Guard and handle size.

[SamLS]

I assume the oval style handle is preffered. What is the best size or dimensions for such, for a fighter or similar use knife. I have looked at Cold steels website and got some ideas. I like the guard design with the sub hilt but what advantages does it offer as far as practicallity. What is the overal length and width for the guard etc. My hands are larger and I end up with something that looks out of porportion for the blade its attached to and its fine for me. I would like to come up with a design that could be commonly used, potentially sell them to other makers. I have quite a supply of 300 stainless that I would like to convert to something useful. Thanks

[Steve]

Teh handles on my hunters run about 4 - 4 1/4" long, fighters will go a bit longer, maybe 4 1/2" or so with the sub-hilt another 1/8" or so. Guards are probably 1/2" to 5/8" wide across teh front. Not wure what you are asking for, can you elaborate?

Not sure this is what you wanted. Are you wanting to sell pre-fabricated guards of some type?

[SamLS]

Thanks for the reply Steve. How big around are your handles near the guard and pommel. What recommendations on size would you give to make a handle that will fit the hands of the majority of the people. You guys that sell at knife shows must judge this somehow. I have acquired some 300 series stainless a couple of lengths of it. Its 2.25" dia. and some 440c I was thinking of cutting a bunch of guards from it and selling them for a reasonable price. If you have a particular design you use let me know if your interested. Thanks

[AUBE]

this is going to sound a little odd but....maybe try buying some modeling clay..you can get it cheap at craft/art stores. then you can play around with molding it into different shapes and see how it feels in your hand(or test on people with different hand sizes as u) before you start grinding any material. i use this method when testing new/odd designs

-Jason Aube

[Steve]

Handles are about 1" to 1 1/8-1 1/4" wide, top to bottom and anywhere from 1/2" wide at guard to 5/8-3/4" wide at guard. A 'Chute, that I'm finishing right now, has a circumfrence, just behind guard of 3 5/8". The little "Personal Hunter," shown on the Special Olympics post above, has a circumfrence of 2 7/8", just behind the "bump" on the bottom of the handle that serves as a guard.

The 'Chute's dinensions at guard are: Front of guard is 1/2" thick tapering to a wider thickness of 9/16". The height at guard from bottom to top of tang is 1 9/16" and overall length of guard from tip of bottom quillion to tip of top quillion is 2 5/16".

Good luck!