How do you know your new knife will fit your hand?

[Geoffrey]

Hi all, I have a bit of a problem. I am not having any luck finding a knife that fits my hand comfortably. Here is my situation. I just sold my Bushcrafter, made by Allan Blade, not Alan Wood, and I am looking for a replacement knife. I love the look of the Woodlore knife on Ray Mears website.

My question is how do you guys judge whether or not a knife handle will "work" for you? Unfortunately no one I know here in Atlantic Canada is into bushcraft, and I do not have access to one of these knives to hold it, and think yeah that will work, or frig no leave that there.

Does anyone know if there is a woodlore style blade available anywhere that I could put my own handle on? I do not mind making my own handle, what I do not have access to is the tools to make the blade, also I do not know the dimensions for that blade.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Geoffrey.

[arctic hobo]

I have not had problems before so I can't really help you, but is it that your hand is too big/small, or is it just uncomfortable and ill-fitting?

[Squidders]

I haven't seen anything exactly like the woodlore blade but there are plenty of places that sell knife making supplies...

I think there is one listed in the links thread under resources on this site and there are loads of links and information on British Blades.

I know for one that Frosts sell a kit and you can buy blades from them.

I hope you have success! I'm nervous about my new knife arriving and it not fitting for some reason. One of those things :?:

Joe

[Geoffrey]

It seems that my hand is too big, I have had, many many knives that just dont fit right. They are OK for light work, but as soon as I put some power into my cutting, they hurt my hand.

Thanks for your replies.

Geoffrey.

[TheViking]

I usually imagine how it would be in my hand. :wave: Works most of the times.

[Snufkin]

If you are worried about handle shape then make your own.
This (http://www.ragweedforge.com/) site is in the US and are good to deal with and Brisa (http://www.brisa.fi/) are very good too. The through tang option gives you more choice on handle shape and is plenty strong enough if well made. A full tang blade still limits you although you can grind it down some to fine tune the handle shape.

[hootchi]

A home made handle would be the best option if you are having trouble finding a nice handle fit.

You could buy a custom blade from British Blades which would not be too expensive especially if you have been thinking about the ray mears woodlore!

The previous info is good and i would advise joining B Blades to get help if you need it. You will need to make a sheath aswell!

[Snufkin]

If your heart is set on a full tang woodlore style knife you could get some cheap blades from the links I posted play around with handle styles until you find one you like and then have a full tang copy made by any of the makers over on British Blades.

[Geoffrey]

Thanks guys, what do any of you think of the Helle Fjellkniven? Its a good looking knife, has a blade similar to the woodlore, and the wood handle should be easy to reshape if needed.

Let me know what you guys think of this idea.

Geoffrey.

[Stew]

Geoffrey,

Have you seen the Felleskap before?
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=50 1
It was made by Trond at British Blades for people to put a handle on themselves.

Although Trond isn't making them anymore, he's just sorted it out for Steen Nielsen to make some more: Felleskap 2 (http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7146&highlight=felleskap)

Have a look at these pages and see what you think: Felleskap Search Results (http://www.britishblades.com/forums/search.php?searchid=55778&pp=40&page=1)

[tomtom]

unfortunately its unlikely you will get your hands on one now!

[Andy]

I've found the best handle for larger hands to be the shape used for butcher's boning knives. Though you wont want that sort of blade it might be a good starting point if you hold one.
I've played about with styrofoam (not sure I spelt it right). Maybe you get could hold of some and make a few designs for handles with that. It's easy to shape. When you fnd something that works make a knife using the design

[alick]

Geoffrey - the bottom line is that only by handling a knife can you decide whether it really fits you. Many of us no doubt buy knives unseen relying on reports and pictures but there's no real substitute for handling the knife. Notice the new knives that usually appear in members sales soon after a new knife has made it onto the street.

A feature of Britishblades is the way members club together to buy knives, sometimes lend their own and sometimes are supported by manufacturers and dealers - then pass these around so that everyone who wants to can try it for a week and write their comments and observations. I have certainly bought knives after trying them like this, and equally realised that others which I was interested in were not really for me.

These passrounds do happen on other knife enthusiast sites too.

Next best - look for photographs on the web that are as close as possible to a side and a top view, print them actual size for the knife you are intersted in and use them to make a balsawood model of the knife. It doesn't take long and will tell you a lot aout the ergonomics and fit of the knife.

Last, do you have any other well known knives that you are happy with. You may find other people who have both the woodlore and something you already own so that they can give you a comparison.

e.g The woodlore fits me. So does the Gene Ingram #20. The BRKT northstar is just big enough for me. The Spyderco military folder is actually about 1/2 inch too long overall in the handle for me but it's a notoriously large folder and I like it anyway.

In fact the woodlore is the best heavy bushcraft knife I've used. It's handle is very "filling" to the hand which spreads the load when heavy cutting. Some of the scandinavian made knives are also very good but such as the fjelkniven (I think) is sometimes described as a bit narrow in the handle.

