How do you know when a design is "Right"?

Brian_T

Brian_T

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 7, 1999
Messages
1,755
What is it that makes you stop drawing and start grinding a new design?

I'm working on a little pet project here and I keep going back to the drawing and making modifications. This WAS a simple little project and now it seems to be consuming my free time.

The design is probably good enough right now but I want it to be just right before I spend any money having the prototype made.

Custom makers, I'm interested in hearing from you.

Ken Onion, I know you have had one innovative design after another and I wonder how you stop working on one and move on to the next.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks as always,


Brian_T
brianthornburg@home.com
 
Brian,

Sometimes you look at a drawing and you think it will be the most kicka$$ piece. Until it is made. That has happened a few times to me. Other times, you think it is the ugliest design until it is finished and in your hand.
It is very hard to tell if a knife drawing will turn out right. Often times it is best to make the piece, look at it, hold it, then decide what changes need to be made.
A few times, Barry and I have drawn out blades and decided that nothing needed to be changed. Other patterns have never left the design stage because we just could not make it work on paper.
Maybe the best advise I can give is to say (or type) listen to that inner voice. If you feel good about it, go for it. If you don't, keep working at it until it feels right or drop it all together.
Also, leave it alone for awhile, put it out of your mind. If the idea is there it will come to you. Trying to force it out won't work.

One half of the Jones Brothers two cents

------------------
If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are a part of the same process. He is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring.

William Least Heat Moon
 
When to stop drawing is the easy part.
Then the changes start coming in as the project actually progresses when the suggestions start bouncing suggestions back and forth between me and the knifemaker.
Best I hope for is something that resembles the drawing. :-) I gave up the idea of having something simple made a long time ago since I have a tendancy to option myself to death.;-)
 
Brian,

I have to agree with Philip Jones 100%. You can draw until you're blue in the face and you will still have to make changes as the project goes from paper to steel.

I would just add that if your making a design to turn over to a custom maker you might get closer to what you want if you partially make the blade yourself. By that I mean when you have a drawing you like, draw it onto a piece 1/4" plywood and cut it out with a coping saw. It is soft so you can rasp in the approx. bevels, a swedge, even decorative filework with an absolout minimum of tools. This way you can see for yourself how it will sit in your hand, intuit to a degree how it will balance and perform the desired chores. That will cut down substantially on the experimintation process for the maker, and help you get the knife you really want. This also gives you a better impression of size. When I first started making knives the paper patterns always looked great, but in steel they were invariably bigger than what I really wanted.

Anyway, good luck on your project.
GaryB
 
i'm taking an art class, and it fits into this perfectly. see when you make a design, you should start with the rough design and go from there. but it must revolve around what the knife is going to be used for, and how fancy its going to be, stuff like that. the materials used play a big part in this too. but when you get the rough design, start playing around with the angles, and sizes of things, what type of grind, swedges, guard or bolsters, and so on, until you have what seems to be a good knife. now's the part were you stand back, and look at the overall drawing. the first thing you must realize is, does it have a point were you eye goes too that looks out of place, change it, until it looks right, keep doing this until you see it as an entire design, not parts.
 
I have to agree with gary. I have had two knives made from my designs and am working on one now. (which has evolved into two designs now. Before I give the drawings and details to a knife maker I cut it first out of paper and see about fit. Then I cut it out of masonite and play with it a bunch. One of the finest things one of my art instructers told me when I went to school was "the hardest part is to know when to leave it alone"
Alex
 
Good designs are a work of art. They are never complete in the designers mind.

Its a different kind of feeling to design a winning knife. When its right its right..
BUT there are pitfalls. Sometimes the design can be ahead of itself. Sometimes it takes years for the timing to be right for a design.


There are also designs that a designer feels are great that are dogs in reality.
Not every design is a mona lisa.
But when the design is a hit ... it shows..
One thing that has to be realized here.
A design WITHOUT a purpose is a FAD.

Serious knife designers and collectors can distinquish between the two.



------------------
Web Site At www.infinet.com/~browzer/bldesmth.html
Take a look!!!




 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top