[Help] Please roast my bowie knife

pafka

pafka

Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
320
I had a blast making this knife, but to be honest considering how much effort went into it, I am not that happy with the result.
I am hoping to get some honest feedback so that the next blade I make (I have one just like this and plan to make more) turns out better.

I am reasonably happy with the blade, but not so much the guard and most of all the handle. I already think I should make the handle drop more pronounced, and probably round over the top and bottom more than it is now. But what next. Is the handle too thick? Too short/small? I tried some light chopping of a pine board, it went ok, but I am not thrilled.

I have of course watched Nick Wheeler's videos. Regular grip feels ok. Reverse grip is pretty good. Three finger grip is not great - not enough room at the bottom for my fingers, and the kind of digs into the palm a little (this lead me to think that the handle is too small even for this small-ish knife). What is your process for making handles? I believe I have smaller than average hands, so how do I account for that?

Thanks in advance for your time!

Dimensions:
Blade 19 cm / 7.5 inches
Handle 12 cm / ~4.75 inch
Thickness of the guard 19.6 mm / ~0.75 inch
Height of the handle at the guard transition ~33 mm / 1.25 inch
Weight is 400 grams / 14 oz., blade thickness 6 mm / 0.25 inches. Balances right at the plunge line.

(this one is not leaving my shop so please ignore the smudges, subpar finish, and so on)

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This is what I am thinking for the next blade, give or take.
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The finger guard has some pretty thin points. Almost look sharp. Will they survive without bending or snapping in the event the knife might be dropped? Will it snag clothing if worn on the belt?

I'd have to hold the grip to feel it. It does look fat. Looks comfy all the same.


Where's the balance point on the knife?

(Excellent job by the way)
 
Grasshopperglock said:
The finger guard has some pretty thin points. Almost look sharp. Will they survive without bending or snapping in the event the knife might be dropped? Will it snag clothing if worn on the belt?
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No idea! It is true that the tips are thin, and that was sort of an intention - I generally leave them too thick (I think), and I rememeber reading that the point of the guard is to protect the fingers, and it should only be thick enough for that. So this time I went with that. What would you recommend for thickness?

Grasshopperglock said:
Where's the balance point on the knife?
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In front of the ricasso, basically right at the plunge line.

Grasshopperglock said:
(Excellent job by the way)
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Thanks!
 
Before I post any critique, I want to say that is one nice job. Blade is perfect and handle is well shaped. Plunge lines look perfect.


Handle looks a bit fat, buy hey, it's a Bowie.
Angle of bolster/guard to ricasso looks a bit odd. I prefer one straight with the blade.
Biggest eye catcher - Handle could have used 1/2" more length with more drop (as in the sketch).
 
The top of the finger guard looks thicker. The bottom has a long drawn out look.

As for how thick. I don't know. It a blending in type deal.


What's the script on the blade say? I can't read it. Looks French.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Biggest eye catcher - Handle could have used 1/2" more length with more drop (as in the sketch).
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Great, will do that. Thanks.

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Angle of bolster/guard to ricasso looks a bit odd. I prefer one straight with the blade.
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This one I do not understand - do you mean that the guard is tipped vertically one way or another? Or that the plunge line should be more vertical, same as the guard angle?

Grasshopperglock said:
What's the script on the blade say? I can't read it. Looks French.
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It says "Zykán" in my handwriting - my last name.

Thank you both.
 
Question.

Why did you run the false edge, on the back of the back, so far back?

Is the intention for this knife being a display? Or is it expected. Someone is going to use it as intended?

Are we confident with the shortening of the blade spline. That it won't interfere with durability?
 
Grasshopperglock said:
Why did you run the false edge, on the back of the back, so far back?
Click to expand...
Mostly aesthetics - I was going for the "sheffield style" false edge, which sort of continues past the where the clip ends... And it saves weight too I guess? I do not have a distal taper so...