If anything, I was tempted to take a sander to the woodlore when I first received it because it almost fills the hand too well. I've become used to it since. It has the best formed rear of any knife I've tried for heavy work - it flares out in a way that stops anything digging into the heel of the hand, and gives a large area to push on when drilling with the knife tip.

Some great knives were made with Trond's feleskap blade, but Trond is too much of a craftsman to copy the Woodlore. He has his own design.
The OSF knives look great but I've never seen in the flesh.
Tvividr (Gerd)'s customised F1 knives (posted in the Britishblades gallery) look stunning.

These are the sort of knives I'd investigate for a #1 heavy bushcraft knife.

Cheers

[Paganwolf]

How about making a handle out of some soft wood to exactly fit your hand as you want it and look on BB for a custom maker and send him the handle blank as a benchmark for a new knife then you can have exactly what you want :?: i know what you mean and it must fit your hand nicely if you intend to carve with it or you will quickly get blisters, you need to eliminate hot spots and rubbing points so you get a nice feel and keep it as simple as you can...

[Geoffrey]

paganwolf, sounds like a good idea. what would be a good wood to work with?

[Paganwolf]

Anything soft and light, balsa wood (actually a hard wood) or a soft pine would be good, you can carve it down to near as dammit and then sand it to how you like it :wink:

[Sajuma]

Go and buy a Finnish Puukko, with that you cant go wrong. :super:
Specially if the Puukko is "Tommi puukko". Best maker that I know is Jukka Hankala.
There are others that are less expencive...
Marttiini makes somewhat mass production puukkos and knives.
Iisakki Jarvenpaa makes more traditional Puukkos.
Roselli is also good, specially smaller models. Biggers can be "modified" if you prefer something else...


Juha

[sargey]

i know just what you mean, i often find skinny handles tiring or painful to hang onto.

i've often thought that online retailers should have thumbnails/pictures of the knives on graph paper, taken from various angles so you can work out any dimension.

as a general purpose knife for big hands, i can highly recommend the ontario TAK, put a shallow convex edge on it and it makes a great knife at a very reasonable price.

i find that the isaaki jaarvenpaa puukko has a tiny handle. downright painful in an edge-up grip.

checkout www.ragweedforge.com ragnar is very helpful.

cheers, and

[Sajuma]

i find that the isaaki jaarvenpaa puukko has a tiny handle. downright painful in an edge-up grip.



Iisakki Jarvenpaa makes/have made more than 100 models. Older models might have small handle but you cant generalise, since those were more for wearing with national suit so to speak traditional and decoratrive. If you have had bad experianse with one of those old puukko's dont judge all of them.
Look at this puukko : http://www.memoriesoffinland.com/product.asp?productid=IJ8223

Does it have small handle? I have one just like that and I can sure you, it is not small.

Juha

[Adi007]

There's only one real way to know if a knife will fit in your hand - and that's to try it. I know this answer seems obvious but I've never seen another way. Pictures are handy and especially if they happen to show a knife you have side-by-side with the one you are interested in but really even that doesn't tell the whole story by far.

Pictures can also be misleading (by this I don't mean a deliberate deception, just that scale and perspective can be lost) - take the Bark River North Star - looked big initially but it is quite a small knife (especially in the handle department).

[leon-1]

As Adi said really, but there is another option, buy a blade blank and make the scales/handle yourself, this way you have complete control over the shape and size of the handle :wink:

[Lord Farquhar]

It may be an idea to Join Brit Blades and join in one of the knife passarounds

or

buy a blade blank (Hidden tang) and make the handle your self

or

Ask a kind smith to let you have a play with a knife

or

Go to a knife shop or a mate who have lots of knifes and have a play.

just ideas

cheers :wave:

[Geoffrey]

Thanks Guys for all of your help.

I am trying a SWAK with a Normark On Scene/Tactical Sheath.

I will let you know what I think.

This is my first scandi, are waterstones the best way to sharp this? Or is 12C27 to hard?

Thanks.

[TheViking]

Thanks Guys for all of your help.

I am trying a SWAK with a Normark On Scene/Tactical Sheath.

I will let you know what I think.

This is my first scandi, are waterstones the best way to sharp this? Or is 12C27 to hard?

Thanks.
12c27 is pretty hard IMO. But when you get and edge on a blade with it, it will stay long. Well at least on my Brusletto blades. :wink:

[Schwert]

I would recommend buying a blade blank and putting on your own handle also. I just reviewed a pair of knives that will be soon available from Nick Wheeler (the OSF knifemaker) in kit form. One of the designs is a full-tang Scandi in a bushcrafter design. Nick is a super maker to work with and this project knife would make a great start. See my review at JM's Outdoors Magazine

http://outdoors-magazine.com/s_article.php?id_article=175

and here are the pair of knives I am talking about...

http://img18.exs.cx/img18/8552/outdoorpair122vj.jpg