Which one

[Doug Humbarger]

I have another knife in the works & would welcome some input. Which guard or neither? The material is twist pattern damascus & the file work piece is NS. I'm also thinking the ricasso is too long & I need to shorten it. Does the Golden Ratio (golden ratio = 1.618033990) apply to the ricasso in relation to the blade length to be aestheticly pleasing? What say ye? In the last photo the recasso has been shortened.

 

[tedinatl]

Good looking blade! I prefer the second one, and yes, the ricasso is way to long. I would probably halve it.

 

[Lagrange]

All of the above relates to personal preference, asthetics and proportion. If you intend to sell your knives look at the ones that sell and see what people are buying. You dont have to copy other people, but you can take some mental notes concerning the asthetics and proportion. Everything else is personal preference.
For example...you decide to put a copper spacer in front of the guard and some simpleton tells you it aint right...it might not be right for him, but if you like it and you can sell it, do it.
Oh, by the way, this simpleton thinks the riccasso is too long. Half would be good. I've made a few knives that had very liitle riccasso. Ehh...what are you gonna do..?
Eric

 

[Doug Humbarger]

The riccasso width is 1" so I'll probably shorten it to 5/8" long. Which is just barely enough to get your finger in thereby useing the guard as a subhilt when you choke up on the knife.