Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Handle thickness

Without anyone getting their panties in a twist,

For user knives what do you prefer for handle shape, material and thickness?????

ie: for different size knives and for different uses I like.....because......

Just curious and to each his own because we are free to chose.

I cut my slabs at 1/4" and take'em down from there when shaping.

I always start at 3/8', and contour from there.

Hi Tim, you got me to go over and handle my knives, thank you. I came away thinking it isn't the thickness so much as the circumference. Now of course the handles aren't round but the combination of thickness and width so the handle fills my hand is what I prefer for long jobs, like butchering an animal. Commercial butcher knives have evolved to where they are after hundreds of years. I prefer a smaller handle for finer work like gutting and caping. There is no choking up on my commercial butcher knives so they never get used for fine work.

I like the set you built me with the elk antler. The smaller knife is awesome and I've used it on more animals than any other. I suspect, I really don't know, it would work better if the pinch circumference in the front was 1/4" longer and the handle body circumference another 1/2 longer. As it is now my finger tips contact my palm.

You're a hell of lot better at building knives than me. What I'm finding is the commercial butcher knife handles are hard to beat. Circumference of an F.Dick boner is 3 1/2, which is a little big but they nailed the ratio of thickness to width. The bull nose with carbon fiber grips you built me has a circumference right at 3 and seems about right for my size large hands. The smaller elk antler handled knife is 2 3/4 and by the time I bone out an elk my hand is tired but then it's not like I do that very often any more.

I like em thin.



Thin and wide kinda go together to keep it from wanting to roll.

I agree with Boise.
They can be fat and not wide, or wider and thinner.
Either can feel good in your hand.
But it has to be enough to get hold of, without being "big".

Here's a thought: lay some modeling clay around a blade blank and squeeze until you have what feels right. I'll bet you produce a shape that doesn't look like the current knife handles.

I have ground on handles until they just feel good.

And up with something that looks funny, and it sure as [bleep]
isn't symmetrical. But, it feels good.


Reminds me of....

Your handle should feel like your cock. Easy on the hand

You got a thin cock!!!😂😂😂

Agreed Rick... And svelte...

Gotta be a punch line to go with some of this, but I am keeping my distance.

Take a chance!


This makes me think of a presidential debate.

Thin knives, little hands......

Funny.....

Different shape/design for different uses.

I do much of my skinning, field dressing, and processing holding the knife with my fingers rather than in my palm.....usually with my pointer finger along the top of the blade. The handle rarely sits in the palm of my hand. I'll do it right handed and left handed. I'm not really picky and a lot of different shapes work. Kinda prefer slimmer on the handle.

Trimming goat hooves I've got the handle sitting deep in the palm of my hand and want it to be thicker and rounder. Completely different method of holding the knife and cutting.

I can say that I've held several very well made knives that have handles which feel great in my palm but when in use on game aren't as good for me as some of the plain jane thinner slabs. It's not a slight on the maker or design, just how I hold a knife when processing game.

The big ones were already taken. 🤣😂

Same.

I have done that and it tends to be a V shaped grind that one of the kitchen knife companies promoted as a natural grip.

I like 1/4" scales on anything intended to be used with one hand and enough width to easily index the blade in the dark. If the handle has to much of a rounded shape it wants to roll in my hand on impact or strike at less than an optimal perpendicular line of attack.

Just remembered this thread....

One the 2 Rocky just sent.

Thin handled, tapered tang.

One is ~.374” and the other ~.390” at the thickest spot.

Winner winner chicken dinner.