Decided to make my own knife...advice would be welcome

It's a sweet drawing and a cool fantasy style knife and I know you said it will be down the road but damn that's going to be way down the road. I think lucy nailed it when he said to buy the steel and have a company make it.

You said if you wanted a hunting knife you would just go buy it. That's not a very good attitude to start with when planning to make knives. I would rather carry and use a crappy hunk of steel I made instead of buying a mass produced knife. Hell it's much more rewarding knowing you are using a knife you labored over for hours and seeing it put to use.
 
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Personally, I think the design would appeal to teenagers and young adults. Anyone with any real interest in using a knife would have no use for that. Kinda reminds me of a couple of my early designs in that regard. My designs were smaller and were (like yours) clearly never meant to be used for anything other than display.

It's a fantasy piece. Some people like fantasy pieces. Most don't. And even fewer respect them as working tools.

So perhaps you ought to acknowledge that isn't ever intended to cut anything but air and save the money you might otherwise invest in getting it heat treated.
 
One other bit of advice. Definitely go ahead and attempt to make it. If you are like me, the only way to get a design out of your head is to make the effort to achieve it. Doesn't matter who likes it and who hates it. It just matters that you see how well you can do with it. Because it doesn't need to be a "real" knife, you can break all the rules with impunity. And then once you've cleared the way for better designs, you can get serious about making knives, if you choose to do so.
 
Ok that design is a bit over the top. But there are some smiths that make over the top pieces. You'd probably save money and lots and lots of time by paying an accomplished smith a few grand to make that knife. If you were to colaborate with an experienced maker he could probably tweak it enough to actually make if function the way you want and still look like what you want. Function is much more important.
 
OK so first off let me apologize for my last comment, it sound way snarkier than I meant it to. Lack of sleep and coffee before posting not recommended. Check. Secondly let me give you a bit of my background, while this may be the first knife I am attempting to build from scratch it is not the first major build i have undertaken. I know my way around a shop pretty well and have built all kinds of things and used everything from a plasma cutter to an arc welder and then some. I know that doesn't mean I can make a super awesome knife right off the bat, and while i will probably grind out a basic knife blade on the different metals to see how each metal feels on the various machines its not my end goal and not what I wanted critiques on. I can design a basic hunters knife or straight up copy one of the dozen that i own. while I understand that it is vital and good practice i am going to do them but its not my end goal. I have over a dozen various hunting knives and doubt that i can really do anything meaningful to improve upon the ones i have from bark river, busse, swamp rat, esee or the custom ones I already have. The goal of this is to make something I don't have, that I haven't ever had and haven't seen available anywhere. And while I fully understand that I have to go through the basics to get to there and I can't skip them there are dozens of threads that I have read and 100s of youtube videos I have seen that go over all the basics. I am fully aware of this being a very difficult project, but thats kinda what I want. I am doing this because I have some extra time and some extra money and thought this would be a fun way to spend the time and money. If it ends up that I can't even come close to this after a while and I just get bored or it isn't progressing i may just have the design sent out to a friend of mine with a 5 axis CNC milling machine and mill it out for me and ill just put the edges on it. But before I go to that I would like to take a crack at it myself. I like a challenge... So getting back to the knives themselves I received some really handy critiques and have adjusted the designs. I will repost and go for round 2 on the critiques.
 
Like I said before, just go ahead and make the best effort you can.

Personally, I don't understand why you are obsessed with breaking your pinky finger. But hey, whatever moves ya.

Try cutting it out in wood first. I'd bet money you'll change the handle design.
 
tryppyr said:
Like I said before, just go ahead and make the best effort you can.

Personally, I don't understand why you are obsessed with breaking your pinky finger. But hey, whatever moves ya.

Try cutting it out in wood first. I'd bet money you'll change the handle design.
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Thats the plan after I get the designs finalized. I wanted to cut out the designs in both 1/8 in hardboard and 1/4 plywood. I was going to cut out the basic shape of the handles as well and glue it onto the wooden blank to see if it feels comfortable.
 
