coke bottle handles

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labor of love

That’s what Maboroshi said
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ever since the discussion of the lamson collaboration knife, ive been interested in sode bottle or coke bottle handles. they look so cool and im sure they feel nice in hand. i would like to learn more about them. if you have a nice one would you mind sharing a pic? also, is there any soda bottle styled handled knives available anywhere or is this a custom thing?
 
Take a look at the Hattori FH line. Those handles have the "coke bottle" shape.
D8C482B6-EF3C-4969-A7F2-6852509EDA64-1312-000000F84BD53F6E.jpg
 
well, it depends on your grip and what you find to be comfortable. Comfort effects performance in my world.

I go for comfort as well.Do not like sharp edges on handles.Some coke bottle esp. wt. out any bolster can be uncomfortable using pinch grip,Randy Haas handles are thinner at the blade look to me to be very well designed & shaped.Some overdone coke handles don't feel as natural.
 
The thing about coke bottle handles is they feel great if you use a hammer grip. But when you move your hand up onto the blade the position for the handle to be "comfy" is off. That is why you don't see many knives with this grip. for this to happen with pinch grip you have to put the swell further to the up to the blade, which creates a weird look that we usually don't see.

One handle you don't see is a upswept, bent handle. (no idea what really to call it) I am talking about this handle

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better pic of how the bend will fit in the palm.
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I am not sure why there isn't many more like this handle either. I hope I didn't hijack the thread to bad here. Its just something I have thought about for a few months.
 
Agree I've been thinking what works wt. western handles.Like a slight drop at end,less press. on the palm of hand.No highjack at all.I think that the high point of handle curve being higher than the spine at choil is not a bad idea either.Still works well wt. a pinch grip,which I use on Gyuto & Cleavers.
 
Correct. But for slicing and pull cuts I think I would like it.

I put some time thinking about coke bottle handles and talking to pros, and from all the input and testing, I arrived at the same conclusion - the shape works best for slicing cuts. For a gyuto, a bulkier, rounder handle would work as well if not better.

Adding curvature to the shape, like in the pics Shane provided, makes a handle a bit more ergonomic.
M
 
A respected forum member turned me on to the Kanetugu Pro M,when was looking for less expensive quality student knives.JCK sells them.I liked the knife 240mm 193g,thin behind the edge convex grind.A bonus was the comfortable handle,one of the best I have felt as cheap Japan western handles go.

I sold it to a female student,she really liked the lightness of the blade & the comfort of the handle.Plus it comes wt. a saya.
 
I love wa handles. I hardly own any westerns, but the only ones I really like are coke bottles. In fact I like them as much or more than a lot of my wa handles. I find them incredibly comfy, both in pinch grips and when pulling/slicing; in all situations basically. The people who don't like them either have used bad examples of them, have deformed monster hands, or are wrong.
 
Johnny I like Wa Handles too_One reason is because I have wide hands,not deformed monsters though.I have seen poor examples of cokes wt.deep groves.I think they work better wt. bolster knives.
 
I can tell you from experience that Bill's handle is very comfortable in almost everything I do. I think it just comes down to how your hands fit that particular handle.
 
I've learned a lot about handle to hand fit in the last two years or so, enough to say that it's a way more complicated subject then it appears to be on the surface.

The feedback that I've received tends to indicate that 50% or less favor the coke bottle shape. When questioned more deeply I've found that the fishing pole/hammer grip folks prefer the coke bottle while the pinch grippers don't. This also translates to slicing knives where a more full handle grip is used with say a pointed finger on the spine, coke bottle handles work here.

Also worth mentioning, at the risk of talking about my work too much here, is how I've made changes in my handle shapes that came directly from input of the users. The KEY feature that I've come appreciate is the area from the mid-to-tail hook section located on the bottom/sides as being the make or break area for proper fit up. In many of my earlier handles I made the mistake of leaving this too square and bulb-ish which tends to push the hand forward or just be uncomfortable as it splays the fingers (pinky & ring) slightly. I'm mentioning this because I've learned that the look and style of a handle means nothing - the actual fit is everything.....just something to consider.
 
This makes sense on many handles I've tried, and ones I have liked.
 

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