Grasshopperglock said:
Is the intention for this knife being a display? Or is it expected. Someone is going to use it as intended?
Click to expand...
Not a display knife. I will be keeping it and since it is my first blade this size I would like to use it as a test piece - mostly as a light duty knife around the campfire, you know, chop some branches, make kindling, that sort of thing - more for enjoyment than necessity.

Grasshopperglock said:
Are we confident with the shortening of the blade spline. That it won't interfere with durability?
Click to expand...
Would that not be a problem only with prying or abuse? I can not imagine this being a problem, but then again I do not have much experience here, so I am happy to be corrected.
 
Love the coloring of the wood and guard together!
Nice blade. A little curvy, for me, but I know A Lot of people like that.


I think if you lessened the belly under the handle grip, it would give the handle a longer, less chubby look.

Keep the top of the handle side profile the same as it is now
 
They need a roll your eyes emoji here. Your sub par is better than my nicest.

It's beautiful. Crisp clean grinds, sharp perfect plunge line. Very well done.

Only thing I see is your logo is 1mm off center.
I might agree with the handle concerns you mentioned, hard to say without holding it.
 
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Some of the best knife makers in the world occupy this website.

He asked for serious criticism. Not butt kissing.

He can only do better from here. It's an excellent attempt with room for skill growth.
 
I’m not a fan of the recurve. That’s all I can see that I don’t like.. maybe the finger guard should be symmetrical. Looks too extended in bottom.
 
I think his skill is there, the issues appear to be design oriented.

Another thing I notice, when viewed from above, is the rear half of the handle is not symmetrical side to side.
 
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I went and looked again. It is an optical illusion in the photo caused by the angled plunge line. The alignment if OK.
 
It is a beautiful knife. I agree that the handle should be a bit longer. I did not like the scratches left in the finish on the guard - to me, it makes a beautifully done guard look unfinished. Helluva job on the blade!
 
I have no standing to critique the knife building part along side some of the badass builders here. But as a knife user, I would say 1.25x.75 in. handle would feel like I'm holding an axe handle; especially with that recurve and butt bulge. The guard looks like it would stab me in my love handle if I were to bend over and twist to collect firewood or whatevs. I dig the curves.
 
A few thoughts. Bowies are probably my favorite style, in fact it's time to remind everyone that the end of the year is approaching and so we will have Bladeforum's best Bowie contest once again, 2023 edition. Here is a link to the archive of the finalists for the past three years.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/john-white-ms-memorial-best-bowie-archive.1924391/

For OP's knife, let's say that we are discussing fine-tuning a good effort. I would first zoom out and look at the flow. The lines of the handle passing through the guard and along the blade. The blade seems to have a little dip in the spine right before the guard, and guard is perhaps angled slightly back. Royer has mentioned liking the guard even tipped slightly forward from 90 degrees to look "fast".
More generally most bowies that look great to me are sleeker, longer, narrower profile. Check out examples from the link.

Next I would zoom in. The execution of the blade is good, but it's crucial to nail the guard fit up. It looks like a slight gap where the spine meets the guard (seen in the photo showing the guard width). Finally as mentioned by fitzo the guard should be sanded cleanly. No scratches. Also the handle should be sanded to smoothly join the guard with no bumps, gaps, or scratches.
 
pafka pafka good looking knife!

I translated the mm into inches for those of us who don't do metric well... The guard is just over 3/4 x 1 1/4 inches.

My critiques will be centered around the handle as well, as the blade does look good!

First, the shape as seen from the spine. It looks like poop. I can't remember who said this, but it's good advise, "hold the knife by the blade and then wrap your thumb and index fingers around the handle, if it looks like poo coming out of a butt hole, then you're doing something wrong"

Ever since I read that, I can't help but see poop if handles don't have enough definition.

How to fix it: either flatten the butt end, or add a butt cap or some other feature to delineate the butt from the rest of the handle.

Continue the lines formed by the flats of your guard into the handle

Use flat planes and defined radius' to break up handle shapes. look at Nick Wheelers handles for examples of all of these things, since you're already familiar with his work.

And lastly, get the file marks out of the wood before moving on to higher grits.

That's all I got. Once again good looking knife!!
 
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