(Fixed blade) features you'd like to see?

[SALTY]

There are quite a few knives that I deem quite amazing, but just a bit different would be perfect for me...

[...]

2. BK2 with an 8 inch blade - CPM3V

Oh my! Any Buick getting within range of such a knife would just roll over, die and skin itself!

 

[Monofletch]

For me, I like a big, roomy handle. Micarta or something sticky. I have a David Mary/GKC Super Brute in CPM Magnacut and the handle is almost perfect.

Second- I would like to have a choice- finger choil or not.

Third- full flat grind on my slicer. Like the 3v Erickson in the picture. My utility knife has to cut!

Lastly- decent blade steel. I don’t mind paying a little more more better steel.

 

[dirc]

show pics of the super brut & handle please? or is that the larger one on the right side? ( you mentioned 3 knives)

 

[pholder]

I mostly have folders, I do have a few fixed blades that I also carry while camping. I was fortunate enough to actually hold a Bob Loveless drop point Hunter . First impression, didn’t look like it would be comfortable to hold, big odd shaped palm swell. I then held it, unbelievably comfortable as though my hand was used as the mold. By far the most comfortable knife I have ever held. Where I am going with this is more makers should focus on handle comfort. Might I suggest study his handle design and you will see what I am referring to. Good topic by the way

 

[sabre cat]

There are quite a few knives that I deem quite amazing, but just a bit different would be perfect for me...

1. BK14 with the handle of the Izula 2 - that'd be awesome - Magnacut
2. BK2 with an 8 inch blade - CPM3V
3. Full width tang Kabar
4. Spyderco endela slipjoint - Saber ground
5. 93mm ALOX with a deep carry wire clip
...

All the above knives are exactly what I'm looking for now...

A 93mm Alox with any clip would be nice.

 

[sabre cat]

I mostly have folders, I do have a few fixed blades that I also carry while camping. I was fortunate enough to actually hold a Bob Loveless drop point Hunter . First impression, didn’t look like it would be comfortable to hold, big odd shaped palm swell. I then held it, unbelievably comfortable as though my hand was used as the mold. By far the most comfortable knife I have ever held. Where I am going with this is more makers should focus on handle comfort. Might I suggest study his handle design and you will see what I am referring to. Good topic by the way

I have to agree.

 

[Richard338]

Thin, distal tapered, six inches long, edge all the way to ricasso, ricasso has primary grind going in opposite direction towards the handle by a few degrees, slight drop point, rounded crown, flat transition from handle/guard/crown, lower guard does not stick out past blade edge, no sharpening choil, handle allows for multiple grips, finger scoops on each side of front handle slabs.

I was interested in your very specific description, especially since I know that you use many different knives for day-to-day work.
I realized that a Kephart I made fits this description almost perfectly except for a couple details, but I have a question about the guard. If it will be flat across the handle to the spine, and doesn't protrude past the blade edge at the bottom either, then am I visualizing it correctly to say that it isn't a guard in the common sense, but more of a flare to the handle (which actually my Kephart has)?

 

[gazz98]

I hope Buck expands on their Compadre fixed bladea. I love 5160 steel (nothing wrong with their 420HC either of course) and some micarta (or G10) handles. I wish their 4.5" blade Compadre had about a 5.5" blade.

The normal phenolic handle bucks just don't fit my big paw well.

 

[The Grendels]

Handles/scales.

I would guess that of all the largish fixed blades I own (approx. 100), there has only been one - ONE - handle that fits my hand perfectly and is truly and totally comfortable.

I realize that production knives are a compromise of "one size fits all", but I have never been totally happy with the comfort of any fixed blade handle - except one.

I always have to modify the handles in some way to get rid of sharp edges, or I have to re-profile them in some way to fit my hand better. Usually I have to make them slimmer. And handles with finger grooves are usually an instant disqualifier for me.

I know there is no real solution, but I honestly can't believe how uncomfortable most large fixed blade handles are. Except for one.

Kudos to the large Becker series (BK7, BK9, etc.) - the one handle that is just perfect for me in every way. If every knife had that handle profile, I would be a happy man and could retire my Dremel.

Wait - I still need my Dremel to add a sharpening choil to knives that do not have them.

I spend as much time looking at handles as the blades. The handle has got to be long enough for my hand, not too flat/narrow for comfort, and not have too many weird cuts and humps to force my hands to be somewhere they don't fit. Simple is better for handles. TOPS knives has this forward hump on so many of their knives that doesn't fit my hand at all and short of wrapping the Gerber Strongarm in a lot of hockey tape, it's handle is practically nothing but hot spots. I also prefer a sharpening choil.

If you’re gonna use a tough steel like 3V or 80CrV2, don’t be afraid to go with a thin knife, those steels should handle it. I don’t get the trope that tough steel must have a really thick stock, seems like a waste. If you absolutely must have the sharpened prybar (above 0.18 inches thick I’d say) don’t be afraid to go with a thin edge of 15 DPS, seriously it makes a huge difference in how well the knife performs over say a 20 DPS edge. Took my winkler woodsman down to 15 DPS and oh my god that .18 inch stock will now chop hard wood and also carve like a dream without any chipping that I’d have with a brittle stainless steel at that geometry, wish it came from the factory like that. Also unpopular opinion inbound- I love pommels, on the end of my knives, whether a flat bit of exposed tang for light hammering or a spike for glass breaking, I love that extra bit of utility, any fixed blade I’ve used extensively without one, I’ve always found myself missing the pommel.

