Recommendation? Handle Thickness

Diego_B

Diego_B

Joined
Aug 17, 2020
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260
Hello everyone, lately I have had this thing bugging me for a while and I was hoping that I could get some ideas from here. So I’ve been dealing a lot with determining the right handle thickness for knives. Just to be clear I am talking about full tang knives around 1/8 thick. Now I know that thickness will vary between a chopper and a small skinning knife but how do you guys go about determining this other than feel? Is there some sort of standard that people look for in different scenarios?

Right now I feel like I’m taking a stab in the dark when I shape handles and although they come out well from the opinions of other people that I ask, I feel like they could be better. I also think that I may be making them too thick.

For example if I am shaping a basic 4in Hunter with no contouring and a flat handle and I start with 3/8 thick scales, do most of you go straight to shaping and sculpting of the handle? Or do you guys surface remove material from the scales till it feels/looks right? I guess what I’m saying is if you choose 3/8 thick scales is that handle still about 3/8 thick on either side still?
 
I also find myself often making the "standard" thickness scales thinner. I just resawed some scales for steak knives .... and made them ~0.32" thick. I have a large chefs knife in progress, and made the scales 0.04" thick. The few commercially made scales I have measure at 0.45" thick, and I have *never* used them full thickness (especially if using a spacer).

If I am not mistaken, Horsewright's handles are are not really thick ..... a guess at the 0.3- 0.35" per side .... though that might be a perception from the photography. Hopefully Dave will see this and get a chance to chime in....
 
Diego_B said:
Hello everyone, lately I have had this thing bugging me for a while and I was hoping that I could get some ideas from here. So I’ve been dealing a lot with determining the right handle thickness for knives. Just to be clear I am talking about full tang knives around 1/8 thick. Now I know that thickness will vary between a chopper and a small skinning knife but how do you guys go about determining this other than feel? Is there some sort of standard that people look for in different scenarios?

Right now I feel like I’m taking a stab in the dark when I shape handles and although they come out well from the opinions of other people that I ask, I feel like they could be better. I also think that I may be making them too thick.

For example if I am shaping a basic 4in Hunter with no contouring and a flat handle and I start with 3/8 thick scales, do most of you go straight to shaping and sculpting of the handle? Or do you guys surface remove material from the scales till it feels/looks right? I guess what I’m saying is if you choose 3/8 thick scales is that handle still about 3/8 thick on either side still?
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I went through the same thing. If you are using 1/4 inch thick scales, flatten them down to about 1/8 at the thinnest point, and don’t go any thicker than 3/16 at your thickest point, unless you use a spacer, then you have to go even thinner with your scales.
 
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My personal opinion, for a knife with a 4 or 5 inch blade, 3/8" is too thick. I like to start with scales 1/4" thick. For a really large knife 3/8" might be OK.
 
Diego_B said:
Or do you guys surface remove material from the scales till it feels/looks right?
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This. To quote Dave Lisch from a recent demo (although I'm sure he's not the first one to say this), "It's easy to grind off material and make it smaller but impossible to grind things bigger."
 
weo said:
This. To quote Dave Lisch from a recent demo (although I'm sure he's not the first one to say this), "It's easy to grind off material and make it smaller but impossible to grind things bigger."
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You know, this makes me wonder .... though this is slightly off-topic .... has anyone here tried 3-D printing to create handle scales??
 
Cushing H. said:
You know, this makes me wonder .... though this is slightly off-topic .... has anyone here tried 3-D printing to create handle scales??
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I have done a wa handle to try an oval with ridges as a prototype. Didn't end up liking it. The quality my 3D printer produces is definitely not anything that I would want to permanently put on a knife, but I think it is good for prototyping. I'm also working on a handle gadget to hold blades by the tang while grinding.
 
Cushing H. said:
here tried 3-D printing to create handle scales??
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There's a guy (in New York, I think) who used to do a lot of 3-D printing in his knife handles, but I can't remember if he did scales or not. IIRC, Theo Nazz is his name?
 
I don't tend to make dedicated "hunters", but I cannot imagine making any knife without contouring the thickness of the handle. I feel like mass manufacturers make all the flat slab handled knives the world needs. I know that thin knives carry well, and the flat surface can be good for showing off quality handle materials, but contoured handles feel nicer, and I think that knives are better when they cry out to be fondled a little.:D

Since I contour, I mostly use 3/8, but sometimes want thicker. I have used 1/4 on some small stuff, and still contoured a little, but prefer thicker. I use the full thickness only at a small areas in the mid-grip and end of the butt.

There are no standards, but I tend to use similar shapes quite often. I arrived at what I use by handling and measuring other makers' work.
 
