Thickness of handles on Bushcraft knives

[Joezilla]

Those with their "bushcraft" knives, like the woodslore, speak up!
How thick are the scales on yours, diameter wise? 3/4" or 13/16" Let me know!

Joe

 

[SpookyPistolero]

The best I've used are almost one inch near the forward portion of the grip, and usually taper to a bit thinner distally. The BGA bushcrafter was roughly 7/8" or a bit over if I recall (not with me right now to measure). The MM custom puukko that HD has was 15/16" and was not contoured, just a constant width and upside-down egg shape.

Something like 5/8" is way too thin. The woodslore shape itself is actually versatile enough that it can get away with being thinner (though thicker is still better) and I've got a clone that's probably 3/4" or a shade under (thin for me) and it's still 'doable'. I'm still gonna remove the scales on it and put thicker ones on though.

Thick is good. Thin and I don't use it.

 

[attej]

Here's the handle of an EnZo Trapper I made... fits my hand perfectly

 

[SpookyPistolero]

MM puukko:

BGA:

 

[Brian Andrews]

The hand swells are important to me, even though some people do not like them.

I can give you a dimension if you let me know where.

The problem is, my handles are not circular either. I taper towards the bottom. A circumference measurement doesn't tell all.

B

 

[Joezilla]

Hey Briand,

Dimensions on the thickest part of the middle, back and the taper near the ricasso! I am just wondering how much these vary

 

[MacHete]

My preferences seem pretty close to Briandrews. One of my Kosters has slimmer slabs, but I think that's going to be Kathy's knife. I hate grabbing a cylindrical handle. I like grip options, and I think that can be achieved with an "egg" cross-section and some swells.

Love those handles Brian- except for the red liners. I have a pathological hatred for red liners.

Edit: Oops! It occurs to me that I have responded about shape, rather than size. To respect the OP's query, and since I cannot conveniently measure any of my knives now, Ii will just say this: My hands are big for my size. Not freakishly so, and I'm only 5'6". As I have transitioned from hunting knives to more bushcrafty blades, I have noticed that I like the handles to be a little beefier. I really don't hunt anymore and when I take out my old skinners these days, they feel a little weird and undersized.

 

[Stickman]

On my contoured handles the palm swells are 7/8" and just as Brian mentioned the shape isn't round, but more oblong with a slight taper toward the underside. The thinest sections before and after the palm swells are about 11/16" to 3/4" respectively.

 

[hollowdweller]

I think it depends on the depth of the handle.

IMO 5/8" is way too narrow, unless the handle is over an inch deep.

For me somewhere around 3/4 at the thickest is about right, although depending on the overall shape.

I like the widest part to be about in the last 3rd of the handle near the spine and the narrowest part where your fingers curl around.

Also in some ways it's important (to me) to have the swell or wide part further up near the blade. Sometimes, on some knives if you have a big swell in the middle and then it tapers to the blade then when you cut something tough the backward force still cramps your hand if it's not wide enough back there.

 

[Cliff Nieporte]

These are the measurments of my Brian Andrews Bushcraft knife:
.944"

.943"

.841"

Very nice fit for my hands.

If you need measurments at any different spots of the handle just let me know.

Cliff

 

[hollowdweller]

 

[hollowdweller]

Does anyone know what the thickness is on the new bushcraft ones Koster is making are??

 

[Joezilla]

thanks for the input guys!

 

[SpookyPistolero]

Does anyone know what the thickness is on the new bushcraft ones Koster is making are??

I asked him in his 'interest' thread but can't recall what he said, I'll try to find it.

Here we go:

Total thickness will end up around 3/8"+(0.125-0.135)+3/8" at the widest part of the palm swell.

The handle will be shaped identical to the recent thicker bushcraft handles - a search on this forum is bound to bring up a bunch of pics.

 

[hollowdweller]

7/8? That's good.

 

[Dannyboy Leather]

I have most of mine made at around 7/8" wide. Two or three that are 1" wide. Any smaller than 7/8" wide in my XL-hand and I can't feel the handle.

 

[Will Power]

MM puukko:

BGA:

Nice pic of that MM Puukko:thumbup:

I see yours has polished micarta? My Bushcraft puukko came with matte unpolished/dull micarta and I'm rather disappointed:grumpy:

 

[Brian Andrews]

Hollowdweller and Spooky....you guys sure have a nice collection of knives!

B

 

[SpookyPistolero]

Nice pic of that MM Puukko:thumbup:

I see yours has polished micarta? My Bushcraft puukko came with matte unpolished/dull micarta and I'm rather disappointed:grumpy:

Thanks, that one is HD's. I'm having a similar one made though. If you want it polished up you could do it pretty easily, just use some very fine grit sandpaper and then steel wool. But the 'rough' stuff has the advantage of being extra grippy.

Hollowdweller and Spooky....you guys sure have a nice collection of knives!

B

Hehe, well half are often HD's in my pics.

 

[Joezilla]

what do you think of a 5" handle with a 4 and 5/16ths blade?

Joe

If that is too big, what is the longest you would think would be acceptable.