New Knife Design Critique?

Braja,

Unless I am looking at it all wrong, the handle looks almost backward to me. Why would the guard be on the top, not the bottom?
I also see no way the lock would work as drawn. Do you have drawings of the locking mechanism?


What you are failing to grasp is that you have no basic knife building/operating knowledge, and even less in engineering and physics.
This latest design could snap like a twig at the thin neck because that is placed almost directly at the point of maximum force.

Honestly, the only use for that design would be for a high rolling gang member to pull out in a fight and slash at someone.....and a plain cheap razor will work just as well for that.
 
David Stifle said:
usually, when a designer starts a project, he defines the purpose of what he will design, and from that function the design flows. In this case you designed something which you admittedly don't know much about. Why not tweak it, clarify the function/purpose, and take a new look at it? Perhaps a harpoon style blade might look good, or something else. It's up to you, and I do wish you good luck.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with this. So far most of your designs look "Different" and while that's not per sé a bad thing....Being different JUST to be different doesn't really work.

I made the same misstake with my first few knives. I'd do stuff just because no one does it that way. By now...I often understand WHY no one does it that way.
 
I like the look of this one, but I think it would be better suited as a traditional folding razor. I.E., remove the back guard and "lock". As others have already more/less stated, a razor has only one purpose: cutting hair.
Try cutting anything else with one, and it will do a good job at neither.

If you want a sailor's knife, then design a sailor's knife as well. Every knife doesn't have to do everything.

One thing I've learned after a lifetime of using tools: Usually, the more functions you try to fit into a single tool, the less useful it will be at each of them. It's a jack of all trades, master of none kind of thing.
 
Also, you might do well to get a book on different locking mechanisms and knife designs, and try to start figuring out why things are what they are, and how they work. Once you start to figure out the design features and functions of a certain lock, THEN you'll be able to more accurately build a knife around it.

Alternatively, you can get some cheap knives and start taking them apart.
 
I think in terms of, if you can design it, you can make it work. In other words, say the locking mechanism on this one for instance. You have an image, and a statement of what it does. Someone can make that work. Whether or not it works well, can be argued, but not really known until building a prototype at least.

I've been wanting to do an inside the knife kind of design to show a mechanism that's different in detail. It sounds like fun, but would take longer to do I think. And right now I'm just going with the flow trying to get some of these designs out of my head and out there for people to see. I'm very good at seeing the internals of how something works in my minds eye. You know, spinning models around in your head and what not. I think there is actually a name for it.

Again though, things that are different are always going to be under scrutiny until an they are actually made and tested.
 
You have been given some good advice by David Stifle and some others. Ignore the snotty remarks and dismiss them. Totally unnecessary. Everyone has to start somewhere.

When someone gives you a piece of advice on knifemaking Google their names and look at their quality of work and you will get a good idea who you should pay attention to and who not to.

Keep it up, when you do learn what it takes to make a knife your designs will even be better.
 
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