Dreaming of designing knives -‘advice

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Batface

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May 15, 2023
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Hello! Question for the knife people here!

I’m an avid knife fanatic and my day job is in design, working in motion graphics, branding, and video post production for media companies like Vice, History Channel, and Gizmodo. I really want to learn more about how folding knives are designed in hopes of one day being able to collaborate and help design a knife.

I would love to connect with people who design or make knives and learn a bit. Maybe even help on concepts or prototypes and see if it’s something I could grow into.

Any advice on where to start would be awesome.

Thanks!
 
Carry and use EVERYTHING !
Decide what you like and don't like .
Cut away everything that doesn't look like a knife to you .

That is what I do with production knives .
Problem is , IT SEEMS TO ME , stupid thick and swoopy sells , . . . boring old straight , thin and flat cuts .

I like what cuts the best . 🤷‍♂️

Don't be shy about looking in old books and magazines to see what they were doing 50 or 80 years ago . Some of that looked great and cut too .
I suppose it is ok to have knives just to look at as an art object (think semi representational abstract art ) . . . blades with parallel ridges on the side of the blade so it has no hope in hell of sliding through the work being cut , or other lumpy texture on the sides of the blade . Exaggerated hollow ground blades . (heck I can barely tolerate "regular" hollow grind ) .
OK I'll stop .
 
Batface said:
Hello! Question for the knife people here!

I’m an avid knife fanatic and my day job is in design, working in motion graphics, branding, and video post production for media companies like Vice, History Channel, and Gizmodo. I really want to learn more about how folding knives are designed in hopes of one day being able to collaborate and help design a knife.

I would love to connect with people who design or make knives and learn a bit. Maybe even help on concepts or prototypes and see if it’s something I could grow into.

Any advice on where to start would be awesome.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I would start by getting as much experience as possible using the type of knives you wish to design. Not just carrying them or admiring them, but using them to cut so that you can see what geometries work and what does not.
 
I think you already got some of the best advice.
Use Many knives, borrow Many knives, buy Many knives.....

Not to sound crass..... Don't design a knife. Everyone thinks they can do that.
Engineer the knife.

Without numbers a drawing is useless.
Designing (what Many companies do) is Just marketing.... A fancy color Here. A swirl there.
Add a "cool" name.
Maybe add 3 stickers inside the box......
it's all good.


I recommend you start Making knives.
Then, you will learn what designing is actually for.
Why this dimension is important. Why This works, and That doesn't.


I don't mean to sound harsh. But it's true.
Getting production to work is when the real designing happens. Otherwise it's all Art.


Definitely have Fun.
Good Luck! :D
 
Shorttime said:
craft foam. Draw what you like, cut it out,
Click to expand...
cut it out . . . ? . . . I wonder what we could use for that ?
Hmmmm
Cool !
More edge testing .
and a lesson learned in how much better skinny blades cut curves compared to wide /tall ones .
Shorttime :
I'm proud of ya !
 
Crag the Brewer said:
Designing (what Many companies do) is Just marketing.... A fancy color Here. A swirl there.
Add a "cool" name.
Maybe add 3 stickers inside the box......
Click to expand...
reminds me of the Douglas Adams book where Ford Prefect says to the marketing and administration people who are ship wrecked / stranded / crash landed on a prehistoric planet . . . liveing off the land . . . the remains of the gigantic ship they were on sank .

they have had daily "Committee meetings" and they are up to around 560 meetings . . .

Ford says : . . . difficulty ? Excalimed Ford . Difficulty ? 560 commity meetings and you don't have the wheel yet ! It is the single simplest machine in the entire Universe!

The marketing girl soured him with a look . All right Mr . Wiseguy , she said , you're so clever , you tell us what color it should be .
 
Wowbagger said:
cut it out . . . ? . . . I wonder what we could use for that ?
Hmmmm
Cool !
More edge testing .
and a lesson learned in how much better skinny blades cut curves compared to wide /tall ones .
Shorttime :
I'm proud of ya !
Click to expand...

Best done with a "hot knife", which won't teach you anything about geometry. The humble Xacto blade is next-best, and that's just a scaled-down utility blade. Both are "Scandi" grind unless I'm very mistaken, and they do what they do by being very thin.

As for bevel geometry?? Well, I have my own ideas (convex zero) which aren't really relevant here.
 
Start with a fixed blade. Design a knife and work with one of our makers to refine the design and make it for you. Not only will you get a great knife, but it will teach you what process and knife aspects have to be accommodated during design. Then go from there.
 
The steps to knife design success these days seem to be:

1. Become a social media knife/edc influencer
2. Design a knife and hype it by posting your sketches and CAD drawings on insta tok
3. Make sure the knife is capable of acting as a finger guillotine when you unlock it.
4. Pay Reate to build it for you
5. Make sure you have a very big ego and are easily offended.

In all seriousness, if I were set on designing knives, I’d skip the trendy collaboration crap and go hang out with some real knife makers and learn how to make the designs I come up with. A much more difficult path but I would think it to be far more rewarding.
 
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