Looking for opinions on a knife I recently finished.

[TheEdge01]

Here is a kitchen knife I made for my wife. I started making knives a couple months ago, so any advice is welcome. I am going to get some higher grit sandpaper soon to get a better finish on the blade. Thanks

 

[TheEdge01]

Here is another one I made recently from 26C3 steel that a very helpful moderator on BF gave me.

 

[A.McPherson]

What exactly do you want to know?

 

[TheEdge01]

What exactly do you want to know?

Yeah, I should have been more specific. How do they look? Does the handle or blade need to be more refined or designed differently? I am still new at this and value any input from others. Right now I am giving them to my wife to use in the kitchen so she could offer feedback on how they cut and feel in the hand while being used.

 

[Cushing H.]

FWIW i tend to like more rounded handles rather than flat on the sides x(the second knife looks kind of “chunky” to mee)- though this might be just personal preference. The J Flex scalloped edge belts help incredibly for shaping/rounding the inside curves of the handle without gouging the wood...

 

[john april]

they look good for the time you have been making knives. i would make the second blade an inch taller, it looks like your knuckles might touch the cutting board occasionally. a better finish does not come from higher grit sandpaper, it comes from making sure he grit lines from the previous larger grit are gone, and all the remaining grit lines going in the same direction with no visible stops and starts.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Looks good so far. When posting photos, it is good to give measurements and steel/wood/rivet type information.

On the first image, the front rivet is a tad too far forward. Moving it back around 1/4" and centering the middle rivet accordingly would be better.

Second knife is pretty good, but the birds head butt is a bit too large. Rounding it around the back and down toward the beak would change that a lot.
Front rivet could have moved back a bit on that one, too. I like the front and back rivets about the same distance from the handle ends.
It is hard to tell from the photos, but the second handle looks a bit "blocky". I would bring the bottom of the handle in more toward the tang and round the top more. This creates a slight egg shape that is comfortable in the hand.

 

[JTknives]

I usaly try and keep things symmetrical when it comes to pins. I usaly start with putting the first pin back about half the heights of the handle in the pin area. So if your handle is 1” wide I put the first pin at 1/2” and then do the same at the rear. Then split that distance between them and put the middle pin there. Depending on the shape of your tang you might be better off keeping the pins at a set distance from the spine. So center the first pin from top to bottom and measure that distance and put all the rest of the pins at that distance from the spine. If you try and center all the pins in the area thy are at you can end up with the center pin lower then the ends which looks weird.

 

[TheEdge01]

Thanks for the helpful feedback so far. I really appreciate you taking the time to share ideas and advice with me, it really means a lot.