Post here for design critique.

I just realized how small that this knife was lol I gonna have to adjust the scale before I print out my template. As for what you said Gary this is intended for whitetail deer. The hunting style in my area (Missouri) is you climb in a stand or blind and wait for the deer to come to you. If your hunt is successful you dress the game in the field and then take what's left back to camp or to a barn where you hang up the deer and process it into usable chunks of meat.
 
Justin W. said:
View attachment 67281Alright guys here Is a design that I came up with its a hunting knife. The blade length is 3 1/2" and the handle is gonna be 3 1/2". Let me know what you think
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The blade is perfect size for whitetail. People have already mentioned the size of the handle. You might think about adding a little more of a point, there are some rear end spots on an animal that a point makes all the difference in the world.
 
Ty Adams said:
The blade is perfect size for whitetail. People have already mentioned the size of the handle. You might think about adding a little more of a point, there are some rear end spots on an animal that a point makes all the difference in the world.
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Great idea I will play around with that before I print it out
 
This is a design that was sent to me and can commissioned buy a former first sergeant of mine. I'm going to cut it out of wood and feel the ergonomics before I commit to steel. I would love to have somebody with more experience than me critique this before I get there though.
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Windom Armory said:
This is a design that was sent to me and can commissioned buy a former first sergeant of mine. I'm going to cut it out of wood and feel the ergonomics before I commit to steel. I would love to have somebody with more experience than me critique this before I get there though.
View attachment 68678
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Yeah I would wont to cut it out in wood first I think maybe the thumb ramp might need to be moved up a bit to be comfortable.
 
One thing when you do designs. Keep in mind what wheels you are grinding with to make it easier and faster to finish your knife.The curve on the bottom of the handle will fit my 18 inch wheel. The finger loop in front of blade is top of plattern 1 1/2 wheel. Use what you work with to design your knife. is that easy to follow?
 
Unfortunately the handle is the only part of the design I actually did. The rest of the blade is the design that I was given and am trying my best to keep to it as much as possible while still making a functional tool. I have greatly reduced the severity of the recurve and taken a bit of drop out of the tip of the blade. I will redraw this and see what the customer thinks.
 
What is the intended use of the knife ? If it is to be a hunter/skinner then the working part of the blade is quite short for a blade that length in that the belly part that is most used in skinning is that part between the 11 and 12 1/4 inch mark where a slightly gentler curve from just shy of 11 to 12 1/2 would make it more usable in the field while still having the straighter part from 12 1/2 to the tip to ease the start of opening up for sinning. With the plunge at the 8 1/2 inch mark and the straighter blade to the start of the belly at 11 inch mark you would have a very good skinning blade.
 
Guy is a competition precision rifle shooter and firearm manufacturer. Told me if I could make him a quality knife he would make sure as many eyes see it as possible. So it's more of a "tacticool" show piece.
 
hey guys, so up to this point I've only been making knives out of junk steel, circular saw blades things like that. About ready to place an order for some real knife making steel, and I've drawn up some knives that I'd like to try to make.
Graph paper is awesome, thanks for that tip!

A) use...all around utility/hunter. as I'm developing arthritis in my hands it's becoming harder to hold onto small stuff, so I wanted a beefy handle on this one.
B) Kind of a sharp finger neck knife. Simple utility. something to have around when I'm not wearing the right kind of pants to hold up a bigger knife...
C)A IMG_20190511_155008320.jpghacker/slasher kind of blade.

I have no grinder, all of this will be done shaping using angle grinder, and filing jig. Any constructive criticism or critique or encouragement would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys.
 
Windom Armory said:
Guy is a competition precision rifle shooter and firearm manufacturer. Told me if I could make him a quality knife he would make sure as many eyes see it as possible. So it's more of a "tacticool" show piece.
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Way too much belly for a tactical knife IMO. Think of a shark snout when you look at that part of the knife. Tactical often means rapid penetration so the big belly counteracts that
 
ChrisRaymo said:
I have no grinder, all of this will be done shaping using angle grinder, and filing jig. Any constructive criticism or critique or encouragement would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys.
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Again this is just my opinion but over 50 years of using knives tells me that there is way too much nose on A as it will need to have such an angle when trying to open up prior to flaying that the part that will do the cutting will be almost square to the skin and that is not condusive to easy work. See how high you wi have to have the butt of the knife to make this opening cut under the skin and how square the cutting edge will be so you have to push the blade instead of it slicing .
square nose.png
With the nose eased off and the belly increases in length to meet it the butt of the knife is held much closer to the animal for better controll and the effort is less so there is much less chance of a push slip. The tip dosent have to be lengthened if the belly is just continued so there is about a 1/4 to 3/8 nose. My lines on your pics are just to show the difference in nose to belly angles and the slicing compared to pushing of cuts



cutting edge.png
 
Von Gruff said:
Again this is just my opinion but over 50 years of using knives tells me that there is way too much nose on A as it will need to have such an angle when trying to open up prior to flaying that the part that will do the cutting will be almost square to the skin and that is not condusive to easy work. See how high you wi have to have the butt of the knife to make this opening cut under the skin and how square the cutting edge will be so you have to push the blade instead of it slicing .
View attachment 68697
With the nose eased off and the belly increases in length to meet it the butt of the knife is held much closer to the animal for better controll and the effort is less so there is much less chance of a push slip. The tip dosent have to be lengthened if the belly is just continued so there is about a 1/4 to 3/8 nose. My lines on your pics are just to show the difference in nose to belly angles and the slicing compared to pushing of cuts



View attachment 68698
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Yes, thank you. The tip on that one has been bothering me. Erased and redrew a half dozen times! Lol.
 
That is much more user friendly Chris although I see there are two squares of your graph paper in the nose. Try reducing that by a 1/4 to 1/2 a square and it would be an ideal hunter/skinner and one I would be happy to go to work on an animal with. There are 6 square (diagonals) in the belly which makes and Ideal flaying length and the 1 1/4 diagonals from the tip are almost/nearly long enough for the opening slicing cuts which is why I might raise the tip by 1/4 to 1/2 a square
 
Top is what I hope to be the final redesign. Bottom is the original design I was sent. I feel that I have completely missed the aesthetic that my customer was going for. Talked to the guy again today for clarification on what he wanted. Turns out he was going for a fighting/hunting blade
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That is often the way when you are asked to design a knife in that the customer does not clearly indicate his exact wants and when you work toward what he has suggested and find out that he was thinking along a different line. Personally I like what you have come up with as a military influenced knife but with keeping everything the same except for a sight curve of about a 1/2 square of nose and no swedge it would also work as a hunter.
The other one is a bit like the old Puma white hunter which always seemed a bit excessive when I had one in hand.
https://www.google.com/search?q=pum...gpniAhUg_XMBHaqZBAgQ_AUIDigB&biw=1346&bih=602
 
Von Gruff said:
That is often the way when you are asked to design a knife in that the customer does not clearly indicate his exact wants and when you work toward what he has suggested and find out that he was thinking along a different line. Personally I like what you have come up with as a military influenced knife but with keeping everything the same except for a sight curve of about a 1/2 square of nose and no swedge it would also work as a hunter.
The other one is a bit like the old Puma white hunter which always seemed a bit excessive when I had one in hand.
https://www.google.com/search?q=pum...gpniAhUg_XMBHaqZBAgQ_AUIDigB&biw=1346&bih=602
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Thank you for the kind words on the design. Sent to customer the exact same picture I posted here and he liked what he saw. This wedge was just drawn in to see how it would be visually I just wasn't sold on it. Thinking of giving this blade a slight distal taper just to reduce the weight out front.
 
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