That looks much better. The only thing I can see wrong with it is that your handle, at the back of the guard, should match the width of your blade (recasso). Yours appears to be a little wider, although it could be the shadow. Otherwise it looks good.

Dale

Thank you Dale, The handle does match up on the back, I havn't glued the knife yet so it could be a little missaligned or just a bad picture. It doesn't line up on the edge side though, I can't tell if that is a problem. All the knives I have looked at in the last day or so seem to match up on both sides, I would take it down a bit but the handle already feels pretty slim. Am I worrying for nothing? Any suggestions?

Thanks again, your feedback is appreciated. -Justin

The top/bottom of the ricasso, and the handle matching is critical to a knife having the appearance of flow and balance. I think it's something that every knifemaker/bladesmith should be keenly aware of. In my early years, I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out why my knives didn't have the same "flow" as the then Mastersmiths. One day I was looking through an issue of Blade magazine, and there was a two page image of a Bowie....it just so happened that the middle of the ricasso was in the crease of the pages....and it made the junction of ricasso,guard, and handle jump out......that's when I realized that for the most part, my handles were not matching up in width with the ricassos! From that point on, I have built knives using the ricasso as the base for everything else.....and it improved the overall feel and look of my knives tremendously.

I havn't glued the knife yet so it could be a little missaligned or just a bad picture.

That statement just jumped out at me when I read your post. I'm not trying to be over critical, but asking for a critique on a knife that is not completely finished is not something I would suggest doing very often.....especially once you get to the point where you want to test for your JS. I once had an individual bring me knives for critique prior to taking his JS test....I assumed they were all complete/finished. All of those knives looked good, and I gave them a "pass". Unknown to me, the knives had not been "glued up".....and they guy failed his JS test in Atlanta because he had misaligned handles/guards when he glued them up. He was angry with me, because I told him that his knives would pass....and then they didn't. The moral to the story is....I will not critique any knife until it is completely finished/done. And in the case of those testing for JS or MS, I will only critique if they have all 5 of the completed knives for me to review.

Hi Ed, thank you for answering my question on handle ricasso alignment. I agree about getting advice on unfinished knives as the time for testing draws near, but at this point I am just trying to finish one knife at a time and get the basic design and construction right(hopefully I am on the right track). I have found great benefit from peoples feedback at all stages of my work. It is unfortunate that someone would hold you accountable for there own misjudgement.

I will likely reshape the handle now and then glue it <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> I would be honored to have your opinion when I get the pictures up.

Thanks again, -Justin