Knife Design

Designing your next knife is a fun but important part of the overall process. It will give you a size to work to, help you figure out your tang and also fittings.

Designs can be done using:

  • Pen and Paper
  • Tablet using a sketching app like Procreate
  • CAD apps
  • Adobe Illustrator or Serif Affinity Designer – a vector package that allows you to edit the curves
  • Online design services like KnifePrint

Considerations

  • Handle size
  • Blade size
  • Grind type
  • Ricasso
  • Handle Material
  • Pinning or fixing placement / Glue
  • How much steel you’ll need
  • Type of steel suitable for the blade type and use
  • Heat treatment requirements
  • Final finish – matt, etched, polished

Transferring your design to the steel

You’ll want to mark your steel so that you have a guide to work to. This can be done by:

  • Printing the design on paper, cutting it out and sticking it on
  • Tracing it onto cardboard and either spray painting a silhouette or scribing the design onto the steel
  • Drawing directly onto the steel with a magic marker or felt-tip pen, then scribing it
  • Making a plastic blank and then scribing – this makes the design re-usable if you really like how it turned out. It can also be modified for the next blade to make adjustments. It’s easier to take off material than put it on. It also gives you something solid to hold to check the handle size.

Bowie knife design sketches
bladesmithing knife designs 2
bladesmithing knife designs 3