Thick vs Thin handles

[Doc Dan]

For a 3" blade, I think the Delica is just perfect. For a larger knife, the thickness of the Endura and Straight Spine Stretch are spot on. On a small knife, I think the Ladybug is too thin but the Manbug is very nice. The Ladybug wants to roll when I use it. The Manbug is thick enough not to do so. The same is true with the Chaparral. It is nice and thin but wants to roll with harder use. Light use is fine, however. So, there you have it.

[Airlsee]

For a 3" blade, I think the Delica is just perfect. For a larger knife, the thickness of the Endura and Straight Spine Stretch are spot on.

Around here, I'm ashamed to say that I've never owned a single variant of any of those models...

Edit to add: I can definitely see some calipers coming out the next time I'm mindlessly surrounded by Spydies.

[TheGiant80]

For a 3" blade, I think the Delica is just perfect. For a larger knife, the thickness of the Endura and Straight Spine Stretch are spot on.

Around here, I'm ashamed to say that I've never owned a single variant of any of those models...

I firmly believe everyone should have an Endura in their collection!

[Airlsee]

I firmly believe everyone should have an Endura in their collection!

I don't disagree, I've got an SE Pacific Salt 2, but I absolutely need a K390 Endura.

[Doc Dan]

For a 3" blade, I think the Delica is just perfect. For a larger knife, the thickness of the Endura and Straight Spine Stretch are spot on.

Around here, I'm ashamed to say that I've never owned a single variant of any of those models...

Whaaaattt? You poor fellow. You must get at least one of each. When I got sick of a certain company's stupid blade to handle ratio fixation because their knives never fit my hand, I tried the Delica and it was love at first grab.

[kobold]

I like it thick, I value ergonomics more than ease of carry. Some of my fixed blades are an inch thick. One of the reasons I don't like the Chap FRN is it is too thin. Thickness like on the Millie or Natives is still fine though.

I bought a Buck 112 today. At 15+ mm, probably my thickest folder.

[Pokey]

Despite the fact that this thread was started over twenty years ago, I think the topic can be just as relevant today, all the way to back then. As clothing styles, mode of carry, and something like whether we're wearing work gloves, our opinions in knives may also change.

I haven't taken any measurements of my knives, but off the top of my head there are a few that stand out as feeling thin in my hand. I just grabbed a couple and found that it may not just be the thickness of the handle that makes it feel thin, but the shape of the handle. Do the other dimensions add up to make the handle fill your hand? (I think it's part of the equation.) For example: Chaparral, thin. (duh!) Mantra, feels fine, but they're just about the same thickness. The Bradley designed Junction and Advocate, thin; Bradley Folder 2, ok.

One plus for a thin knife is that when clipped to your pocket it won't interfere with your hand at your pocket opening.

On a side note, when customers are shopping in the SFO and can't decide which knife feels better, the employees will tell the customer to close their eyes and handle the knife. It changes peoples minds on how a knife feels when they can't see it.

[S-3 ranch]

Yep when I get up and dress to walk out the door , 90% of the time I reach for FRN , my G10 knives just seem heavy and bulky on a pocket clip , now if clipped to a belt I don’t notice it as much

[Pokey]

I like it thick, I value ergonomics more than ease of carry. Some of my fixed blades are an inch thick. One of the reasons I don't like the Chap FRN is it is too thin. Thickness like on the Millie or Natives is still fine though.

I bought a Buck 112 today. At 15+ mm, probably my thickest folder.

And Buck makes the 112 Slim models. Why not, if you can capture more of the market.

[Airlsee]

...it may not just be the thickness of the handle that makes it feel thin, but the shape of the handle. Do the other dimensions add up to make the handle fill your hand? (I think it's part of the equation.) For example: Chaparral, thin. (duh!) Mantra, feels fine, but they're just about the same thickness. The Bradley designed Junction and Advocate, thin; Bradley Folder 2, ok.

I'm glad you mentioned the Advocate & Junction, because I think those are two that best demonstrate a very thin, yet hand filling handle. I wouldn't want to build a base camp with either one of them, but the trade off between comfort/weight/durability is executed near perfectly. I may have also just wanted another excuse to give a tip of the cap to GB...

[Pokey]

...it may not just be the thickness of the handle that makes it feel thin, but the shape of the handle. Do the other dimensions add up to make the handle fill your hand? (I think it's part of the equation.) For example: Chaparral, thin. (duh!) Mantra, feels fine, but they're just about the same thickness. The Bradley designed Junction and Advocate, thin; Bradley Folder 2, ok.