I'd love it if they did a lot more thinner fixed blades, when they're making it from tougher steels. It sometimes feels like they're making a lot of knives for the makers of YouTube destruction videos instead for people to use like a knife. Not every knife needs to be made for batoning.

I wish more fixed blades had a thumb ramp. I admit I like a thumb ramp on a fixed blade. My Bark River Bravo 1.5 and BK10 both have one. I don't always use it but it is nice to have an option of using it.

It might also be a result of owning more Spyderco folders than anything else.

I'm a big fan of the thumb ramp and wish it was on more knives.

 

[shane45-1911]

TOPS knives has this forward hump on so many of their knives that doesn't fit my hand at all

As much as I love Tops knives (and have lots), their bigger knives have - BY FAR - the worst handle ergonomics of any "survival" production knife company. I have spent countless hours modifying and re-profiling the scales on every Tops knife I own.

 

[dialton]

Jimping on a well designed thumb ramp. A smooth finish to the blade so that it glides easily through processing meat without getting coated with fat due to a rougher surface. Pointy but strong tip. A bushcraft knife needs a flat spine for striking a firesteel. Lanyard hole. Grippy scales that stay that way when wet. A delivery method that makes it merely appear so that wives don’t see it in the mailbox!

 

[The Grendels]

As much as I love Tops knives (and have lots), their bigger knives have - BY FAR - the worst handle ergonomics of any "survival" production knife company. I have spent countless hours modifying and re-profiling the scales on every Tops knife I own.

I sometimes get the feeling with TOPS knives that their handles were perfectly made for one very specific shape of hand and terrible for everyone else. There are some knife makers where you feel that you have to saw off your left hand to mail it to them to get the ergonomics right.

 

[shane45-1911]

I sometimes get the feeling with TOPS knives that their handles were perfectly made for one very specific shape of hand and terrible for everyone else. There are some knife makers where you feel that you have to saw off your left hand to mail it to them to get the ergonomics right.

Exactly. This is my biggest pet peeve in the production knife world. Not enough "market research" is done to see what shape the average human hand really looks like when it grips a knife.

I wish so many production companies would simply buy some Play-Doh, pottery clay, cookie dough - whatever - and put a glob in their hand, then squeeze their hand closed into a loose fist. They would be surprised that the profile of their handles look absolutely nothing like the Play-Doh shape they just created. It's not rocket science.

 

[Henry Beige]

Handles. Two already mentioned, Carothers and Becker. The other is Resiprene C as found on SYKCO knives, especially the larger ones, like DB-421 and DB-322. On the smaller ones, like the WS-1020, I need to round the sharp flare of the pommel so that it doesn’t dig into my palm in a sabre grip.

 

[MolokaiRider]

I was interested in your very specific description, especially since I know that you use many different knives for day-to-day work.
I realized that a Kephart I made fits this description almost perfectly except for a couple details, but I have a question about the guard. If it will be flat across the handle to the spine, and doesn't protrude past the blade edge at the bottom either, then am I visualizing it correctly to say that it isn't a guard in the common sense, but more of a flare to the handle (which actually my Kephart has)?

Sounds like you've made a great knife.

Your terminology makes more sense. I enjoy knives that have the ability to cut without a guard or handle that impinges on the full length of the blade to be used when held parallel to a cutting board.

For an example, the Spyderco Gayle Bradley 1 has a recessed finger groove in the handle, which I find to be quite useful.

I am a big fan of puukko blades for this reason as well.

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

integral finger guards are nice.

Handles that are comfortable and useful in at least four positions.

Otherwise indestructability is a generally acceptable feature

 

[Richard338]

Sounds like you've made a great knife.

Your terminology makes more sense. I enjoy knives that have the ability to cut without a guard or handle that impinges on the full length of the blade to be used when held parallel to a cutting board.

For an example, the Spyderco Gayle Bradley 1 has a recessed finger groove in the handle, which I find to be quite useful.

I am a big fan of puukko blades for this reason as well.

I'm tempted to hack something together based on your description. My Kephart lacks a few things you mentioned. For one, it does protrude below the blade. The other thing you mentioned seems rare but easy to do, having the plunge actually angle slightly back towards the ricasso...

 

[Henry Beige]

One of my favorite features is the smooth thumb ramp or declivity found on many Anza knives. Often that is combined with a single finger groove, which brings the thumb and forefinger very close together., and creates a feeling of very precise control of the blade.

 

[streak]

Great thread specially for me as a fixed blade newbie.
I have always liked the concept where the handles sit slight shy of the edges of the tang like this B41 from Lionsteel as well as the idea that one can get the same knife but with a variety of handle finishes. How would this style handle affect grip comfort?

B41 Wood lionSTEEL - Olive wood

B41 is the ultimate tool for the natural life enthusiasts, great for wood carving thanks to the stone - washed Sleipner stainless steel blade and fire-crafting using the back flat tang

www.lionsteel.it