Knife handle ergonomics

[mountainm]

Giving some thought to the shape of the handle of my next knife. How do you like yours and why?

Rounded all over
Designed for different grips
Formed with finger spaces
Flat side and angular
Rubberised and grippy
Simple barrel

Please post up photos of likes and hates!

Cheers

Mike

 

[Totumpole]

THis could prove a fairly interesting read - good idea for a thread.

Below are some of my sharps with some pro's and cons (in my humble opinion)

Numbered from left to right:
1: AW Woodlore, Bird's Eye Maple Scales
A recent aquisition of mine that I have not yet had the opportunity to put full through its paces. I have dabbled with a few feather sticks and shaving down some bits of faily solid wood for shelves at home. The contour you see when looking down the spine is extremely comfortable, particularly in the classic strong fist type grip - probably a lot to do with the large "swollen" mid section. This helps it feel quite substantial/full in the hand despite it not being at all bulky. Detailing of the handle is outstanding down to the 1/3 of the spine towards the but protruting beyond the scales but in a perfect curve that makes it completely flush at the same time. The 1/3 towards the butt also has very slight recess in the side on profile which fits the hypothenar eminence very nicely aiding in comfort in many of the grips I've tried. Its an extermely well balanced knife, the balance point being just in front of the forward rivet.
No cons I've noticed as yet.

2: Ben Orford 3.5" Classic woodlander with tapered tang, Reindeer Antler Scales
Pro's - Similar spine on profile but much less exagerated than the Woodlore. Much more of a "swooping" side on profile which has similar effect for comfort as the woodlore, but leaves you with a less positive feel of the butt of the knife - you get it on the finger side due to the "swoop" but not where the heel of your hand site (if that makes sense). All in all this design is only minorly inferior to that of the woodlore in my opinion - and still a firm favourite of mine.
Con's - At times I feel the handlee of this knife is slightly short, and those with large hands may find the but of you knife interferes with some grips. Not quite as well balanced, but that is more to do with having a shorter blade moveing the balance point back (and possibly handle material?)

3: A. Wright & Son, Woody clone, Ebony Scales
Its been a main user for a few years now and seen a fair amount of use. THis is a simple tubular type handle, side on it has a slight choil, belly and butt giving it a moderately positive feel in the hand. PLain and simple, hard to fault.

4: Mora Blank, handles by me in cherry wood scales.
Pro's - Pretty "rectangular" scales, with some very subtle contouring around about where the rivets are. As I shaped it to my hand these are perfect for your strong fist type grip as my index and little finger slop in perfectly. The handle itself feels smaller that the others (despite the fact it is only a few mm shorter) - probably because in a chest lever grip my hypothenar emminence sit on the butt (compared to the others where the butt is pressing into that muscle), which proves pretty comortable with a good degree of control.
Con's - I havent given it much prolonged use, but think the more rectnagular shape might be more uncomfortable with time.

5: Falkniven F1 with Masur Birch Handle (Made by Dougster of BCUK)
Had this a while and not used it a great deal.
Pro's - Again, its similar in spine on profile to the woodlore/ben orford, but this one flair out again towards the choil. It is chunky, and fills up your hand really well. Extremely comfortable in your strong fist type grip.
Con's - THe finger guard interfere when choking up on the blade, althuigh this is a fault of the blade design, not the handle.

6: Roger HArrington prototype - Walnut scales, nickel silver bolster
Despite this being an extremely well made and beutiful knife I'm not such a fan of the handle. Very rectangular which I think will be uncomfortable with prolobged use. The side on profile tapers off to the end, giving you less of a positive feel for the but in a strong fist grip, it just doesnt feel quite right. Althoug, I want save my pennies for one of Rogers Bison Bushcraft knives - have had my eye on them forever and they dont seem to come up second hand on the forum (which I dare say means people aren't keen to part with them!)

7: Classic Mora Rubber/plastic handle.
Grippy, even when wet. Generally very comfortable except when you choke up on that nice plastic finger guard. As we all know, hard to beat for the price, although for comfort, i think its probably woth the extra pennies to go for the wooden handles version (I find my carver of the same simple barrel design - extremely comfortable, but a bit short in length).

I meant to add my off the shelf Enzo in there but forgot. I find the scales to small and the handle doesnt fill out you hand, making it generally uncomfortable in most grips. Something I may rehandle down the line.

