Thoughts on this knife?

[aarolar]

Drew this out yesterday and cut it out of 308L today. Feels pretty good in the hand what thought do yall have about it?

 

[silver_pilate]

My first thought would be that I would like to see a deeper finger relief to prevent you from sliding up onto the edge with your index finger. So a slightly deeper finger groove that is blended back into the handle swell.

--nathan

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

What function is the knife intended for?
If it is a slicer, the handle is too low, and your fingers will hit the counter before the blade does. If it is a utility Wharnie, then increase the finger grip deeper and thin the handle as Nathan suggested. The handle is a bit too fat anyway.

 

[silver_pilate]

Here's a wharncliff I did a while back. Now, keep you design elements as you want them to be, but this may give you an idea on what I was referring to for the handle:

You can see it's deeper at the finger groove and it blends into the swell. Now, with your shorter handle, I understand why you want a thicker grip, so you may want to try experimenting on cardboard to see what feels right. Remember, once you take metal off, you can't put it back.

--nathan

--nathan

 

[Fred.Rowe]

I don't believe the handle is long enough for the blade size. Most wharncliff blades are used with the edge parallel to the cut which makes your handle a little low.

Fred

 

[aarolar]

It is intended to be a utility style blade, I see what you mean about the finger groove being alittle shallow and I am considering deepening it but I like the thickness if the handle because I have large hands and it helps to fill them out.

 

[silver_pilate]

aarolar,

I think the bottom line is that it's your knife, your design, your creation. We've all got opinions, and many of them are quite useful, but then again, if you want something made a certain way for yourself, there is nothing wrong with that. That's the great thing about making a knife: it's how YOU want the knife made. Now when it comes to selling a knife to a larger audience than yourself, then design plays more of a part.

I'd say make it how you want, and then you will have first hand insight as to things you might change in the next one. I know I had knives early on that felt great in hand, and I thought they would be exactly what I wanted that didn't end up that way when I was finished. So I adjusted, changed my designs, and over time, have been much more pleased with how they feel in hand and how they function in use.

Have fun with it. That's the great thing about this craft.

--nathan

 

[Frank Niro]

I believe a few years back we called those with the size of handle length you have there, a three finger knife. In use three finger knives have a tendency to tire the hand it is being used in. If you extend the handle your hand will probably feel more comfortable if you slim it down as suggested. Here again I'm saying the same as the others. If this is what you want well go with it, If you are new at this you can't expect your designs to be real popular or the replies would agree. Frank

 

[aarolar]

Ok I made some changes and a cardboard cutout, Input?