Help needed

Can any of our masters out there send me a design for a boot or throwing knife design with relevent information about thicknesses and metal types, and the best grinds that would be recomended. I would probabbly make a wood handle for it.

Information would be greatly appreciated.

Bbat.

I'm sure there are a lot of us who would like to help but your question is way too broad. Also, it's kind of bad form to ask for a design since most people spend a lot of time and effort developing their designs.

But, you can develope yours too the same way we all do. Mostly, we look at other designs in the magazines and on websites and pick the features we like. Then we combine them into a knife and add some fine touches of our own. After you make the same knife a few times the design starts to become refined and eventually it is all your own.

In a nutshell, any grind is OK for a boot knife with the hollow grind and flat grind probably being the most common. Any steel is OK too, though stainless of some type is probably the first choice for a knife carried close to the body. Most likely, a boot knife will be thin, 1/8th inch steel in most cases but 3/16ths is probably maximum.

Any knife can be thrown but throwing knives are another issue entirely. Someone would have to write a book to explain all the possibilities there - and they have. There is a book on the subject on my website at www.rayrogers.com/books.htm if you're interested. Generally, most 'throwing knives' are made of softer metal or heat treated to a springier temper and don't have sharp edges. But, that's just one way to do it....

The research is half the fun of knife making. Have fun with it!

Good counsel, Ray!

Thanks for the advice.

What are the better magazines to rea and get decent information from.

Blade and Knives Illustrated, as well as the knives annuals: Knives 2002; Knife Digest