It strongly depends on how it's contoured and shaped as to what thickness I start with. Just knock off corners and round it over otherwise pretty flat? 1/4". Full coke bottle and contoured handle? At least 3/8" can be more like 1/2". Also intended use comes into play, pocket sized edc would be slimmer, for example.
 
I started with 1/4" slabs and they are perfect for basic handles but you can't sculpt them much I don't think you want to go much less than 5/8" total thickness unless you have a need that compromises your design such as needing it to carry easy in the pocket. The extra thickness allows you to sculpt. Look at old hand tools for ideas about what good handles should be. For instance a modern axe has a handle that is probably 70% thicker than a old one.
 
Usually I like to contour my handles some and therefore I will go 3/8 thick for each scale but in this case I’m talking about a flat based handle with nice rounded off corners. My biggest fear about 1/4in is the handle feeling to blocky or there isn’t enough there to grasp.
 
eric brinkerhoff said:
I've been going thinner and thinner the whole time I have been making knives. I like a 1/8" tang and 1/8" scales with a thin liner. I've got x-large hands and I still like a thin handle. My biggest problem lately has been finding material thin enough .
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Lol. Very interesting to hear tha different perspectives. About a year ago I made a skinner for a friend. Now, Minnesotans are descended from the Vikings, and they are BIG. so I made that handle quite oversized. He loves it. But all other blades I have made are much smaller. Depends on the customer I guess... :-)
 
Diego_B said:
Usually I like to contour my handles some and therefore I will go 3/8 thick for each scale but in this case I’m talking about a flat based handle with nice rounded off corners. My biggest fear about 1/4in is the handle feeling to blocky or there isn’t enough there to grasp.
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Do you prototype your handles? A year or two back I discovered PU modelling foam (https://www.easycomposites.co.uk/pu-medium-density-model-board, source no good for you folk in the US, but an example of what I mean) and have used that to try out contour schemes. I shape handles by hand, with files, and found that pine didn't give a good finish, and hardwoods were not quick/easy enough to shape. For flat handles you could use birch plywood, or maybe MDF, just so long as it is easy to work, gives a smooth finish and is a lot cheaper than the actual handle material you normally use. I have combined ply and both epoxy putty and car body filler as a way to get a profile and then play with adding and removing thickness. Stick scales to blade with double sided tape or a few dabs of cyano. Could use masking tape on the tang and bond to that, surprisingly strong bond if you are careful with shaping.
 
Handle thickness is always going to be hit and miss depending on who picks up the knife, I make mine so they feel good in my hands. If a guy with huge hands picks up a thin handle knife it's probably going to feel too small for him. If somebody with tiny hands picks up a chunky handle it's going to feel too big.
So I just shoot for something that feels good for my hands, if you are just making standard models not custom for a specific customer just make things that feel standard to your own hands. You're not going to find a "universal perfection" that feels amazing for every possible hand size, so just aim for something in the middle, I just use my own hands (Which are average size) as a measure, if it feels okay to my hands chances are it will feel "okay" in most hands.
Get a sample group of people and let them all handle it, a large man, a small man, a teenager, a yound lady, and ask them how does it feel in hand. Then you will get an idea of how universal it is, maybe the people with smaller hands think it feels a bit too robust, maybe the person with large hands thinks it feels a bit small. I hand my knives to people and ask them how it feels. Just using my own hands as something to get the first base shape sorted.
 
I tell new makers to look at their handles now and tehn look again after 1200 knives. The handles will be almost 50% thinner. OR, they can start that way and save the learning curve. I have a friend who has been making knives for many years and hw makes a really nice blade. His handles are HUGE, though. He says, "I like them that way". I say, "Well its your knife, you get to make it the way you want". He still does not understand why people don't flock to buy his knives.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I tell new makers to look at their handles now and tehn look again after 1200 knives. The handles will be almost 50% thinner. OR, they can start that way and save the learning curve. I have a friend who has been making knives for many years and hw makes a really nice blade. His handles are HUGE, though. He says, "I like them that way". I say, "Well its your knife, you get to make it the way you want". He still does not understand why people don't flock to buy his knives.
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Ok so it sounds like 1/4 here is a pretty common size and now that I look at it as well some of my better knives have thinner handles and my older ones are way thick like you state. Thank you for the input so far everybody.
 
I think it depends on application, user preference and user hand size, kinda in that order. A knife meant to be carried a lot should be thinner. A knife that gets used, then stored should be thicker, but not too thick.

A person with big hands, but sausage fingers will want a thinner handle. Long, skinny, bony fingers will want more girth because they have more movement in their joints.

And personal preference is going to override all logical theories of handle size, so who knows.
 
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