All in all - Faily thick scales that fill out and conform to your hand in the main grips types are ideal. How much you want to shape them to your grip type depends of how much time (or patience) you have in shaping the scales, but I think the time would pay off in the end.


I bet after all that you were more interested in stick tang handles...........

 

[HillBill]

After trying many different handle shapes on my knives i have settled on the one i put on all my knives.

It starts thinner at the front and gets wider towards the butt. Like a steady taper along the length. Its then shaped like an inverted teardrop, wider at the spine and thinner at the belly. With subtle contours on the underside and front and rear. This i find fills the hand everywhere comfortably. I've been told many times that my handle's do not produce hotspots nor do they fatigue the back of the hand after a while of hard gripping. I find the coke bottle shape to fatigue the hand after a while as it is inversely proportional to the hands natural contours in an even grip. More pressure needs to be applied with the last 2 fingers to give a solid grip.

This is how i do mine

 

[Laurentius]

My vote is for rounded all over, with my arthritic grip I prefer things with a circular cross section.

 

[sandsnakes]

I had this made for me by Dave Budd, its desigened to sit and grip between your 1/2 and your 4/5th finger, the grip is amazing, never slips in the wet. The one down side is that it is so tailored that if another picks it up with a bigger or smaller hand its uncomfortable. So I guess it's like a decent suit or handmade shoes, made to measure is alway going to win out.

Sandsnakes

Some beautiful caftsmanship there Hill

 

[sasquatch]

Just depends on what your doing most with the knife in my opinion. I'd mostly go with what Mark said, fairly rounded so it can be used in a variety of grips without causing hotspots and fatigue. Mora classics are far from stunning to look at but they sure are nice to use. I do all my carving knives like that. For Woodlore type knives I go for the coke bottle but it isn't as nice to use over prolonged periods. Personally I've yet to have a knife with finger grooves I've liked in actual use. You'll get many different opinions I'm sure, best to make knives different each time until you find the one that really does it for you, it's part of the fun of knifemaking.

 

[Dannytsg]

Personally for me when I'm making a knife for myself I always like to go for a uniformly shaped rounded handle and I like it to be chunky as I have big hands. If it is for someone else then I always try to get an understanding of what they want from the knife which then dictates how I go about shaping the handle.

 

[mountainm]

What I find interesting is that a lot of the tactical styled knives these days seem to have grips which don't look at all comfy - with cut outs etc.

for example...

 

[sasquatch]

That's what always made me wonder why people buy tactical knives, they've always had handles that look and feel anything but comfortable in use. They must be fine for the rambo types with leather gauntlets for hands but I prefer something a bit more practical for extended use. Perhaps thats why they never market tactical spoon, crook and carving knives!

 

[mountainm]

They must be fine for the rambo types with leather gauntlets for hands

... I'm sure one will be along shortly to extol the virtues of these handles...

 

[British Red]

I would vote for "none of the above"

Now to be fair, I'm horrible to knives - really nasty doing jobs around the homestead. I think the nature of those jobs say that I am looking for a "hard use utility" knife rather than a Bushcraft knife.

The main difference I think is that, as well as slicing and chopping, I do a lot of hole boring, chisseling, prying and other horrors to a bushie knife user. Even slicing rubbish, cord etc wrapped around flail cutters and rotovator blades etc.

This means I am often putting pressure on the knifepoint - not so much in a stabbing motion but a lot of pressure down to the tip. Increasingly I find myself using cheaper Mora types with a small guard like the old 870s etc. to protect my hands from slipping onto the cutting edge (bear in mind I may be working around oil, it might be raining etc.)

For me, some form of small guard or forward finger notch is vital for such a utility blade...see the finger cutouts in these


Beater & Biter by British Red, on Flickr

Its not enough to prevent choking up on the balde - but it is enough to prevent the hand slipping

Red

 

[mountainm]

I have a small Grohman bird and trout I use for Archery for similar reasons - a lot of gouging and less chance of slipping down the blade

 

[santaman2000]

I have to agree with BR to a large point, for the very reasons he mentioned. But as others have said, it also makes a difference what you're doing with the knife. I generally don't like finger grooves; neither for the practical reasons others have listed nor for the asthetics. I do like stacked leather up to a point. It's good point are it's shape will conform to your grip after enough use and it looks good (to me anyway) It's bad points are it's durability, easpecially in wey use, and it's dificulty to clean if gutting/butchering game or fish.