Cal;

The standard is usually, but not always, most of the time, but not set in stone; a ricasso longer than it's height looks awkward. 3/4's of it's height is close to the ballpark for me. A little shorter still looks fine, a little longer starts having bad feedback.

The height is what looks good on your knife. But it also determines the handle shape to a large extent. I like a deeper thinner handle than some. A lot of this work is subjective. You make what you like till you change your mind!

Mike

Cal,

This is an excellent question, and one that I struggled with when I first started making knives. The answer that I found that works for me is very simple.

In most knife designs, it is most astatically pleasing to have the top and bottom of the ricasso and the top and bottom of the handle in straight lines with each other.

Clearly there are exceptions to this, but the principle remains that the height of the ricasso and the height of the front part of the handle are closely related. So the question is; which dimension dictates the size of the other?

In my knife design work, I most often plan the shape and dimensions of the handle first. The handle profile must be a certain size and shape to make the knife astatically pleasing and to feel good in the hand. Whatever dimension that I come up with for the height at the front of the handle, will be the height of my ricasso.

When I forge the blade for the knife, I am very careful to make sure that I forge the ricasso area so that it can be finished to the planned dimensions. If the blade isn't forged so that the ricasso will finish out to the correct dimension, the handle shape will be affected. Changing the handle shape to match the ricasso will change the entire profile of the knife and it may not feel right in the hand.

As to the specific height of a ricasso, and so also the height of the front of the handle, some of my guidelines are below. These are GENERAL guidelines. Nothing set in stone. Variables that can change these dimensions can be the handle material, such as a stag taper. I am willing to go slightly smaller to accommodate the dimension of a stag taper; but not much! I won't make an ugly knife just because I don't have a properly sized taper in hand. Get another taper, or use a different handle.

4" blade hunter - .850"

Small bowie - 1" to 1 1/16"

Medium bowie - 1 1/16" to 1 1/8"

Large bowie or camp knife - 1 1/4"

Regarding the width of the ricasso in relation to the height, I have for the last few years been using Phi (the Golden Mean) to calculate this dimension. For a blade with a .850" ricasso, the calculation is below. .525" will be the width of the ricasso.

.850" divided by 1.618 = .525"

I agree with Mike that a ricasso that is over square doesn't look right. Anything square or less, is acceptable to me. I like the look of a ricasso that is calculated using Phi, but I also have no problem with a ricasso that is shorter than this dimension.

Thank you gentlemen for answering my question. I would be lost without your help.

Cal,

I agree with Steve. Phi is the way to go. Your ricasso will be very appealing using those proportions...