Straight vs. Curved Handles- Power vs. Speed

[the possum]

Hi there, fellas. I was just perusing Jerry Fisk's site, and came upon this quote:

A knife with a straight handle gives more speed. A handle that has drop in it has more power. The more you drop it down the more power it has but the less speed.

This didn't sit entirely right with me- at least the part about speed. I've always thought the more curved handles could indeed generate power better, but in my mind the trade off is at the expense of less versatility. I prefer straight to accomodate a wide range of (often improvised) grip positions, whereas a handle with more contours, curves, finger grooves, and drop will limit these somewhat. I have limited experience with dramatically curved handles, but have never noticed any difference in speed. I think of speed as more a function of how fast you can move your arm and wrist, and how the knife is balanced, rather than the angle the blade is presented at.

I'll probably just ask Jerry about this one of these days to get his take on it, but wanted to poll you guys who design and make knives as well. Have you ever noticed a curved handle to slow you down? If so, in what applications?

 

[WYK]

I think what he means by speed is the ability to change directions, grips, positioning, etc. If you generally maintain a single grip like in Bowie fighting, this would seem to be a non-issue. I have seen many Bowie 'masters' that were plenty fast with a curved handle; Bagwell among them.

WYK