Decide on the basic shape you are trying to achieve; you might have seen a knife you like, admire a particular blade style, or fancy a folding version of a fixed blade knife. If you are not familiar with slip joint folding knives you might find it useful to read about different locking mechanisms and look at some of the knife makers on the links page.
Whilst you're about it handle as many folding knives as possible:
- look at them both open and closed - look at the way the shape of the back of the blade works (or doesn’t) with the shape of the handle
- feel the movement of the blade and think about what you like and what you don’t
- look at pictures of folding knives, think about what you like and don’t and print out pictures of those you like
Here you can see knife designer Jeff Durber talking with Grace and Nicola about what influences his knife designs:
