Rules for designing a handle???

E

edebee

Joined
Apr 29, 2009
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I am new to knife making and the last few knives a have made seem to fit terribly in my hand. Are there any rules or guidelines when designing a handle? Thanks fr your help.

Interrupt
 
Don't make it the sharp end :D

On a serious note, I think that we try to over complicate handles early on. Instead, start with something simple with a gentle curve and not a bunch of finger grooves etc. Draw it up and cut it out of cardboard (or even better, a piece of wood roughly as thick as the handle will be) and see how you feel about it.
 
Laminate a bunch of paint stir sticks together, or buy blocks of balsa wood and shape those. They can be shaped quickly and easily due to their softness. You'll quickly find shapes that are both pleasing to look at and comfortable in the hand.

I used the paint stir sticks, because I could shape a long center one first into a complete full tang knife design. Then I'd glue the shorter ones for a handle on both sides of that center one and then practice shaping. You'll then be able to see how the handles you design will fit with the blades you design. You can practice grinding your blades and doing your handles completely out of paint stir sticks!

Edited to add:
On hidden tang and through tang knives that have a guard, it's almost always more pleasing to the eye to have the handle behind the guard to flow at the same width top to bottom that the ricasso is. For example, the handle shouldn't be higher or lower than the ricasso from top to bottom. When they don't line up top to bottom, there seems to be an interruption of the lines of flow. I learned this from Ray Richards. Look at some of his designs, and the wonderful flow from ricasso, through the guard to the handle.
 
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Thanks for the info. I will try that too! These are the kinda answers I was hoping to get.

Eddie
 
Eddie,

I'm fairly new to making knives too, and designing a handle that looks and fits well doesn't come easily to me either. Here is what I've learned thus far:

Align back of ricasso so that it matches start of handle (aesthetically pleasing to the eyes)

Don't go much more than 5" on total handle length (for most knives)

Round up the handle a bit (not too blocky)

Match pins to hardware (brass guard=brass pins)

Try and make flow of grain on wood materials pleasing to the eye

Assemble/Disassemble many times before final glue-up (cant really un-glue a mistake)


One trick that I've found that really has helped me, is to lay blade with the guard over the intended handle material. This allows me to square it up and make sure my handle will catch the wood grains I want.....before I head to the band saw. Another good thing about laying the tang on the wood, is I get to draw out various handle shapes on the wood with a pencil. If I'm not happy with the way it's looking, I simply erase and re-draw a different configuration.

Good Luck with Your Knife Making,

Bob,

Hershey, PA:)
 
bobbywett said:
Assemble/Disassemble many times before final glue-up (cant really un-glue a mistake)
Click to expand...



Actually,

If you HAVE to take a handle apart you can heat it up, somewhere above 300 F the Epoxy will let go.

I wouldn't suggest trying this for oily exotic woods or stag/bone/antler as they will stink, a LOT
 
If you want to play with various shapes or contours, you can use modeling clay. You can use it as is, mold it around a paint stir stick, or if you have a blank ready and you're not sure how to shape the scales, mold it right onto the blank.

I've done a little this with mixed results, but it's easy to change it around a lot and try different things.
 
stephanfowler said:
Actually,

If you HAVE to take a handle apart you can heat it up, somewhere above 300 F the Epoxy will let go.

I wouldn't suggest trying this for oily exotic woods or stag/bone/antler as they will stink, a LOT
Click to expand...

Yup, although it seemed to work for me at about 200 degrees, although that was in a kitchen oven and the epoxy just became soft again, not 100% liquid though.

It's probably worth noting that this becomes infinitely more difficult if you've already peened your pins as well.
 
I actually first cut out my handle shapes in plain white paper. It takes a few seconds to do and gives you a first idea if the design is working or not. Much faster to make changes and try it again. Then when it starts to feel ok I move to cardboard. I usually leave the final cardboard cutout laying around for a few days so I can play with it and see if I still find the shape pleasing and the handle comfortable for the type of use it will see.

Patrice
 
When I was first looking for how to make a handle comfortable, I grabbed a piece of clay, softened it up, and held it how I would hold a knife, in the different grips. That got me a pretty close idea of what I want a handle to be shaped like.
 
After all that and you are ready to do the actual handle try this.
Rough Grind Stop Hold
Grind Stop Hold
Repeat
Repeat untill it feels right but remember not everyone has the same sized hands.
Many times we get hung up on trying to make it exactly like our design on paper. Use your patern as a guide not the end product.
If you have someone around hand it to them and ask how it feels to them.
My toughest but best critic is the better half.
 
Arizonakidd has my technique down. I grind, then hold, then grind, then hold. I repeat this process countless times until it "feels right". I used to think I had big hands, but now realize that my hand is just about average, maybe a bit above average. If it feels good in my hand, it will feel good for a large percentage of the population. I have only had one person who requested a special order on a second knife after handling one of mine. Apparently he had hands that would put a yeti to shame. (That was a joke, in case you happen to read this.)
 
Hoping that this is a compliment to the thread - and not a hi-jack. Could we restart the discussion about the golden ratio?

Rob!
 
I do what Patrice does... using cardboard or thin foam board (1/4" to 1/2"). I've found I don't need a full scale handle (thickness) for my hand to know if the profile is right.

Mike
 
Rob! said:
Hoping that this is a compliment to the thread - and not a hi-jack. Could we restart the discussion about the golden ratio?

Rob!
Click to expand...

I try to use the golden ratio on my big knives. 13:8:5 is a good example. OAL is 13, blade is 8, handle is 5, real close to the golden ratio. To me, the golden ratio knives look like the blade is almost too long, but at the same time, it looks just right. Here are two that are proportioned that way.

100_2202-1024x682.jpg


100_2269-682x1024.jpg
 
Golden ratio is a natural issue and I suspect it is coded to our DNA also. So if it looks of feels OK it has a nice ratio... My rule of thumb to make a handle has just 3 basics: It has to be durable, it has to look good and it has to have a good feel to hand. I guess that is all. All above that it is just techniques involved to meet these 3 basics...
 
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