Edit: Not trying to sound like a jerk.

Look, the advice you have received has been, at least the way I read it, an attempt to keep you from jumping in way over your head, failing, and giving up on a rewarding hobby/profession/craft. Take it as such.
 
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Lucy,

Would you mind if I picked your brain about the designs then?

This is what I was trying to accomplish with the designs:

1. i wanted a spear point on the knife, its my prefered knife point. I would be open to other suggestions if there was a really compelling reason.

2. I wanted a recurve on the blades, i find it helps to cut better, and I like the profile more.

3. I wanted a glass breaker on the end so hence the pointed butt of the knife. any reason not to have that?

4. I wanted some kind of retention aid for the knife, hence the half ring. I dint want to go full on ring, its ok on the Krambit but I just didnt think it would be useful here. I didnt want to go full on hand guard, its to butish, not legal in a lot of places, and just ugly in my opinion.

5. I like a thumb ramp i feel it lends to more control on finer cutting task or when pushing harder through dense materials.

I am very open to adjusting the designs and will continue to do so to the best of my ability. Please feel free to tell me what you think should be different.
 
My 2 cents on knife designing - do make sure you test out your design first through prototyping i.e. cutting out of cardboards or like me through the use of modelling clay. I know I saved myself a lot of time (and I really mean a lot) by prototyping my designs before even touching any steel. I easily went over 20-30 CAD design revisions and 10-ish prototypes before I was sufficiently comfortable to get the steel cut and hit the grinder. Prototype and you will be able to know for yourself if question 4 & 5 you are good for you.

Also on design; think of what you want the knife for rather than what you want in the knife. The unfortunate truth would be that there can never be a "one knife fits all" design.

Hope this helps!
 
Rasksasa said:
My 2 cents on knife designing - do make sure you test out your design first through prototyping i.e. cutting out of cardboards or like me through the use of modelling clay. I know I saved myself a lot of time (and I really mean a lot) by prototyping my designs before even touching any steel. I easily went over 20-30 CAD design revisions and 10-ish prototypes before I was sufficiently comfortable to get the steel cut and hit the grinder. Prototype and you will be able to know for yourself if question 4 & 5 you are good for you.

Also on design; think of what you want the knife for rather than what you want in the knife. The unfortunate truth would be that there can never be a "one knife fits all" design.

Hope this helps!
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Thanks for the tip! I just ordered some modeling clay i think between that and carving the blank out of the 1/4 plywood and using the modeling clay to make the grips I should have a fairly decent mockup. I will do that as soon as I have the design closer to being finalized. As far as what I would like the knives to do: the large one I envision as a good chopper and heavy duty knife. Battoning, chopping, clearing some brush if needs be. I know its not a machete and dont expect it to perform like one clearing light brush. The middle knife I envision as my all around work horse. The knife I turn to to do most things reasonably well. I want to be able to baton through some firewood if necessary, I want to be able to do camp work, even just whittle if i have nothing else to do. As a second I would like it to be able to use for self defense if need be. The smallest of the three i would like to be able to do some more delicate work with just something I have a bit more control over.

To be honest I dont have a huge "need" that has to be fulfilled by these knives that I dont have a dozen other that can do the same job. I know it wont fillet a fish as well as a fillet knife and it wont be as good at chopping wood as an ax but i just want something that does most things reasonably well. Another thing is that I find it really hard to take my $1200 into the woods and abuse the crap out of. I feel bad. This i figure since i made it and maybe make more than one I wont feel as bad taking out and just having some fun with it.
 
proteus375 said:
Lucy,

Would you mind if I picked your brain about the designs then?

This is what I was trying to accomplish with the designs:

1. i wanted a spear point on the knife, its my prefered knife point. I would be open to other suggestions if there was a really compelling reason.

