Second Attempt at design after some helpful critiquing of my first attempt.

M

moraldilemma666

Joined
Mar 15, 2013
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229
Hey all this is my second attempt at designing a knife and is radically different from my first as it is hidden tang as well as being dimensionally adjusted with some helpful suggestions from here.
Would appreciate any input or tips on going about this one. will be in either 1084 or 52100 stock is .156" x 1.5" the blade is actually only a bit over an inch in height. would like tips on grinding the swedge and on where to get material to use for the guard? This will be my 4th knife though the first three were almost identical and done all in one batch. third is not yet finished as I am a bit dissapointed in the design and may alter it at a later date.

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at the end of the handle is a bit of an extension I had considered. let me know what you all think.

edit. Sharpie is for size reference. Trying to plan this one with some input so it comes out nice as I have a nice block coming from Burlsource for the handle.

First attempt can be seen at http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1136339-1084-edge-rolling-but-no-chipping/page2
 
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I'll let others help you with most of your questions but I would add a slight curve to the whole top of the knife and go with your extension.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. Where do you think I could add in the curve? I really like the blade shape and don't want a recurve. I suppose I could add more of a curve between blade and handle or round out the swedge but I don't want to have to drill the block at an angle for the tang if that makes sense. I have taken the blade shape from a very well loved Camillus psk that I have and think its just phenomenal. Very comfortable in hand and cuts really well. was thinking to make myself a nice modified version with similar ergos. I will try drawing up a few different Ideas and posting them up later.

edit: the Camillus's tip is rounded and swedge is concave /hollow ground but the blade has worn to a nice full convex. I was considering going with a saber type grind to maybe a zero grind convex. not sure might just have a secondary bevel as I don't really have many convex grind knives and find it is a bit overrated. Edit: No offense to the convex grind crowd intended.
 
I like the design overall. I would say the back end of the handle looks truncated... like there's supposed to be something there but it fell off. You should do something to make the back end look complete. Otherwise, it's a good basic design.
 
I think the overall look is good. Watch that the handle height at the guard is the same as the blade with at the guard....or it will look funny.

What we mean by "add a slight curve" is that from the butt of the handle to the tip should be a very slight curve. A too straight blade looks "stiff". You already dropped the butt a tad, which was good. If you also curved the spine down a tiny bit it would give some "flow" to the blade. The edge side is kept the same. Draw it both ways, and use the one that you like.

Another good thing is to curve the front of the finger guard tip back to meet the inside curve at the tip. The curve on the back side looks good, and if the front curves back to meet it at the tip it has more smoothness in the look. As is it looks blocky.

I agree with Greg on the butt. What it needs is a butt plate in a matching metal to the guard. Try drawing a line parallel to the butt between the thong tube and the butt. About 1/4" wide is good. You will probably want to move the thong tube hole a bit, too.
 
few modified drawings. Seem to have a hard time keeping the blade shape I want and getting more of a curve. must be a habit to draw in straight lines. Ill keep trying and see if I get any good results.
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Edit: sorry for upside down pics Im having photobucket issues at the moment.
 
That looks good.

A few things need attention:
1) The ricasso drop to the edge should NOT be a 90° angle. It should either be a smooth curve, or have a radius at the apex. Try and have it line up with the plunge, too.
2) Putting a thong hole through a butt cap is not the easiest thing to do. If you have those skills, OK, if not, move it up into the wood ( or eliminate it, which is what I would do). Are you actually planning on putting a thong on this knife?
 
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I like the design personally. I happen to agree with bladsmth on his two points, but that looks like a really nice knife.

I would offer one other suggestion too...when we were thinking of names for our kids, we didn't share them out at all because, frankly, we didn't really want to be "tainted" by other opinions of what is a good name or not. We wanted the name of our kids to be...ours.

I share that mantra at times with my knife designs. Certainly, I think that asking for opinions is a great thing and on a forum like this you will get them! But, sometimes, a knife design can morph into somebody else's design and that defeats the purpose of the exercise. I think the question is, do YOU like the design?

Bladsmth's design suggestions are (I think, anyway) more about an understanding of how knives can perform (avoid the 90 degree) and how a new maker might run into difficulty in fabrication (move or omit the thong hole) and maybe less about aesthetics. His suggestions make sense to me.
 
Hey, Thanks everyone for the input. In the end I will be attempting to go with the first picture of my third post( The upside down one) as it is the original picture with the lanyard hole taken out and a but cap added and a curve to the front of the guard. I was having a difficult time coming up with another shape that I liked and so am glad to accept all of the help you all offer. TO Bladsmth Thanks again for the great input as the but cap and rounded guard really did make a vast improvement to me. to KBog Thanks for the vote of confidence and the great analogy, It really does make me glad I drew up a design I am happy with at the very least. As for the lanyard hole Bladsmth is correct I think in suggesting omitting it as it seems to detract from the flow of the knife no matter where I put it and the knife hopefully will be riding in a nice leather sheath before long. Wont be my first attempt at the sheath but will be hopefully significantly better than the first. This knife will more than likely progress slowly as I would like to do a really nice job on this one. I will post pics during the process to update any that are interested.

Edit: will also round the ricasso out so it isnt a stress fracture waiting to happen. ;)
 
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