I need some help regarding a museum fit

L

Laredian

Joined
May 27, 2013
Messages
199
I need some advice from your guys. I recently finished one of my Paragon kitchen knife design and I wanted to take it a step further and do a museum fit.

Here's the knife (sorry for the picture quality, but I think it's enough to get the idea and see the transition between handle and spacer)

lH1wNE.jpg


ZRvSOY.jpg

I'm super critical of my work so I'm not saying it's perfect, but after finishing it I felt like I did a rather good job. Now, I've shown it to a couple of friends and a potential customer and the feedback was not what I expected. To me a museum fit always represented a more classy, maybe a bit more noble variant of a hidden tang construction, but one feedback I got was that the handle looked kinda unfinished, which was a bit deflating honestly.
So, is my work shoddy or do I need to better communicate to potential customers why a museum fit is actually a rather cool little detail that in my opinion increases the overall look and feel of a knife.
 
For those who are going to ask - What is a Museum Fit? It is a handle that is slightly proud of the guard or bolster to allow for shrinkage due to age, thus not exposing the sharp edge of the guard/bolster metal. With modern materials and construction methods, it is pretty much unnecessary today.

Ok, let's talk practical needs here.
It is a kitchen knife - is it likely to shrink from being in a museum case for years?
Will you be using unstabilized and prone to shrinking materials?
If it did shrink a fraction of a mm would you be able to sand it down a tad and go on with normal use?
Do you actually expect it to have a sharp edge at the guard/bolster?

A Museum fit isn't a need for modern user knives.
 
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Unfinished is not a word I would use to describe that knife.
I think museum fit is as you say, a slightly classier variation. I'd explain it to them.
Clean looking work by the way.
 
IMHO proud wood belongs on a best gun for future refinishing. It has no practical purpose on a knife that I know of. That said, your work is gorgeous.
 
I think a museum fit is a nice classy touch.
Your pictures aren't good enough to really see what is going on. I would like to see how crisp the facets of the handle are all along and how everything comes together at the butt. The finish on the wood is important too.
 
To me a museum fit is for a display (museum) piece. Not a working knife where bits might get a buildup in the "ledge" of the museum fit.

Still it's a beautiful knife and well displayed in the box. Looks like it should live in the box?
 
Ken H> said:
To me a museum fit is for a display (museum) piece. Not a working knife where bits might get a buildup in the "ledge" of the museum fit.

Still it's a beautiful knife and well displayed in the box. Looks like it should live in the box?
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It's definitely meant as a working kitchen knife. Is buildup really a problem in this case? You have to clean the knife after use anyway.

I usually do all my kitchen knives without a museum fit, but I just thought it would be a nice touch. Also in my experience, if you have no transition between the wood and the spacer and make it flush, there is always a possibility of the knife developing a tiny, tiny "step" there even with good quality stabilized blocks, especially if the knife gets used. That doesn't happen with a museum fit.
 
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I like the look of a museum fit handle. Regardless of usefulness or not, I think it shows another level of craftsmanship. Look at Kyle Royers handles. That museum fit he obtains is just another level up. Very well done BTW!
 
Museum or heirloom finish is great for collector pieces, safe queens, and display pieces, but wasted on a daily use knife.
If a customer wants to pay for that, make em what they want.
From what we can see, that is a very nice looking knife, I like it.
 
I love Kyle Royer's work, and I firmly believe that it's his (and others on social media) fault that the museum fit has risen in popularity so much.

I personally don't like the museum fit. I think it makes things look less finished, not more. Certainly not more classy. But this comes from my expectations as a modern person. I think things should be seamless and smooth.

If the doors on your car closed a 16th of an inch proud of the rest of the body, you wouldn't think it looks classy, you'd think it looks wrong, even if the doors were designed that way for a legit engineering purpose.

anyway, what it comes down to is just personal preference, some folks love it some don't.

kinda like ice cream, that's why there's more flavors than just vanilla.
 
Laredian said:
It's definitely meant as a working kitchen knife. Is buildup really a problem in this case? You have to clean the knife after use anyway.
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Oh, I fully expect it the buildup is more of a perceived problem than an actual problem.
 
I tried it once and it's a pain in the ass. That said, I'll likely do it again.

I don't think it's a good idea for a kitchen knife.
 
I think most “museum” fits are overdone, in my opinion If I can see it’s a museum fit then it’s too much. That’s just my opinion
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I'm just asking out of curiosity and maybe naivety since it came up in a couple of responses: why would a museum fit not be a good idea for a kitchen knife in particular?
 
Laredian said:
I need some advice from your guys. I recently finished one of my Paragon kitchen knife design and I wanted to take it a step further and do a museum fit.

Here's the knife (sorry for the picture quality, but I think it's enough to get the idea and see the transition between handle and spacer)

lH1wNE.jpg


ZRvSOY.jpg

I'm super critical of my work so I'm not saying it's perfect, but after finishing it I felt like I did a rather good job. Now, I've shown it to a couple of friends and a potential customer and the feedback was not what I expected. To me a museum fit always represented a more classy, maybe a bit more noble variant of a hidden tang construction, but one feedback I got was that the handle looked kinda unfinished, which was a bit deflating honestly.
So, is my work shoddy or do I need to better communicate to potential customers why a museum fit is actually a rather cool little detail that in my opinion increases the overall look and feel of a knife.
Click to expand...
I've done a couple museum fits on kitchen knives. Usually when I have a metal bolster, and wood that isnt stabilized for a wa handle. Because with a kitchen knife i think shrinkage and expansion could be possibilities with it potentially getting moist.

Though, the biggest thing that comes into play, as others have mentioned, is its aesthetically pleasing.

As far as it collecting stuff. I don't think that will be a huge issue. Especially with epoxy or glue used for the handle between the bolster and handle.
 
Laredian said:
Thanks for all the feedback. I'm just asking out of curiosity and maybe naivety since it came up in a couple of responses: why would a museum fit not be a good idea for a kitchen knife in particular?
Click to expand...
in general, my opinion is that a knife designed for food preparation should have no unnecessary nooks and crannies that can hold schmutz. I'd say the same for a hunting knife. It's not like the nooks and crannies can't be cleaned out, but for utility knives like that, the juice just ain't worth the squeeze
 
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