Measuring contest, tedious science

Still thinking about what the aspect ratio means. Clearly, you can fudge these numbers around from any direction you want, making your handles wide and thin, or square, or even "over square", so that the handle is thicker than it is wide.

But it follows from the idea that every knife is a compromise, that the solutions at the far ends of the bell curve are not going to be the right ones.

My hypothesis is that there is some range of aspect ratios which result in a knife which is both easy to control and comfortable during heavy cutting. How to find the upper and lower boundaries of this range will wait until tomorrow.

With 12 hours to think about it, the slow drip that is my thought process has filled up the idea that it's the relationship between perimeter and aspect ratio that makes for a pleasant handle slab. Now, I realize that this is getting more and more complicated, since I'm trying to connect a concrete measurement (distance around the outside of something), and a derived number. But that's the best I can do. Hopefully by writing it out, I can find a way to strip away some of the complicated.

Ah! Perimeter is the "smallest size". Just for fun, I'm going to say that the Benchmade mini-Grip, at 2.562 inches around, is the smallest knife that still feels "right". Because if you look right below it at the Gerber, that knife feels vague and dainty in your hand. There is a relatively large difference in aspect ratios between the two, so I'm on the right track, but maybe not as close to my destination as I want to be.

Aspect ratio isn't exactly the "largest size", because there are people with smaller hands than me, and 7-foot monsters who can pick up a basketball with one hand. But, if you give them a knife with a handle AR of 1.5, then one with an AR of 0.84, they're probably going to say that the second one "feels better". I could always be wrong, but this is the Internet....

A knife with a handle AR of "1" is square: it's handle slabs are exactly as wide as the knife is thick, at least where you're measuring.

But more isn't always better. A square knife would be hard to work with, because you couldn't tell whether or not you've got the edge properly angled into the cut.

For the moment, I'm going to say that any knife with an AR (aspect ratio) of 0.46 to 0.75, inclusive, is going to "feel right"

Final Conclusion -finally!

For a knife to "feel good", it must have

Perimeter of 2.56 inches (distance around), at the point where you index finger naturally grips the handle

and

Aspect Ratio of 0.46 to 0.75, inclusive, to allow for good control while cutting. This width-to-thickness ratio is also measured at the point where you index finger grips the knife during regular cutting tasks.

Your opinion matters! Now that you've slogged your way through this wall of text, I'd like to hear what you think. I'm just one guy, relying on his small collection of knives, and I would appreciate some feedback from those who have different ones.

I will also be posting this on EDC Planet, once I get it edited into better shape, so you'll be able to go over there and shout at me, too.