Cliff you didn't say Ken's design, and the "similar" type knives you have used looked awkward in your first post, you said they were "awkward at best" when you used them.
My first post noted the blades looked awkward due to the severe slant. My second was responding to the issue of force control which isn't a subjective manner and can be discussed on principles of physics. FuriTech for example has done this from an engineering perspective to deal with physical stress disorders of the hand/wrist of professional cooks when using traditional chef's knives.
Seriously Cliff, being that ergo's and comfort can be a subjective matter
I was not speaking of the ergonomics of the grip but rather the relation of the angle of the blade to the handle and the effect it has from a force perspective, this isn't subjective. As noted I have used such knives of that size with a similar slant. As a side issue, ergonomics of the grip (shape related) are far from purely subjective so issues of complaints can not be so readily dismissed. If a grip had large square regions, or a boxy construction or a radically unsuitable taper, then similar points would be made, and have been made many times in the past.
The same goes with other issues such as suitability of steel (use of L6 for a fruit knife, or 440C for a sushi knife), or balance, etc. . When I posted recently about a knife I was looking at, Possum immediately criticised the balance without handling the knife and could have done so just from a visual inspection because the lack of tapers and full tang will produce a specific dynamic balance. If for example a member posted "How would this knife do for camp use." and suggested some tactical/fantasy knife, he would likely get a host of replies for why that would not be a good idea and almost none of the users would have actually have used that knife. However they would all have used similar knives and thus are making valid extrapolations.
Now if you accept in principle that posts of that nature should be allowed and in fact encouraged, as they always have been (Joe Talmadge himself has frequently made them for example) then the same logic holds for the post I made in the above.
I find it difficult to believe you couldn't have left your disparagement of the piece off this thread.
Yes, however if I had made a positive comment based on inspection or given attributes that would of course have been fine and encouraged. Do you really believe it is impossible for a person to have a perspective on a knife from a basic design. That is fairly absurd because it implies that the performance of a knife and its relation to geometry and steel is completely unknown. I guarantee I could show Joe a number of designs for small camp utility and he would give very accurate feedback without the knife ever being made. He has in fact made such generalizations many times in the past.
-Cliff
