Off Guard and On Guard

[medit8]

The ironwood fighter is the first knife I've made without a guard. I did this because I thought the lines would flow better uninterrupted by a guard. It's 13 1/2" OAL with a 8 1/2" 1095 blade, and the pins in the handle are brass.
The Honey Maple handle on the other knife has my first use of a guard (3/8" thick) that I ground out with a curved hollow indentation to allow the index finger to fit into it. It's 10" OAL with a 6" 1095 blade.
Doing things well is still quite a challenge, but doing things I've never tried before makes it even more interesting.
Thanks,
Bob

[Andrew Garrett]

I like the general blade shape of number one and I agree that it flows far better than a guarded knife. I make VERY few guards and bolsters. I like things simple.

You might consider spending some more time working down the handle to give it a trimmer, less-bulky look, and more agile feel. That nice profile deserves a sexy finish all 'round.

Great start!

[SVanderkolff]

Bob
I agree with Andy, the blade shape on the first is really nice. If you cut back on the bulkyness and the squareness of the handles it will goa long way to better showing off the blade and the knife. Any squared corners on a handle are usually not a good thing. Looks like a really good start though. I think you have a good eye for the blade shape.
Steve

[NJStricker]

Nice blade shape. I agree with some of the comments above, and would just add that the finger cut-outs in the handle are a little too deep/dramatic. If you make them more of a gently flowing curve it would be more appealling to the eye, yet still provide a solid grip. I would also raise the bottom of the grip above the line with the blade edge. I think this will improve the looks, but also raises the user's knuckles up a little bit from the material being cut.

EDIT--Have you thought of doing this blade design in a stick tang? That would look really nice with a composite handle of some leather stacked washers or wood and stag crown. . .Scagel style.

[medit8]

Thanks to all for the great informative suggestions and comments. Please forgive me if it seems I'm being defensive and not just appreciative, but the handle actually isn't as thick as the 1st picture makes it appear (the shot was angled just to try to show the beautiful grain of the ironwood). The width is exactly 5/8" thick, which for my hands is kind of slim and is the same as my EDC folder. I like the ideas of rounding out sharp areas and decreasing the bottom and will make these alterations. Dealing with the bottom should help the finger cut-outs flow better. What I was mostly interested in while making this knife was "getting away with" not using a guard, and I think that for this blade shape it did work and I'll not hesitate to do it again in the future. Also, I do have a few profiled blades waiting for handles that have a similar shape with a stick tang, and agree that a Scagle type handle would look great and will try it on at least one of the blades. Good suggestion!
Thanks again,
Bob