First off, I'd like to thank Chris for sharing the thought process when it comes to creativity and designs. Like Phil, I really appreciate hearing how you go from idea to steel.
Secondly, I wanted to thank Phil for his well thought out list that clearly defines what makes a desirable knife for him. I couldn't agree more when you said that everyone has different qualities that they look for that might suit their uses/ needs and physical features like hand size.
I'd like to point out a set of anecdotal examples based on first impressions by non-knife users to further illustrate this point. Both my girlfriend and my mother are both very supportive of my knife using/collecting hobby, but don't really pay much attention to the differences. To them, they do have opinions on which ones are attractive, but don't scrutinize the other details very much. I do notice, however, occasionally one of them will pick up a knife from my collection and I see a flicker of that "lightning in a bottle" feeling Phil so accurately mentioned.
For my mother, my 3/32 hiking buddy is that lightning in a bottle. Shes looked at and handled dozens of my custom knives, but only on that 3/32 SFT hiking buddy has she ever actually said anything. She looked at me and said.. WOW. This one is nice. Her eyes light up and she proclaimed, "this one fits in my hand so perfectly."
Another example is when camping with my girlfriend. She's had to use my knives enough to the point where she knows I take certain designs for certain types of trips. She's also slowly learned a few of the grinds for intended tasks, but not enough to regurgitate facts the way many of us would. She has her own helle knife, which is lightweight, smaller, and well crafted. It's a fine blade. But I noticed any chance she needs a knife, she reaches for MY 1/8 SFT scandi woodlore clone by Aaron Gray. Even when I have better slicers around, she always goes for that one. To me, that indicates hand comfort in that design that just works well for her.
My point of bringing this all up-
1)I enjoy seeing descriptors from the community, such as Phil's list, that actually define the traits you look for when purchasing a knife, and comparing them to my own uses, needs, preferences
2)I'm sure it helps Chris and other makers advance their craft to see this level of feedback
3)In the name of science, I believe it advances us, even in something like knife usage and ownership, to a point of constant improvement
I really appreciate that Chris has been so active, vocal, and involved in our community here to create tools for us.
I hope Phil doesn't mind, but I'm going to piggy back and use his list as a template to fill out my own data.
Blade Features:
Steel choice in order of preference based on actual experience ranked from left to right (left is #1): Sandvik/AEB-L/ [scary edge taking, quite stainless, solid edge holding, reasonably tough] , CPM 154 are my favorites, A2, s35vn. I do not like 3V or S30v because of their resistance to field sharpening in my experiences. S35vn seems difficult to field sharpen but not AS difficult. 1095 and O1 are a lot of fun for me, but because I live in a rain forest they rust if I look the wrong way and it's a lot of difficulty to keep up with.
Steel thickness: 3/32almost exclusively, 1/8 for some, 5/32 for none, 3/16 for none.
Tang Type: Tapered tangs preferred. Skeletonized full tangs in thin steels are ok.
Grind Type: Convex grinds with a secondary bevel, then Scandi, then FFG, then scandi-vex.
Guards: I prefer guardless blades. I agree with Phil. I also don't like blades where the front of the guard extends below the back of the cutting edge. This is something that I'd change on a handful of knives if I could.
Finish on Flats: I really fell in love with Chris' hammered flats or satin/polished flats. I like how the forge does the spalting, but it's not my #1 preference.
Blade profiles: My favorite is a drop point. I've also slowly taken a liking to nessmuk style blade shapes, but I'm still a drop point guy mostly. I dislike trailing points and wharncliffes. I like spear point style (like wolflores) for wood applications, but for food prep ( a huge portion of my duties) I find that Phillip (M4Super90)s assessment on the area of attack holds very true and spearpoints become less useful for food prep in long, straight blade shapes with straight-ish handles.
Handle Features:
Shape of spine: Very slight arch or straight.
Shape of bottom: Shallow curves - I still need to do some observations and testing on this. I haven't made up my mind.
Pommel shape: I'm pretty open for pommel shape as long as I have enough room for my whole hand. There are a handful of models I've purchased that end too abruptly for my hand size that make them instant no-dice for me.
Balance: Neutral balance is ideal.
Cross section: Because I adore thin steel blade stock, I've noticed most of my handles are very very thin. In EDC roles, I like this feature because they ride comfortably in pocket or a slim sheath. I can make quick cuts and don't need to commit a full tight handed grip. In larger blades, or camp use knives, I still want thin steel blade stock, but thicker handles. I have yet to find this, and this is next on my list. I get a lot of hand fatigue on the thin handles when doing extended wood carving. This is where a lot of the wood lore style clones with coke bottle shapes excel for me.
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To close on this comment, I wanted to point out that I now have my first OKT, and I'll be doing a review later today or tomorrow in the Osprey Reviews thread to highlight on some of this type of content in more depth, as well as post more pictures and action-adventure shots
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