my concept knife

[crunch716]

i wont get into technical specs coz, well, i dont have any. haha! i do have pics though.



im sorry for the amature-ish work. im not very good at photoshop.. or any other task that involves some sort of drawing, for that matter. i just really had this idea of a neat little knife that i really wanted to test.

the knife is primarily intended for reverse grip, edge-in (or pikal, to the SD crowd) but it can be easily indexed/transitioned to a forward grip, edge-out. the ring fits on the middle finger and is there for retention as well as serving as the pivot point when indexing. the blade has a slight curve to it (which seems to be ideal for pikal). it has a hump on the spine that is designed to rest against the outer side of the pinky (in pikal), or as a thumb ramp (sabre grip). the little protrusion on the ring is there for 'capping' the thumb on in the reverse grip. it also aids in indexing the knife.

here are some pics of a cardboard cutout of it. please note the difference in blade shape. i made the cutout before drawing it in photoshop. the real knife should have a slightly shorter handle (so the hump on the spine rests exactly on the outer side of the pinky on pikal grip, and on the middle of the thumb pad in sabre grip).

compared to a ballpen

in pikal grip

indexing to....

forward grip

..there, i hoped u guys at least enjoyed the pics. please let me know what you think. im open to any criticism and/or suggestions. i really want to know how you think this might perform when its in real-steel. and if you've seen anything like it before, please let me know (i've done some searching and i havent found anything with the same features, luckily).

p.s.
if ive made any errors with the terminologies ive used, feel free to correct them.

[Michael Cook]

If it were more of a hawkbill it'd be a kerambit. Some jurisdictions would consider it a knuckle duster. How's it feel in pakal edge out? I like it!

[Stenny]

I would personally prefer the ring to be for the index finger, but then, it would be Anso Pikal .

[bigkahunasix]

Very interesting, as an old guy that is new to p'kal, I like it.

BK6

[Joe Talmadge]

Cool concept.

It looks to me like the point is too low. If you perform a pakal jab with that, how often do you end up hitting the spine of the blade instead of the point? Might consider raising the point slightly, the way SNarc did on his.

[Piet.S]

It looks good to me.
Probably works best if it is tailor-made to the size of your hand.
Now play a bit more with the design to refine it and when you think it is ready, just make it for real.

[The Mastiff]

The hole is a trap for the finger which could lead to numerous problems. It's cool other than that. Joe

[crunch716]

hi all! im sorry for not being able to reply quickly. ive been busy with school lately.

anyway..
thanks for all the comments and input!

michael cook,
yes, it could see how 'authorities' may consider it a knuckle duster but i really can't find a way around that without compromising retention. also, the knife would feel really awkward in reverse grip, edge-out. the handle attaches to the ring at a point which is off-center, and is geared toward holding it edge-in.

stenny,
i originally sketched the knife with an index finger ring but i had the hypothesis that it wouldn't handle as well when indexed to forward grip since it would be too extended. i will look into my old design though, thanks!

joe talmadge,
thanks for the advice! will definately refine my design with that in mind. i will also see if i can alter the blade shape near the tip so that it would be more forgiving with jabbing angles.

piet.s,
yes, ure probably right. it really has to be fitted to the size (particularly, width) of the users hand in order to be most effective. also, as of now, i cant really find a way around this. but then again, if i do work around it, it would probably not fit that well to any hand size. so, yeah, tailor made, it is.

the mastif,
i intended the finger hole to be there for retention. it's there so that the knife wont accidentally slip off the hand in more critical and dynamic situations. but i guess, its strength could also be its weakness. now that i think about it, the hole is there to really 'trap' the middle finger, whether the user intends for it to, or not.

again, thanks again for the feedback. im really learning a lot, guys. as for the knife concept.. the mastif brought forward a good issue regarding the hole. i, too want to know if the hole could pose as a serious risk for injury (impact from stabbing, twisting, etc..). if any of you has had any experience with problems regarding the finger hole (like on the lagriffe), please let me know.

[Joe Talmadge]

again, thanks again for the feedback. im really learning a lot, guys. as for the knife concept.. the mastif brought forward a good issue regarding the hole. i, too want to know if the hole could pose as a serious risk for injury (impact from stabbing, twisting, etc..). if any of you has had any experience with problems regarding the finger hole (like on the lagriffe), please let me know.

Good point by mastif, I'd wondered about that too. Among my thoughts here are that you might mitigate the problem somewhat by making the butt a bit more thumbcap friendly, and by making the body of the knife thicker. Right now, the pinky and ring finger can't provide much support at all because they have nothing to grab onto. Ditto the middle finger, which is in the ring. For those of us whose grip is more focused on middle-ring-pinky grip, all three fingers may be compromised as far as grip strength, which means a lot of the impact will be felt by the ring finger as impact from the ring. Which brings all the designs with an index finger ring and thicker body back into perspective... maximum grip with middle-ring-pinky and retention from the less-important index finger.

It'll be interesting to see if your idea is workable. I do think that a bit more meat for the ring-pinky and a little more platform for the thumb might be enough, but not sure...

[crunch716]

hi joe!
i thought about it for a while and i agree that the body and the ring should be thicker. so far, design wise, i really dont have any other solutions. right now, im just banking on my theory that the thumb (capped to the butt), index (gripping the outer top part of the ring), and the pinky (against the blade's hump), can shoulder the impact. of course, i came up with this theory only by playing around with my CARDBOARD model. so its not based on any reality-based testing. im still waiting to see if a local knifemaker here in the Philippines can make this design for me so that i can do some actual tests with it.

thanks joe, and everyone for sharing my enthusiasm! ill be posting some updates as soon as i come up with em.