Ideas and questions about my knife design

T

thedirector93

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Dec 10, 2013
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so im about to order some steel for my next knife project. its gonna be a tactical/survival knife. i drew a picture of it and cut it out. its 12in overall and has a 6.5 inch blade with a high flat grind and partially serrated edge and i plan on using micarta for handle material. http://tek26007.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/edited-pic-of-knife-design/ <---click on link to see a picture. it was gonna be cut from 1 piece of steel (80CRV2 steel) thats .25 in thick and 2.5 inches wide. the blade will only be 2 inches wide.

the question i have is should i keep the knife guard and overall handle design. i know it will be hard for someones hand to slip out of it, but im not sure people would like the look. functional wise i know its good, i just want it to look kinda good too. i do have a plan B design if this doesnt work. also i just want to see some peoples opinion on the overall design.
 
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I'd do without those
 
Those kinds of rear guards are comical and I can see that it would most likely injure the wearing with it on his belt in a fall or jump, I don't mean to be harsh.
Have you built one or more of these and then field tested them?
 
Reminds me a bit of the handle on the Elmer Keith knife...
DennisFriedly.jpg

I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not...:)
 
What is your purpose for such a wide blade? Aesthetically I would opine that the blade is too broad and technically I would also advise that the blade is too broad. As far as the quillions (is that right in this case), take a look at the knife that LucyCustomKnives has in his avatar. If you can find the thread where he describes it even better. It has one of the most useful looking retention grips I've seen. And least obtrusive as well.
 
Jay fisher makes a boatload of knives with the same design ideas, with some refinements you might have something ;0)


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Rhinoknives1 i've made one with a similar design, it was just a crappy knife i made from weldable steel back when i first started making knives, but the rear guard didnt bother me when i wore it.
Perrin i wanted the blade to be broad so it could be used to chop, and i thought it kinda looks cool. also i think the angle i took the picture at makes the blade look bigger. its smaller than any of my bowie knives. it doesn't seem that big holding it in my hand
 
im trying to make a knife that can compare to Cold Steel's Trail Master or Laredo Bowie. and 3 River Blade's Master Chief. i want it to be sharp, tough, and be able to chop really well.
 
The examples that others have posted show a smaller and more refined rear grip. I think those would work better. The right angle square in the rear is the part that i could see digging into a wearers side in a jump or fall.

Just making one out of crap steel isn't a real field test. It's called, Proof of concept. Make a REAL one and beat thee F&^* out of it and wear it in the field until YOU are sure! Thats how I have tested my Chef & Camp blades.
 
I owned a Cold Steel Trail Master once upon a time. Why I bought that I don't recall. Your design isn't similar, in any way, shape, or form, to that tool. It was definitely a tool that could be used as a weapon, I suppose, but a camp knife style tool first and foremost. I used that Trail Master one day to cut some heavy brush in the yard and never "used" it again btw. I wound up giving it to a prepper friend who was thrilled to receive it. I have a WW II Camillus folding machete that works much better for yard work my wife tells me...............

I looked at your blog and got the idea that you make props. If the knife you designed is to be a prop you can make it out of just about anything: cardboard, wood, plastic even metal. Hell make it out of wood and wrap aluminum foil onto it or paint it with "hammered" spray paint. No need to heat treat it. No need to use micarta for the handle. You could use Sugru (an air curing rubber) and have a dandy, customized grip in minutes.

But if you're going to make a knife to use for something you might wanna contemplate the end use. Your design incorporates a pommel spike. Why do you need that? A pommel that you can use to hammer with might, actually, be useful for something. A spike implies to me that this is a fighting knife. Fighting knives are used for stabbing and slashing people. The spike would be used for a temple strike............. If you do a search and study some classic fighter designs, you'll see that they are a lot thinner, frequently double edged, fast looking, and in cases like the Gerber MK. II useless for pretty much anything except dealing out death. Admittedly many styles of Randalls, Beckers, Esees, and Lile Rambo-style knives have other uses than mayhem but they are,basically, quiet and formidable weapons.

You had some serrations in your design. Useless and a lotta work to sharpen. They're in the wrong place and diminish the length of useful cutting edge IMHO. Serious saw teeth ala The Randall Model 18 or Lile's Rambo knife are on the back of the blade and a good 5" long. Those were originally designed for cutting through a thin, aluminum, helicopter fuselage to escape after a crash, not to saw wood btw.

If chopping/batoning is your intended use, save yourself a great deal of pain and get a small camp axe designed for chopping.

A flat grind on such a wide blade is more suited to a kitchen knife. A hollow grind would be a lot stronger (of course it's tougher to do without a good grinder you couldn't really file in a hollow grind). Incorporating some ergonomic curves into your design mind make it a bit prettier too.............

I think you should scrap this design and start over with a blank sheet of paper myself, listing out, first, what you really wanna use it for.

Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
 
Director:
I'll give you the same advice I and others did before.....Make a few basic knives to learn on, and then try to make something elaborate only after you learn the skills needed. I would think your "Battle ready katana" project would have convinced you of that.

The drawings and design of your knife are poorly designed and un-wieldy, as well as beyond your current skills. Scrap that design and make a simple well made hunting knife.

The Zombies won't be here for at least six months, so you have time to make some good knives before you need to be ready for tactical battle ready knives....in truth, I think the whole Zombie thing is a hoax....I bet there aren't even any zombies.
 
Well, you have already gotten the feedback on the design... so I'll add a couple of detailed points.

Like most new knife designers you are overly fond of straight lines and not suitably appreciative of very slight curves. The spine of your design is just a straight line. The same is true of the majority of the blade. Pull your curves farther back into the blade.

Regarding the quillions... surely you can see that straight lines here equate to pain and injury for the user. Look at the alternate examples provided... what do you see? Do you see straight lines that cut into the users hands or curves that caress the fingers?

Straight lines may "look cool" to you, but they won't make for a good design.

Serrations on the blade are not a useful or cool feature, especially at your skill level. Even the pros tend to use special tools on the rare occasion that they cut serrations on a blade. Do yourself a favor... lose them (and avoid the temptation to replace them with jimping on the spine).

If you want a chopper, make a chopper. If you want a tactical, make a tactical. Don't try to make an all-in-one knife. They always come out looking comical at best, and more often just sad looking.
 
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