Knife design advice?

[Gabriel B]

If you want a cool looking tactical knife, then you are all set.
If you want a useful knife that becomes an extension of the hand, well that requires something different

this is my daily use shop knife in z wear

I agree. I fear i might have gone too much towards a flashy cool tactical knife with the design.

 

[Gabriel B]

First look this picture ....................it s my hand holding one knife .See how back of handle follow hand anatomy ? Part at rear of handle where is that red line is useless ,the palm would be uncomfortable in that part .Top side of handle should be always longer / 11-12 centimeters / then bottom side of handle / 9-10 centimeters/ ....for normal hand not like for one friend who has finger double thicker then mine and always say ...your handle are small ......
If plunge line follow front of scale it would look better.
I like that harpoon look so cool , I would leave it .
All right reserved ??????????? I took picture from screen so i can make this drawning

Thank you for putting so much effort into your reply it means alot.

The reason i put that red area in the back was to have an exposed metal part for striking things, though it might be an unnessesary feature if it compromises the ergonomics. I might want to remove it to make the top part longer or find some solution.


One thing i have always found difficult is to design a handle which can accomodate different sized hands.

Plunge line following the scale is a good idea. The harpoon tip is very controversial apparently, might leave it anyway.

All rights reserved

 

[Gabriel B]

Another way to look at your design to see if you like it is to look down along it at a low angle giving a foreshortened view of the profile. Murray Carter talks about this in knife designs 101. What looks long and sleek often looks fat and crooked from this view!

Might be a useful trick, thanks!

 

[Gabriel B]

my 2 cents is to follow through with your design, make it and see how it works for you.

Yeah, i'll probably learn the best that way.

 

[Gabriel B]

I'd say that as long as the handle is at least 4.5", it will probably be ok.
I've made almost exactly the knife that Natlek sketched out on the picture, and it's a cool blade.
Agree with raising the main bevels for efficiency. New makers often don't remove enough steel - I know, I've been there.
Harpoons LOOK cool, but don't offer much functionality - maybe some thumb index, but.... If you grind with a work table, don't grind in the 'poon until AFTER you've done your bevels. All that said, I enjoy the harpoon profiles despite the caveats and customers seem to as well. (but I think it's just flash)

(ETA: I would never *sharpen* a harpoon swedge tho, just to be clear)

The harpoon is oddly controversial, but i like how it looks. Hm maybe it helps with the balance. Having it shaprened feels scary i think.

 

[Gabriel B]

I’d probably loose the harpoon edge on top or if nothing soften and lessen it a bit. If you really wanted to do something in the top you could loose it altogether and then just grind a false edge without any issues and would look better as well. Make a hard prototype and see how it feels.

Yeah, i might do that instead, i couldn't make it look good on my sketch though, but i probably just screwed something up.

 

[Gabriel B]

I like the clip personally.
I would drop the heel of the handle slightly

Match the angle of the plunge to the front of the handle scale.

I would take the primary bevel further up will thin the knife out at the tip and make the lines flow better from the handle. I've made something very similar in the past and it's both comfortable and aesthetically pleasing.

Good suggestions, i will try to follow through with them, thanks!

 

[daizee]

I gave up on butt-strikers within the first year.
Re: # of pins: 3 is fine IF they follow the contour of the handle. If they're in a straight line on a curved handle they will look awful. 2 pins avoids this issue by being less suggestive of competing lines.

Yeah, sharpened clips/harpoons/etc. are scary. If you're making a fighting knife there might be call for that, but if you want your knife to be USED (and for things other than cutting up live humans ), pass on features that are threatening to the user in regular practice.

Another vote for matching plunges and scale OR for making them VERY different. a 90-degree square-front scale usually looks awkward and doesn't match anything on a full-tang knife. Also having complementary curves/angles at the front and back of the scales can be good - or again, VERY different. It's like wearing two colors that are similar, but aren't quiiite the same - they tend to clash badly.

 

[Fred.Rowe]

I have little to add to what has been suggested other than; try not to see a knife design as how it looks but instead, how it works. Form follows function. It's an age old adage and it applies to everything humans design if it is to be used as a tool and used by human hands.
Most of the work performed by a knife is done so with the forward 2 inches of the blade. This part of a blade "must" be extremely sharp; if this is not the case then the blade is basically worthless. This is why if the goal is to produce a sharp useful blade you will want to grind distal taper into the blade early on in the grinding process. Doing this will help you to produce a better sharper blade. After all this is the reason you are designing this blade. Enjoy the process, Fred