2. I wanted a recurve on the blades, i find it helps to cut better, and I like the profile more.

3. I wanted a glass breaker on the end so hence the pointed butt of the knife. any reason not to have that?

4. I wanted some kind of retention aid for the knife, hence the half ring. I dint want to go full on ring, its ok on the Krambit but I just didnt think it would be useful here. I didnt want to go full on hand guard, its to butish, not legal in a lot of places, and just ugly in my opinion.

5. I like a thumb ramp i feel it lends to more control on finer cutting task or when pushing harder through dense materials.

I am very open to adjusting the designs and will continue to do so to the best of my ability. Please feel free to tell me what you think should be different.
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Rather thank pick apart your reasoning, I think it might help to ask you to think about why you want the things you want.

You want a spear point... but what functional purpose does a spear point serve that you want to leverage? What makes spear point superior for you?

About the "recurve"... are you not concerned that the blade will get hung up when using it? You say it helps to cut better, but it effectively makes 2/3rds of the blade inaccessible in most situations. How does that help cutting?

What purpose is served by putting a glass breaker on a knife that has an ax for a blade already?

Regarding the "retention aid", is there some use to which you want to put the tool that will result in the blade being pulled forward out of your hand? And are you really sure putting that force on your pinky finger is going to help things in that situation? I think it's more likely to injure you than help.

And the thumb ramp... the blade you drew isn't going to be for slicing anyway, so when would the thumb ramp ever get used?

What you seem to have created is a "tour de force" knife, where you arbitrarily mixed together what looks good to you without really considering whether they actually serve a useful purpose. As I said before, I did much the same when I was starting and made some pretty silly looking KSOs (knife shaped objects). It's all good, so long as you aren't pretending they serve a purpose. But when you start up that pretense you set yourself up for arguments about whether/how they can be used (especially in combination with one another).

There's a reason most knives are simple. They work better that way. The more complicated a design is the more specialized and narrow its uses are... even to the point where the number of uses narrows to 1 (display case queen or wall hanger).

It's cool to make KSOs just because you like the way they look. Some people even like to buy stuff like that. I know of one maker who I've seen in this forum that specializes in fantasy knives like what you've drawn. I presume he makes pretty good money selling to folks like you that want them.

- Greg
 
tryppyr said:
Rather thank pick apart your reasoning, I think it might help to ask you to think about why you want the things you want.

You want a spear point... but what functional purpose does a spear point serve that you want to leverage? What makes spear point superior for you?

About the "recurve"... are you not concerned that the blade will get hung up when using it? You say it helps to cut better, but it effectively makes 2/3rds of the blade inaccessible in most situations. How does that help cutting?

What purpose is served by putting a glass breaker on a knife that has an ax for a blade already?

Regarding the "retention aid", is there some use to which you want to put the tool that will result in the blade being pulled forward out of your hand? And are you really sure putting that force on your pinky finger is going to help things in that situation? I think it's more likely to injure you than help.

And the thumb ramp... the blade you drew isn't going to be for slicing anyway, so when would the thumb ramp ever get used?

What you seem to have created is a "tour de force" knife, where you arbitrarily mixed together what looks good to you without really considering whether they actually serve a useful purpose. As I said before, I did much the same when I was starting and made some pretty silly looking KSOs (knife shaped objects). It's all good, so long as you aren't pretending they serve a purpose. But when you start up that pretense you set yourself up for arguments about whether/how they can be used (especially in combination with one another).

There's a reason most knives are simple. They work better that way. The more complicated a design is the more specialized and narrow its uses are... even to the point where the number of uses narrows to 1 (display case queen or wall hanger).

It's cool to make KSOs just because you like the way they look. Some people even like to buy stuff like that. I know of one maker who I've seen in this forum that specializes in fantasy knives like what you've drawn. I presume he makes pretty good money selling to folks like you that want them.

- Greg
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Very well said.
 
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