Which came first, the handle or the blade?

Raymond Richard said:
99% of the time its the blade first. Must be the caveman that's is still in me. I wonder how many years it was before our ancient ancestors started adding handles to their tools.
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Yar, That’s how I used to think, but then I started thinking maybe they already had the handle and used it for poking, prying, beating on stuff with etc.,... Then it took thousands of years before they figured out that they could stick a blade of a harder material on it. The knife sort of evolved out of the handle.

Man's first tool... the handle. :)
 
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Oh, get a grip, Tai!..... ha... get it?.... grip = handle... I'm killin me.... lol... snort-snort.
 
As with most things to do with this hobby, I see Tai's question as an exercise in engineering. Everything I have worked on so far has started with a blade. By starting with the blade I have the work laid out in a specific series of steps... with little variation from one project to the next. The challenge would be different in many ways if the handle was already made and I had to make a blade that fit it.

It isn't as simple as reversing or altering the order of the steps, is it?

I think what you're contemplating, Tai, would offer deeper insights into the function of the handle. It isn't just about shapes and colors and comfort in the hand, is it? It's about weight distributions, bonding methods, and new ways to solve old problems.

That.... or I'm overthinking the simple again.

- Greg
 
I guess you could think of it as an engineering question. Of course you’d have to start with some kind of an “idea” for a knife, purpose or knife concept, but in design and fabrication would it make any difference if you started with the handle or the blade,… psychologically or otherwise? Would it make any difference in the finished product? I’m thinking maybe so…
 
....................... Maybe a knife or any hand tool for that matter, is really just “a handle with a purpose“. :)
 
This happens often with slipjoints. Lets take a wharnie blade in a swayback, it would be pretty tough to draw the knife from the blade profile. So we draw the handle and get the backspring drawing in some semblance of order inside the handle. We then draw the blade to fit inside and work mechanically without hitting anything.
Ken.
 
Subconsciously, we might be starting with the handle more than we realize. The overall knife construction does seem to have more to do with the handle than the blade. For example, will it be a full tang, stick tang, integral hollow socket type handle, folder, one hand, two hands, three fingers, four fingers etc...?
 
I don't know if science can be applied to the question at hand.
:D
 
Lorien,... it's all science. :)

The “hand tool” is an extension of the human body first and foremost. The “handle” is the link between the hand and the purpose of the tool,... or the tool itself.
 
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Even if the gun’s out of bullets,… you can still use the handle as a weapon. :)
 
Never realized this could be so much of a psychological question. Consciously or unconsciously, i start with the whole package at the same time. All materials are selected before hand. I will cut out/profile the blade then fit the guard. Once the guard is fit, i might fit the handle or grind the bevels....depends on the mood. It's all about what speaks to me at the moment. BTW...Rick, you kill me lol...freakin hilarious
 
Rick, I think you handled my comment really well, in fact, I think you nailed it.

How can you hold only a blade? Even if it's a rock chipped to sharpness, there still has to be an area to hold onto it, no? I would think it would make for either an obsessive compulsive, or stupid caveman to sharpen his rock all the way around...

I am going to sit on the fence, and say that the handle and the blade are intrinsic and symbiotic, and that one cannot exist without the other.

Ninja stars? Well, their handle is the middle, of course!
 
If we go by Genesis, the blade came first, but was lonely. So, then came the handle. Or was that the sheath? I always get my ribs mixed up!
 
Phil Dwyer said:
If we go by Genesis, the blade came first, but was lonely. So, then came the handle. Or was that the sheath? I always get my ribs mixed up!
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Phil,
That is a splendid analogy; could that be what the missing rib was used for; to handle a knife? You may be onto something.:)
Fred
 
a missing rib for a sharp tongue:)
 
I've been thinking about using a human bone for a knife handle a long time... Can anyone spare me a healthy shin bone? It could be the next big craze in handle materials.

... starting with the handle again. :)
 
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... I don't think humans are on the endangered species list yet, although you'd probably get in trouble for harvesting any live ones.

Hey Rick, if you die before you get too old to be any good,... can I have your skeleton?
 
Tai Goo said:
... Hey Rick, if you die before you get too old to be any good,... can I have your skeleton?
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I just wrote "Conatact Tai Goo" across the donor's card on the back of my driver's license. Whatever you end up making from me, please refer to it as a collaboration piece, m'kay.:D:thumbup:
 
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