Here is the one I am working on now.....

Hey Brandon,

For books I have to recommend Joe Keeslar's Handles and Guards. It's a terrific book written by one of the greats and you can order it right on the ABS website, here.

As you stated everybody's hands are different, but I generally try to shoot for a handle that fits most medium to large hands comfortably, which, in my experience, will often be a bit longer than the handle you drew there. In fact I would say that most of my handles are in the range of 4 1/4 to 5 inches from the inside of the guard face to the butt end. This will accommodate most hands and also allow a bit of room for work gloves if needed. The shape of the handle is obviously also an important factor, as a protruding bird's beak style pommel or butt can easily add half an inch of length.

One thing I often do when working on bespoke pieces is to ask my client to grab a ruler with his dominant hand and see how many inches he covers with his grip. I'd recommend you try the same exercise, and see if that tells you anything. Also, don't be afraid to mock up a bunch of simple handle shapes out of scrap wood you may have laying around the shop, just to see how they feel in your hand. The more you do this, the better you'll be able to assess what sizes and shapes feel good to you. If your hands are smaller than average, then consider adjusting the dimensions upward just a bit, and vise versa if you have unusually large hands. If you don't have a specific client waiting for that particular knife, then the more hands it will fit, the better.

Hope this helps!

Handle sizes are always a moving target. As makers, we tend to make handles that feel good to our own hands. I believe that as far as length goes, there are some loose guidelines to stay within....those being 4 1/4 to 5" in length. Otherwise we have to rely on our own experiences/insights.

For me, I will ask a client how tall they are. Generally if a person tells me they are over 6' tall, I can build a handle that is comfortable to me, and they are happy with it. If they tell me they are under 6', then Cindy (my Mrs.) has the final say on how the handle fits/feels. Nothing overly scientific about it, just time and experience.

good deal guys thank you, type to start making handles