the "ferrule" (and spacer) in line and to avoid any spinning during glue up etc., and as also mentioned, I also drill about half way into the ferrule from its backside for the dowel to partially fit into, which will give the section where the handle and ferrule meet up more strength than if merely epoxied together, at least that's how I feel.
TIP, use a Forstner bit to drill out the hole for the dowel, it'll go much smoother than a standard twist drill, which I found out the hard way
. On my most recent one, the handle was a bit too light with regard to the knife's balance so I switched out the poplar dowel for an oak one, since it's a denser and thus heavier wood.
I was thinking that if I ever needed more weight than an oak dowel (as well as the epoxy after filling up the handle) could provide, I'd just drill the dowel hole a bit deeper and cut off a 1/2" or so section of mild steel round stock in the same diameter as the dowel, and then place it at the bottom of the hole. Or if you were trying to be more precise you could use aluminum, brass, copper etc. for however much extra weight ya need.
This is one advantage of forging kitchen knives, as you can leave the tang thicker for more strength (or needed balance) and be able use a longer drill bit while still being able to get a precise fit up. I've also seen some makers using stock removal begin with 1/8" stock (I've also seen up to 1/4") and grind the blade to the thickness they wanted while simply leaving the tang area thicker, almost like an integral, but not with a prominent bolster, just a thicker tang with an area sort of like a narrow ricasso.
-(edited for clarity & typos)
~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
impossible mission at least for me ,used 2mm thick steel cool down too fast + I end up with maybe over 4mm hole in nice walnut 
