Knife Handle Ergonomics - Your Opinions Please

[DonL]

Funny thing. Now that I'm making knives, I'm paying a lot of attention to things I didn't in the past.

One thing that has me baffled is handle ergonomics. Maybe it's because most of my experiences with knives up until a few years ago were with production knives, but it seems like a lot of custom makers are going with larger knife handles these days.

I have a pretty good size paw and most of these knives seem too large for my hands. I can only imagine how they feel to others.

I've been using knives ever since I was old enough to let out of the house. I prefer a "normal" sized handle on a knife. It just seems that I can control a smaller handle better with less fatigue. I use most of my knives outdoors for things like camping, fishing, chores and hunting.

For example, the largest handle I've put on a knife measures about .800 across (total thickness from one side to another). That's a pair of Dymonwood scales on a 3/16 blade. The height of the handle is about 1 inch. It feels "big" in my hand. The handles I prefer are in the .600 to .750 range (total width across the handle). Also, a handle with about an inch of height seems to be the most comfortable for me.

In contrast, I have a few recent purchase that the handle width is at or over 1 inch for a 1/8th blade. It's a beautiful knife but the handle just seems too large!

I had a few buddies over today and I remembered this subject. I know what types of knives they use. Just for the heck of it, I went and got a few of my custom knives and let them try them. Their opinions mirrored mine. Too large and too short! I think most utility/hunting knives should have a minimum of a 4 1/2 gripping surface at the bottom. We thought very few of the 4 inch handled knives felt as comfortable as those with 4 1/2" handles.

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this and how you come up with your handle designs.

 

[Doug Lester]

I have to admit that I like a moderately thick handle like you do. Even with my folding knives. I have also found that a longer handle gives more control and feels better in the hand. One attempt at a seax had an 8 inch long handle and it is very controlable and the extra length is not at all awkward. A handle of that length seems to go better with a chopper. I wonder if the reason that there are production knives with wider and thicker handle is that the manufacturer doesn't want to spend the time and money to grind the handles down. Same reason for the shorter handles. More scale blanks per length of stock.

Doug

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

This is something that every knifemaker struggles with sooner or later in their career. We generally start out building knives with handles that fit, and feel good to US (the knifemaker). Then as time goes by, and we get into selling our work, we start realizing that not everyone out there has the same size hand(s) that we do. Everybody seeks solutions in their own ways. I stumbled upon mine by accident....I had finished a hunter, and took it into the house for my wife to "critique" (and I use that word in the real meaning! She's tough!) She flat told me that the handle was too big and bulky, and that it was too long. I grumbled a bit, and then headed back to the shop and started slimming it down, and shortening it a bit.

It took 3 more trips inside, over the course of the day, until she said "That's just right!" The knife felt a little too short and thin in the handle for me, but over time I have discovered that if I build a handle to "fit" her, generally about 90% of people like it.

As a loose rule, a knife handle should be between 4 1/2" to 5".....with most of the hunter sized knives that I produce falling in at roughly 4 3/4".

On the other side, I once had an individual who wanted to order a 5" drop point hunter, with a 6" handle, and wanted the handle "big and beefy". I resisted, and tried to talk him into a more "normal" sized handle. He kept pleading, and telling me that this would be a knife he would keep forever. I finally caved in and told him I would build it.

Fast forward to about a year later. I get a phone call from a guy, saying that he had purchased one of my knives on the secondary market, and while he liked the knife, the handle was "WAY too long and fat". My mind went right to the knife I had built for the guy who said he would never part with it. Rather than have an "odd" knife floating around out there with my name on it, I told the individual to send me the knife, and I'd do whatever I could. What a flipping nightmare! Nothing like trying to shorten the handle/tang on a full tang damascus hunter, that already had weight reduction holes in the tang. Long story short, I wound up building a completely new knife, and didn't get paid for it. Never again! My instincts told me not to build the knife in the first place, but I ignored them, and got a lot of grief later.

The moral of the story is this.....IF you're building knives strictly for yourself, do whatever you want. IF you ever think one is going to get out of your control/possession, it's best to stick to what most consider "standard" as far as size, dimensions, etc. Otherwise it could very easily cause you grief down the line.

 

[rhinoknives]

Great topic,

One of the reasons I got in to Knife Making was I thought the handles on most knives were terrible.
it seemed that the handle was a after thought to the knife and the company's would slab on a couple of blocky slabs of wood or Plastic to get it out the door.

I started contouring handles on my Knives with my Dremel tool when I was about 15 years old.
my Buck knife 110 comes to mind! I put finger grooves in it to fit my bit mitts.

I mostly Make Culinary these days, 5 to 5 1/2" is my preferred length for my customers, and about 1" thick Scales & liners on a 1/8" steel to start.
Then I contour and size to the customer hand, I have them put their hand on a piece of paper and trace around it for a reference when working, I have mostly locals so I have them stop by for a fitting so to speak before I knock off to much material.