Handle tapering

A

A-V

Member
Hi,

I've bought a plank of curly maple from a local store for about 5 bucks but it's really thick at 0.8".

I figured it might be a little short if I book shelved it for a machete handle so I went ahead and cut two pieces for a pair of scales.

Now with everything glued together it adds up to 1.75" thick which makes no sense at all but leaves a lot of room for curves!

I'm planning to have the handle around 1" thick at the middle and use model A from this picture.

Please tell me what you think would work best !

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I think "B" is your best bet. You want to have a thinner relief area where your pinky rides or you will tire out a lot faster and the swell at the end will keep your hand from sliding down.
 
Another vote for 'B' here too. I'll add this..... for a small knife, (even for some big ones) 1" thick in any part of the handle is going to be REALLY thick. You might want to go thinner yet.
 
B, it is once again! I would even add a little flare out at the ricasso to act as a bit of a guard. That would help keep the hand when moist from slipping forward.
 
I'll be the odd man here..... For comfort during use I choose "A". I'm actually surprised that everyone chose "B". I suspect its because the finished shape of "B" looks "cooler". I've handled and used many knives with a handle shape similar to "B", and although the eye appeal is there, those "sharp" edges at the butt of the handle will cause blisters and/or sore spots on the heel of the handle and/or pinky finger during use (such as field dressing a deer or elk). That being said, there is a happy medium between "A" and "B"..... first setup the handle as shown in "A", then incorporate the "hollows" show in "B"....but do it to a much lesser degree, so that you do not end up with those sharp "roll outs" at the butt of the handle.

Its interesting that I stumbled across this post..... I was on the phone with another maker just this morning, and we were talking about how the current "trend" in handles seems to be "B"......and we discussed how it seems that in many cases the "cool factor" has come to overshadow using practicality in many aspects of knife design. But, that's also one of the great things about knifemaking.....things constantly change, and each individual can design and tailor a knife to what the individual maker wishes it to be.
 
Ed actually came along and summed up my thoughts exactly. I guess I picked 'B' out of those three if you were going to use one of them. An 'A'/'B' hybrid would be my favorite.

I should have elaborated. ;)
 
Many,many years ago, the standard for a knife handle was as follows:

When you grip the knife, your fingers should just meet your palm. The middle of the handle was called the Palm Swell. It was meant to fill your palm in order to enhance your grip. The swell at the back was to keep the knife from pulling out of your hand. The swell in front was to keep your hand from sliding forward.

When I made straight knives, I followed these as best I could with each handle. :steve:
 
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I try to do what Don said. But not always. I do try to leave the butt larger. I like big butts and I can not lie.........
 
Thanks a lot for all the input !

Did end up adding a small swell at the front as some of you said and it feels good in the hand, at the end of the day that's all that matters right ?

Tried doing like the "B" picture model but the thing is I wanted my hand to stop way before the very end of the handle as there's a stopper at the bottom that wouldn't allow it anyways.

It really has weird looking curves but fits my hand perfectly!

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