I'm glad you mentioned the Advocate & Junction, because I think those are two that best demonstrate a very thin, yet hand filling handle. I wouldn't want to build a base camp with either one of them, but the trade off between comfort/weight/durability is executed near perfectly. I may have also just wanted another excuse to give a tip of the cap to GB...

Yes, and in my hand if I were using either of those with leather gloves on they'd still feel fine. Under different conditions they still work.

[Pokey]

Yep when I get up and dress to walk out the door , 90% of the time I reach for FRN , my G10 knives just seem heavy and bulky on a pocket clip , now if clipped to a belt I don’t notice it as much

I've noticed that too. When I wear Wrangler relaxed fit cargo pants a heavy knife clipped to a pocket will flop around, FRN equipped knives, no problem. On the other side of the coin a thicker knife in Wrangler Original 13MWZ jeans can take up too much real estate in the front pockets.

[Evil D]

My goodness, 20 year old thread. Crazy to think where I was in 2001


I like them thhhhhiiiiccccc

[The Deacon]

Well, the knife I carry most often is a Lignum Vitae Stretch that's about 1/2" thick. As with all my larger folders, I carry it loose in my back pocket, so spend most of the day sitting on it. Can't say doing so has ever felt uncomfortable and the thickness makes it the most comfortable to use of all my Stretch and Stretch 2 users.

Beyond that, I suspect that comfort in use depends to at least some extent on an inverse relationship between handle thickness and handle width.

[z1r]

Sal, thanks for asking this question.

I'll start by saying that since buying it, my K390 Endela has become the primary of my two knife EDC combo.

It's thickness, roughly 3/8" is about perfect. However, I will say that, for me, thickness alone isn't a determining factor. What I will call height, measured closed from back of scales to back of spine also matters. I have several other knives that are thicker than the Endela by a good amount but they are also not as "tall". For me, while I do tend to favor knives with thinner handles, it is the combination of how thick the handle is and how tall the closed knife is that determines how much pocket time the knife gets. And, to a lesser extent, the weight. To elaborate, the Manix 2 and Endela are similar in both blade length and closed length and roughly the same thickness. However the Manix 2 is much "taller" closed and consequently takes up more pocket space. Hence, the Endela getting more pocket time than my Manix 2. That said, one of my favorite alternates is an inexpensive QSP Parrot which has a thickness of roughly 1/2" but whose closed height is barely over an inch.

That said, on the whole, I favor thinner knives over thicker which probably explains my preference for the Endela over the Stretch 2.

[z1r]

My goodness, I didn't even notice how old this thread was, lol.

[RustyIron]

Some of my Spydies feel thinner in my pocket than others, and some feel better in my hand, so I picked up the caliper and decided to find out what's what. Surprisingly, the Manix 2, Manix 2 XL, Endura, Native 5, and PM2 are all about the same thickness: 0.450" +/- about 0.015".

I like all these knives. It would appear that Sal and found the sweet spot and is sticking with it.

Just for comparison, I have here a Benchmade CQC7 that's seen a lot use, and it measures in at 0.480". It's fine. I also have an Adamas that I carried for about a year. It's a whopping 0.700". For what it is, it's good, but nowadays it's not what I want to carry every day.

[JRinFL]

Sal is my hand double, so his designs fit me very well. For some work I like a thicker handle, but not for EDC.

Resurrecting old threads is not always a bad idea, as in this case.

[Cl1ff]

This thread is older than me lol

I think for a knife to carry well every day, it has to be either thin or short, or varying degrees of both. My old Endura works just fine, but I’ll say that I’ve noticed myself to be rather “open handed” (like open minded, but with your hands). I can adjust pretty easily to different thicknesses so that I find handles like the Bushcraft/Proficient comfortable as well as ones like the thinner Gayle Bradleys.

And I think those examples sum up my thoughts. For everyday carry, a handle that is thin and light but still a little contoured. While something like Chris Claycomb’s or Thomas Zoomer’s is more specialized.

Hopefully there’ll be more discussion of ergonomics, because I enjoy this just as much as I do steels and blade features.

[Pokey]

Not to stray too far from the topic, I believe I've read somewhere on one of the forums that Sal designs knives for the hand, and not for the eye. With so many different sized hands it's safe to say there's something for everyone when it comes to Spyderco knives.