I like using pencil and paper for profile ideas

redsquid2

redsquid2

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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Aug 31, 2011
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I have never used drawing software to do knife design. Maybe I should try it. But I do like to use pencil and paper. I can spend more than an hour in a day just drawing profiles. I have used French curves a lot in the past, but now I can draw pretty much the profile I want free-handed. I would say about 1 out of 100 drawings become a wooden mock-up / model, and about one out of three models become a knife. I have got big manila envelopes stuffed with drawings. Does anybody else do this?

I guess a lot of it is to distract myself from everyday worries.

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Sometimes I do get silly:

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Hey I really like the bottom one in the third picture from the top.
Cad would be cool for repeatability but I don't think I would like it as much. I want to get a scanner and keep files for the knives I will make multiple of.

I sort of do the same thing but if I don't like where the drawing is going I usually don't finish it and I try to mark down any ideas i have while drawing. So I have a stack of papers with probably 20ish designs I like, a bunch of half drawings and, a bunch of notes scribbled thoughout the whole pile. At some point I'll need to organize all of it lol
 
Pencil and paper for me to.
Tried those french curves for a while but they don't work for me.
I like this checkered paper. If I have a drawing I like I photocopy it and glue it on to thin plastic so it is thick and sturdy enoug that I can scratch a line around it on my steel

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Add me to the roster!

I much prefer pencil and paper over any kind of new-fangled techno-whizbangs. Quick, simple, intuitive, and easy to store and reference. No worries about the computer crashing or a hard drive burning out.
 
I'll do pencil to paper as well but lately for some reason I've been sketching on cardboard. Not nearly as many as the OP though. I'll work on the same one for a couple weeks a few minutes here and there(still very simple designs).
I also dig the bottom knife sketch in the third pic.


Sent via telegraph with the same fingers I use to sip whiskey.
 
I combine old school and new.

I draw initial concepts/designs on paper w/ a pencil. Once I get a profile the way I want it, I trace it with a thin tip Sharpie to get dark lines.

Then I scan it into a JPG file, import it into Corel Draw, clean up the image and use a laser cutter to cut the prototype out. I will either use acrylic (plexiglass) the same thickness as the steel I want to use or make multiple copies out of paper (either poster board or card board).

With an acrylic version, I can then sand it down for bevels/edges and prototype handles for it. With paper versions, I can glue multiple layers to try different thickness for quicker/cheaper putzing around.
 
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I watched a Wyoming DNR video on "quick quartering" and then I got to thinking about a knife for that kind of thing, and that got me going, drawing some of these 3.5 to 4" clip points.
 
I started off getting into knifemaking around 12 years old. I was really into drawing and the fine arts so naturally i ended up drawing knife designs. I must have a few hundred or so categorized into a neat little binder. Some of the designs are quite aesthetically pleasing, and you can pick out what knifemakers had influenced me at the time. I look back on them every once in awhile but now a days I just use CAD, Only b/c it is quicker and easier for me. I will still import a sketch into my cad stuff as a reference though. I have a few fun ones i put alot of work into back in the day, ill try and post them later.
 
Years ago when I was designing and building small boats I had a 36" spline which was used to make fair curves. I lost it during one of my moves and haven't been able to find another one. The manufacturers quit making them when every went to CAD. Now I use French Curves but I would really like to find a spline. Anyone have one for sale or know where I might find on? I don't want one of the vinyl covered lead - the curves they make are not fair.
Tim
 
tim37a said:
Years ago when I was designing and building small boats I had a 36" spline which was used to make fair curves. I lost it during one of my moves and haven't been able to find another one. The manufacturers quit making them when every went to CAD. Now I use French Curves but I would really like to find a spline. Anyone have one for sale or know where I might find on? I don't want one of the vinyl covered lead - the curves they make are not fair.
Tim
Click to expand...

Wow. Good question. I don't think I ever used one like the one you lost. I was tempted to buy one with the lead inside, but didn't.
 
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