Knife Design on Paper

[STR]

I noticed that there are hundreds of thousands of designs out there, can you really call a design yours, when you run the chance of it matching up with an existing design?

Thanks Justin and Integer man for your advise, I will try that when I get the piece.

Its yours if you honestly came up with it on your own and didn't have any knowledge of one you may see later that looks similar. There will always be distinct differences from yours to one that may look the same superficially. Blatant copies are another thing entirely. It is true you see similarity between some and as the old saying goes there is really nothing new under the sun. The main thing is give it shot. If you see one later that is too much like yours you can opt to change some things about yours to make it even more distinct and unique.

STR

 

[Justin King]

Obviously you'll need to use common sense and good judgment to figure out when and where to use it.

Now you tell me

I can be a little spotty on these two concepts...

 

[Fross]

You could always make wooden test knives to decide how big you want your handle.

I know opinions vary on this, but I have made several test knives from wood, then cheap steel and scrap oak scales. I didn't focus at all on the finish, just the general shape. I actually made three test knives in the prep for my next knife, and will probably make a fourth before I start. I even have 2' of mild steel just to practice vine pattern filework on. I like filework. I suck at it, but I like it.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

I can not recommend this enough. Here is how I do it.

I went to the local home improvement store and bought some 1/4" thick ply or mdf board. I bought it in 2' x 4' pieces because it is just easier to manage then I rip that down into 2"x4' pieces(just like the steel stock material).

I draw the designs on paper first then cut my designs out of the drawing, glue the drawing(I use spray adhesive or roll on glue) on the 1/4" ply then use the band saw or hack saw to cut it out, then I finish the profile with the 4x36 sander. This will give you an excellent idea of the feel of the blade, the balance(its lighter of course but its still gonna balance the same), if I like it I go with it... I usually cut it a little over sized at the handle area so if I need it to be longer I can leave it or shorten it as I feel I need. It is MUCH easier to do this with wood than it is with scrap steel and a heck of a lot faster. After I am finished that wood blank becomes my template for future knives of that shape and it goes in my template bin and I use it to trace the design onto my steel stock and go at it.

 

[KB1SYV]

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

I can not recommend this enough. Here is how I do it.

I went to the local home improvement store and bought some 1/4" thick ply or mdf board. I bought it in 2' x 4' pieces because it is just easier to manage then I rip that down into 2"x4' pieces(just like the steel stock material).

I draw the designs on paper first then cut my designs out of the drawing, glue the drawing(I use spray adhesive or roll on glue) on the 1/4" ply then use the band saw or hack saw to cut it out, then I finish the profile with the 4x36 sander. This will give you an excellent idea of the feel of the blade, the balance(its lighter of course but its still gonna balance the same), if I like it I go with it... I usually cut it a little over sized at the handle area so if I need it to be longer I can leave it or shorten it as I feel I need. It is MUCH easier to do this with wood than it is with scrap steel and a heck of a lot faster. After I am finished that wood blank becomes my template for future knives of that shape and it goes in my template bin and I use it to trace the design onto my steel stock and go at it.

Frossbyte,

That sounds like an excellent idea, my problem is it's bad enough I'll have to deal with metal dust in my efficiency, but I think wood dust might be a little much. I really don't have a place I can go to do this either. I might have to limit it to a cardboard profile unfortunately.

Thanks for the advise.

Jeff

 

[Justin King]

Frossbyte,

That sounds like an excellent idea, my problem is it's bad enough I'll have to deal with metal dust in my efficiency, but I think wood dust might be a little much. I really don't have a place I can go to do this either. I might have to limit it to a cardboard profile unfortunately.

Thanks for the advise.

Jeff

If you can buy a soft hobby-carving type wood you can probably do the bulk of the work by carving. Balsa would be ideal but poplar would work too and is probably easier to find. This might inspire you to make some nice carving knives to carve knives with
If you use a coarse double-cut file or a wood rasp to shape the wood this will create fairly minimal amounts of fine dust. Some type of covering/drop cloth under your work to catch the shavings is usually enough to prevent a huge mess if you are working with these kinds of tools. High-speed power tools and abrasives are what you really want to avoid when dust is an issue, concerning most materials. Some exceptions to this are micarta, G-10, other types of phenolics, and very hard ceramic-type materials, which can create fine dust and/or harmful particles even when worked with hand tools.