Why not a knife shaped to match the hand's natural position of pointing index finger?

[woodgood]

I was wondering if anyone has seen or made a knife whose handle to blade alignment more closely matched the index finger's natural position. Instead of the blade being inline with the handle the blade would be angled about 45 degrees so that the closed fist (minus the index finger) would be wrapped around the handle and the index finger would be positioned as if pointing and would be placed along the spine of the blade.

I don't have a drawing yet to better portray my thought. But I have to believe that it has been tried before and has failed for some reason or another.

Any ideas or thoughts on this?

Just wondering and didn't know of a better place on the forum than this to post this idea/question.

Thanks,

Brett

 

[liamstrain]

Many fighting knives and bowies have the blade canted at least some, if not a full 45°. That changes the grip drastically. Szabo UUK as an extreme for instance.

Many others have less drastic cants.

 

[woodgood]

Many fighting knives and bowies have the blade canted at least some, if not a full 45°. That changes the grip drastically. Szabo UUK as an extreme for instance.

Many others have less drastic cants.

That's almost the idea but not down like that one pictured but to the side when looking over the spine of the knife.

 

[JamesBrauer]

I've turned some wood for 'palm handled' tool handles for that reason. I made one for my rasp like that, and I have some store bought chisels that have that style handle. When you use them, your finger can point down the length of the chisel. It gives really good control and you can push hard in one direction, but the shank has to be pretty short. It is a trade-off of control versus leverage.

 

[mitch8]

well personally i hold knives in many different ways and i switch between hands. i feel like changing up the alignment could inhibit the other grips and definitely the left hand usage. there might be a knife out there like this. most likely very trade/task specific (i'm thinking meat packing industry) but i've never seen one.
id would defiantly be worth a mock up and maybe a real one though. let us know if you go through with something though. id like to see a big innovation in knives be made here through the bf community.

 

[Thomas Linton]

But if you want to chop or cut, instead of stab, do you want the hand below the edge? Many knives are designed to achieve the opposite of what you suggest.

 

[liamstrain]

That's almost the idea but not down like that one pictured but to the side when looking over the spine of the knife.

There was a variant of the Gerber made Fairbairn Sykes (sp?) fighting knife (Mark II) that had the kind of cant you describe. They are quite valuable as collectibles.

 

[woodgood]

There was a variant of the Gerber made Fairbairn Sykes (sp?) fighting knife (Mark II) that had the kind of cant you describe. They are quite valuable as collectibles.

Yeah, that's more like I had in mind. Thanks for finding that picture! I was thinking that the cant would be more extreme than that one though. I understand that it probably wouldn't allow for many different grip styles like the standard shaped knife. Thanks again.

 

[Rhinoknives1]

Liam Strain or anyone that really knows?
I have heard two reasons for the cant on the mark II. I am not sure if ether was true?
1) so you didn't break the blade when you pushed thru a mans ribs from behind into his heart.

2) that it would contour to the side of your leg better in the sheath when you landed from parachuting.

I have handled one of those Mark II's and I was always curious what the true reason for it was?

I didn't serve in the Military and the little training I have taken was empty hand. I make mostly culinary knives and a few hunters.

Do you have any idea if there is any truth to those two reasons for the cant on the Gerber? Or is it the index finger or thumb indexing?

Laurence

 

[Thomas Linton]

The simple truth is that the cant was a design feature that accomplished two things: First it allowed the knife, when sheathed, to be kept closer to the body. The bend allowed a better match to the curved contour of the hip, calf, thigh or inverted carry taped to chest web gear and thus would help to reduce snagging. Second the angle was designed to keep the blade horizontal to compensate for the natural bend of the wrist when the knife is held with the "Fencing foil grip".

http://militarycarryknives.com/Knives.htm

That is, with the knife held in a fencing grip and the blade horizontal to the ground to more easily penetrate the ribs. 0___0 Someone bought your logic, woodgood.

 

[LRB]

JMHO, but a working knife is best when comfortable in whatever position the edge is in. A combat knife such as that Gerber should be the same, and one should be able to grab it in pitch black darkness and know where the point is aimed.

 

[liamstrain]

one should be able to grab it in pitch black darkness and know where the point is aimed.

Work with any knife long enough, and you will, regardless of cant (I believe the handle is indexed somewhat so you can tell by feel which way the cant is bent).

The fencing foil grip is what I remember from my history lessons - when developing knife fighting styles, they borrowed a lot from fencing techniques. Remember, the Fairbairn Sykes is not a working knife, it is purely a fighting knife.

 

[james terrio]

Problems with balance, indexing and overall utility will come into play with a knife that isn't straight. It's a more extreme example of why I'm not a huge fan of chisel grinds... they definitely work great in specific situations, but they're a bit limited.

If one wanted to design a knife purely for stabbing people, it might be worth considering to not just bend the blade off-axis, but curve it. That would be pretty brutal, I imagine. I'd hate to have to make a sheath for it, though.

 

[Rhinoknives1]

JMHO, but a working knife is best when comfortable in whatever position the edge is in. A combat knife such as that Gerber should be the same, and one should be able to grab it in pitch black darkness and know where the point is aimed.

Hello LRB, How are you doing?
That Gerber drawn from the sheath on the body, The soldier would know the angle of the cant. I do agree that it's not a everyday working knife.

Laurence

 

[Rhinoknives1]

By the way,
LRB Makes some very fine daggers so his words have meaning here.

Laurence

 

[LRB]

Hello LRB, How are you doing?
That Gerber drawn from the sheath on the body, The soldier would know the angle of the cant. I do agree that it's not a everyday working knife.

Laurence

My thoughts were that if knocked from the hand in a struggle, or fumbled and retrieved in the dark, ones adrenaline would be running high, and one would not have to want to think about point alignment after retrieval. Even a reference in the grip might take a nano second too long to register in the brain, and could make the difference in the out come. Just my thoughts, but I even prefer that Bowies has a centralized point to the grip. Unless a historical copy.