New knife design

JTknives

JTknives

Joined
Jun 11, 2006
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well i have ordered all my suplays and im going to do a run of probabley 5 of these blades, this is just the sketch but im working on a 3d model so i can see how i like the handle curves.

knifedesighhunter.jpg


let me know what you think, i like how the handle sweeps down. most other knives i have seen like this have just an allmost straight handle.
 
I like it. Looks like it will be comfortable to hold and use during extended field use (cleaning deer). Will the handles be flat or will they have a palm swell?
 
Nice design!! Below is my quick $0.02 worth.

Things I like about this design

- Overall proportions of the design. I don't know if you consciously designed this knife with the Golden Section in mind. However, given the overall pleasing appearance of the design I think many of the proportions will come pretty close to it. The component parts just appear to "fit" very well with each other.

- Design = very nice flowing line from the tip to the butt of the handle. No upper guard to interrupt the line flow or get in the way when using a thumb or finger along the spine of the blade.

- Semi-pistol grip handle with single-finger index groove. (my favorite handle shape :thumbup: )

- Taper of the handle from the bolster/guard getting shorter toward the butt of the handle. I suspect this lightens the handle in hand, yet the curve looks like it gives enough leverage arm when turning the edge during a cutting stroke to prevent the handle rolling in your hand that can come with short-height round straight handles.

- blade size (pretty much 3.5" on the mark for the metrically challenged).

- blade shape, its dimension from spine-to-edge is "tall" enough to allow a fairly shallow primary bevel angle leading to a thin shoulder at the top of the cutting edge grind. That combo of shallow angle & thin shoulder is the foundation for an efficient cutting geometry, assuming thinnish stock (1/8" or preferably less) and the actual edge angle is low enough to do its part.

Things I question about this knife

- Size of the single-finger groove. Or was it supposed to be a double-finger groove? (I have short skinny fingers, so my suspicions of "fit" for that groove are biased from my own ergo's.) If my math is right, that single-finger groove is around 30-32mm (1-1/4" +). That makes it l-o-n-g for a single finger fit (I suspect even for folks with fatter fingers than mine) and too crowded for a double finger stack in the allocated 32mm, even for my skinny digits. This leaves that protruding humpy point riding on the inside of my middle finger knuckle instead of in a valley between fingers.

- Steel? Tapered tang? Handle material? Blade finish? Sheath materials?
 
O, Thanks for the great review. o just sat down and starting drawing what i thought was very pleasing to me. one think i have found is that it does not mater now good the knife is if it is not pleasing to the eye to look at. you want a knife that when people see there like wow thats a very nice knife. about the first finger i could not decide weather to make it longer or shorter hench a 1 or 2 finger grove, let me know what you think. ill draw then both ways and see how that look.

Ok now down to the meterials

BLADE: probabley O1 for now because of cost and being easy to work, but I might try D2. The finish will probabley be a satin finnish but i am a sucker for a nice mirror surface. but i want somthing that will be able to be used and not scratch easyley. also its going to have a hiden tang because of some inlay work im going to do

HANDLE: this is my favort part, it was a toss up between PARA KINGWOOD and COCOBOLO. but i have loved working with cocobolo wood in the past. i love the smell when i sand it. also i realy love that it has it own oils and how dense it is. so that is what i think im going to use. even though the tang is hidden i am going to do pins through the handle, it just adds that extra tuch. It will also have a little palm swell to it.

INLAY: im going to inlay a long strip of the cool inlay meterial that i make. Its going to be on the top and go from the hilt to the but and be around 3/8" wide. its going to be a little difrent that the last meterial i posted here, its going to have 2 sets of twisted wires in the certer each twisted the opsit direction. so when you look at it the twists come togather in the center. then just a straight edge on each side.

SHEATH: I think im going to stick with a good leather sheath, i love leather and love working with it. i might do a rawhide inside that is hard with a softer leather outer case. any way i am going to have it be where the knife onley goes in to where the leather tuches the hilt and then there will be a leather strap with a snap the will go around the handle where the first finger grove is and it will snap down to hold the blade inplace. but i cane decide if i should do a cross snap where the srtap goes from the finger grove over the handle and snapes to the part that is covering the blade, or should i do a straight strap that goes from one side to the other and snaps to another strap.

Any sajestions on this knife would be greatley aprishated
 
looks nice to me. To get a fast feel of the knife simple cut out the profile from a pizza box :thumbup: :D
 
i have a ton of these thick bronze bushings which will be perfect for the hole
 
:thumbup: Good looking design, only thing I would change would getting rid of the notch at the end of the blade bevel. Just my personal preferance, I realy hate it when they hang up on something.
 
You know, now that i think about it. I also hate when i catches on stuff like rope or carboard. i gess why i added it to the drawing was because i thought that it was somthing that most blades had. but this being a custome knife it can be how ever i want. thanks for pointing that out. o ya and one more thing, when i use a knife i some times move my thumb up and onto the blade for beter control and force. that is why i did not extend the guard above the blade
 
ok, i have been doing so mock up card board hanbles. yes i do need to make the first finger groove shorter so as the raysed area sits where it sapost to be. also i think i need to extend the butt of the knife out about 1/2 and inch becuase the butt sits right ontop on my pinky finger. so i gess i could make it longer or shorter by 1/2 inch which would solve this problem. what do you think, but if i lengthin the handle should i lengthin the blade or leve it where it is. sorry for all the questions this is the first knife i have every aproched like this, most of the times i just start grinding and see what i get. Does the handle normaley on a hunter style blade extend past the hand or does it stop inside the hand right befor the pinky.
 
Once you have the cardboard mock-ups done, maybe make a full-size handle out of softwood so you can get the swells and all to your liking.
 
ok i think i have got all the handle problems worked out. i used photo shop to kinda stretch and shrink parts to make it fit the hand comfortabully. here is the new sketch, dont mind the numbers thay are not correct as i used photo shop to rework my original sketch.

this is the new revision, the handle is longer by 1/2 inch and i reduced the first finger grove quite a bit. i was woried that the knife would not look as cool, but i think it looks better.
knifedesighhunter2.jpg
 
ok i think i have got all the handle problems worked out. i used photo shop to kinda stretch and shrink parts to make it fit the hand comfortabully. here is the new sketch, dont mind the numbers thay are not correct as i used photo shop to rework my original sketch.

this is the new revision, the handle is longer by 1/2 inch and i reduced the first finger grove quite a bit. i was woried that the knife would not look as cool, but i think it looks better.
knifedesighhunter2.jpg


This is the old style just so you can compare the 2 side by side.
knifedesighhunter.jpg


I did do a carboar cutout of the first sketch and it did not fit right so i decided to increse the handle to 4 1/2" length and also put the blade to a perfect 3.5". i think anything longer would be to big, i might try 4" blade to see how it looks, what do you think.
 
One thing I would add is that the forward pin needs to be moved a little closer to the gaurd if it's going to be a full tange.

Other than that, don't over think it, like the comercial says, just do it. By the time you get it ground it'll be slightly off from the pattern any way. If when you make this one it doesn't feel quite rite, make anouther.

Make sure to post pics when you get it done.
 
Be sure to make one in wood to feel how it feels in your hand. Adjust things like the width of the finger groove, width of the handle, etc. to get a feel before commiting yourself to steel.

I liked the original drawing best.

--Carl
 
i thought i should tell you that the picture you see is biger than the drawing, i think it probabley 15-25 percent biger on screen then on paper that is why the original handle look to be good size. its just a hidden tang so i just added the pins for looks.
 
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