Porsche is arguably the most engineering driven sport car company the world knows. Wood seems like a bad material choice,
OK for an old Jag or Triumph , not a 928. I'd stick with the o e handle and go another route.
But since you are still looking for options,
my '04 Cayenne door handle is plastic with a satin metallic finish but you'd swear it was solid metal.
I know it cannot be, and further examination proved it is plastic.
it's even cool to the touch, can plastic be plated these days?? must be.
I guess someone should google that.
Look into that process, maybe someone can 'plate' them for you who knows.
May be an option, i have seen plenty of plastic objects with a chrome or satin metal finish

Matt

 

As far as I'm concerned (OP), I am especially interested in an interior door handle that will not break when I want to leave the car. I like the idea of Porsche engineering this item to "give way" to protect the internal mechanics, but once the plastic is over 30 years old, who knows what is left of the original strength? I have been thinking about strengthening it fom the back but that seems far fetched and the weak part could be omewhere else, like at the rotating point or where it holds the rod for the lock. Perhaps a new one is the only option.

 

Pretty sure you can't actually plate plastic in the truly scientific definition, you can "chrome" plastic but it isn't deposited on the plastic by electrolysis, it's by what they call vacuum metallizing. Cheap way of chroming anything.

 

Right, you cannot plate plastic which does not conduct.

It got me looking at the Cayenne handles which are very nice. They are brushed horizontally and have a satin platinum finish. This look could be done very easily on a belt sander with a 400 gt belt and a good quality can of satin metallic paint.

Re the handle "giving way",that is not what i was trying to say, sorry.

To have a solid over-built metal lever with their mechanism,
may sort of be like
designing a wrist watch with a big wing nut on the stem to wind it.
Eventually someone would way over wind and break it.
Or over time damage it more and more because you cannot feel the added pressure you're exerting.

Anyway enough said, good luck with it.
Matt

 

Keep in mind, these are the people that used balsa wood for the slats on the rear fenders of the slant nose 930S. One of the few ways to tell an original from a replica.

But on topic - I had always thought it would be great if someone was selling black anodized interior door handles. It does see to be the only thing "cheap looking" in an otherwise very elegant interior.