Recommendation? Critique my Gyuto Design

On a Japanese knife and most kitchen blades, I wuld say it is pretty much a rule.
Besides aesthetics, the reason the handle should be parallel is both ergonomics and function. It allows a better control of the edge and eliminates excess force on the wrist in a cut.

Just to make it clear, the handle does not need to be the same size as the spine (as in a full tang), but is needs to be parallel. In the best scenario, the top of the handle should be fairly close to the line of the spine.
This image may help ( and provide some nomenclature):
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weo said:
Stacy, do you see this as a hard rule or not?
On kitchen knives with a shorter heel height, I will often make the center line of the tang follow a line to the point of the blade, which often raises the angle of the tang up slightly, allowing for a little more knuckle clearance.
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I do the same thing on a few knives. Even a very minor tilt can give good clearance and still look good to the eye. I wasn’t aware of any rules, maybe Stacy has the rule book :D
Make it function properly, make it aesthetically pleasing and put your own style into it.
 
There aren’t any rules of course and anyone is free to do what they want

but I can tell you as someone who sells an average of 14 kitchen knives a month to professional users, knowledgeable user enthusiasts and often repeat customers, that a handle cocked up is a no-no.

mathematicians correct me if I’m wrong... but one degree is .017 per inch so over a 5 inch handle that’s .085

and if anyone has read Murray Carter‘s book they know that 1 mm can make or break a knife design and flow
 
Let me show you an example of what I mean because I think the “tilt” may be lost in translation. Then I’ll drop it, my intention was not to confuse a new guy. Not sure whose knife this is, it’s just a pic of what I’m describing.
I’m not talking about a .085” rise, it is more subtle.
A1F65AD0-22A4-4A1F-8D56-89A83541CE6F.jpeg
 
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Josh Rider said:
Let me show you an example of what I mean because I think the “tilt” may be lost in translation. Then I’ll drop it, my intention was not to confuse a new guy. Not sure whose knife this is, it’s just a pic of what I’m describing.
I’m not talking about a .085” rise, it is more subtle.
View attachment 1366779
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Yes that looks good and it flows well. Looks like a very large radius that guides the handle “tilt” and flows into the spine of the knife.

that’s why earlier I was saying , let me see what the handle looks like, I don’t want to just see the tang
 
Josh Rider said:
Let me show you an example of what I mean because I think the “tilt” may be lost in translation. Then I’ll drop it, my intention was not to confuse a new guy. Not sure whose knife this is, it’s just a pic of what I’m describing.
I’m not talking about a .085” rise, it is more subtle.
View attachment 1366779
Click to expand...

That's a James Oatley. I think the lines work because the spine looks like it is a bit curvy and moving upwards in line with the handle, i.e. very large radius as suggested by Harbeer.
 
milkbaby said:
That's a James Oatley. I think the lines work because the spine looks like it is a bit curvy and moving upwards in line with the handle, i.e. very large radius as suggested by Harbeer.
Click to expand...
For sure. No abrupt stops, a nice subtle radius.
 
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