first knife design/drawing and questions

K

kungfucowboy

Joined
Oct 27, 2008
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290
Hi, i don't post here very much (because most of my question have already been answered if i google enough). i posted a previous thread about getting some knife steel shipped to china and was lucky enough to have Rob Ridley send me some at a very reasonable price.

It won't be here until mid-april, so i am trying to make my design for my first knife. I want to try to make it as simple as possible so i have less things to screw up. I decided on a small wharncliffe with a right handed chisel grind out of 1/8 inch 1075/1080. I have drawn a few pictures of what i want to try to make and am posting up the one that i think is (compareatively) the best i hopes that you guys can help me improve on the idea. I have included my SAK as a size reference.
my questions were

1)Do you think the grind line i have marked out is high enough or should it be higher?

2)on a cardboard cutout the back of the handle feels almost very comfortable, is there a way to make it more comfortable?

3) on a knife this size what thickness should each handle scale be?

thanks in advance for any advice.

DSC00195-1.jpg
 
for the handle, what I do, and have seen others do, is grab a chunk of soft clay, squeeze it to fit your hand profile. Then smooth it out and draw your handle based on that shape.
 
That reminds me of some of my first designs... I'm still a novice, but here's my take on your questions..

1)I think you may want to consider bringing up the grind line, or the blade may bind a bit.

2)You can contour the handle a bit. Also, you really don't have anything to prevent your hand from slipping toward the butt of the knife (see crude pic)

3) Depends on the steel thickness, but it looks like a pretty small knife. If you contour the handle, you could start with 1/4" and work your way back. If you keep them flat, maybe 1/8-5/32"

my .02 USD
wc1.jpg

-Mark
 
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Very nice first design, some suggestions just from my design ideas.

I'd recommend bringing the grinds higher. A wharncliffe blade is a slicer and normally has a very thin blade, at least that's how I make them.

Bring the finger choil up a little more if you can.

Looks pretty good the way it is, my suggestions are purely from my design theories.

The handle profile would flow better and probably feel better if you take it in either an almost straight line or gentle curve from the top of the finger notch to a point about the middle of the 2 pins.

Not sure of the intended use of the knife, if it's for light every day use then I'd make the curve to the tip a larger radius, making the knife more pointy. If it's for more generalized cutting then leave it like it is.
 
I like this knife, too. I think that the handle will be comfortable, it is not a weird shape so it shouldn't give blisters or anything like that. For scales I would go with 1/4-3/8".
 
wow thanks for all the input. here is a redraw taking into account what i read. also pictured is the buffallo horn i can use for scales if i do it this way. i picked up a peice of buffallo horn it's made for massaging accupoints and fits in the hand really well, it was only 25rmb (a bit less than $4) so i cut it in half and traced it out. the thicker back end should keep my hand from sliding out, i also raised the finger notch and had it slope more gently backwards and raised the grind line. Should the line be higher still or is this good? what about the changes in the handle shape? Thanks again.

DSC00201.jpg
 
It looks like there is a hump in the back of the handle. I would smooth that out so you have one smooth curve along the spine from one end to the other. Also smooth the transition from blade to handle maybe a little bigger radius in the choil area.

The grind line looks pretty good to me. Higher usually works a little better but is harder to file and keep flat.

1/8 to 3/16 would work well for the scale thickness. 1/4 would be too thick imho.


That should be a great little EDC.
 
oh i wanted to add, this drawing is the same size as the other one,the blade is exactly the same except for the grind line, the peice of paper is 7" x 1.5" just like the pices of steel i'll use.
 
I made and sold a bunch of knives very similar to your current design. Like Jason said, one continuous curve. I love it!
 
Thanks Mr. Magruder and Mr. Leavitt. This forum is a great resource since i'm kinda far from anyone shop :D

i'll try to smooth out the curves a bit and post another picture hopefully tomorrow
 
You need to change your pin placement from that drawing. Move the front one back probably 1/8" and put the rear pin the same distance from the rear of the scale. If you're going to use a thong tube then that's totally different.
 
I was a bit busier than expected but, here is the latest drawing, I tried to make the choil area smoother (that's the area near the back of the blade where the index finger goes right)and rounded the back of the handle area as well as ajusting the pin placement. When i took the slight hump off the back it seemed like i needed to slightly change the width and angle so it's about a dime's width slimmer in the handle.

DSC00206.jpg
 
Looks good! :thumbup: You may want to consider bringing the plunge forward just a bit, so it doesn't start right at the edge transition.
 
Not so much for safety, although it would give you a little "meat" behind the blade. I think it would give you a margin for error in case you ran the belt back too far. Aesthetically, it gives the ricasso area more definition. Just my take on it... I'm sure someone will chime in if I overlooked anything.
 
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