I have three fixed-blade knives in mind that I would like to see made by Spyderco.
I will discuss only one of them, now.
When Bo Randall made the first
Model 1 "All-Purpose Fighting Knife" it had a perfectly straight handle with no drop or curve in it.
The knife also had (and still has) a curved depression in the spine, just forward of the substantial hilt.
Given the above, I think Bo Randall, more than anyone else in modern times, successfully interpreted James Bowie's
second Bowie Knife; the one made for him by James Black.
Yes, James Bowie had two Bowie Knives.
The first, made for him by his brother Rezin Bowie, and which James used in the infamous Vidalia Sand Bar fight (I have visited Vidalia), resembled a large Butcher's Knife, or Chef's Knife, with a drop guard (no hilt) and a sharpened swedge.
James's brother Rezin had a similar knife, if not identical to the one he made for James.
We know that Rezin almost lost his thumb in a knife fight with a
bull, in which Rezin's hand slid up the knife when he stabbed the bull, and thus severely injured Rezin's thumb.
This suggest to us that Rezin and James held their knives, in a fight, major edge up and swedge down.
Rezin could not have cut his thumb in any other way.
Why would they do that?
Well, if they had knives in which the center line of the grip passed through the center of mass of the blade all the way to the tip, it meant they could use the heavy, unsharpened "spine" to parry and bludgeon, while retaining the sharpened swedge for slashing and hacking; and, furthermore, with the major edge up, they had, in effect, a double-edged knife that would allow them to cut aggressively with an upward motion, such as between an adversary's legs and the inside of an adversary's thighs (femoral artery).
Such a knife, with a long, fine swedge and minimal belly, would have a substantial point, which would make it an excellent stabbing weapon.
So, why the depression in the spine just in front of the hilt?
When James Bowie decided to have a new fighting and all-purpose knife made by Arkansas knife-maker James Black, he submitted a design to Black and gave him a month or two to make it.
James Black looked at James Bowie's design and made that design and another like it, but modified according to James Black's ideas.
James Black reportedly used some meteorite in forging the blade, which means the steel had a high nickel content.
In any event, when James Bowie returned, James Black set out both knives and allowed James Bowie his choice.
Bowie selected the knife designed by Black, and not his own.
Again I ask, why the depression in the spine just in front of the hilt?
James Black intended for Bowie to crowd (choke-up on) the hilt with his hand, and wrap his index finger around and in front of the hilt, and around the depression in the spine, so that the hilt would stick out between Bowie's index and middle fingers; thus making the hilt a sub-hilt.
This would give Bowie not only better retention of the knife in a desperate melee; it would give him more power and leverage in a downward, overhand slash/bludgeon/swing/chop; and, it would also give him more power in an upward pull between his adversary's legs, or in his adversary's abdomen.
We don't have James Bowie's second (or first) Bowie Knife, because one of Santa Anna's soldiers took it from Bowie's lifeless body at the Alamo.
However, I think Bo Randall thoroughly researched the second Bowie Knife and replicated it with the first of his
Model 1 "All Purpose Fighting Knife."
Bo Randall's surviving family denies this.
They say Bo never told them about the depression in the spine, nor described it as a place for the index finger.
So?
Maybe Bo didn't explain everything.
In any event, the early Model 1's had a perfectly straight handle with the blade on center with the handle, so that a Marine on Guadalcanal, fighting hand to hand in the darkness of Bloody Ridge, could have used his Model 1 major edge up, with his index finger in front of the hilt.
Advantageously, the same Marine could have held it the next morning in a conventional manner, major edge down, as a camp knife.
With a perfectly straight handle, centered on the blade and point, it works either way.
So, a Model 1, as interpreted by Spyderco, would measure 13.5" in total length.
Thirteen and a half inches corresponds to a Golem (3/4's of a Hebrew cubit), and to the average "pull" of a male human being.
The word "pull" refers to the length from the inside of the curved middle finger to the inside of the bent elbow, and the word has relevance in archery and riflery.
The Sword of Ehud in all probability measured one Golem.
This 13.5" knife would have a blade 8.343" long, a handle 5.157" long, and a sharpened swedge 3.187" long; based on the Golden Section of 1:1.618.
The knife will utilize a modern stainless, chrome-nickel steel.
It will have a symmetrical hilt and a depression in the spine for the index finger.
The knife will balance at the depression.
Sal knows a lot about the human hand, and I would expect him to design a symmetrical handle that a person could use in various modes, edge up and edge down.
