Ringed Kitchen Knife

Made by Jen Kwang

A reimagination of a kitchen knife handle, specially designed to accommodate a left-handed pinch grip.

Created: March 18th, 2019

0

Objectives

For this project, I wanted to recreate the handle for a kitchen knife to be more intuitive for holding it in a "pinch-style" grip, where the last three fingers of someone's hand remain on the main part of the handle and the first finger/thumb pinch the blade for precision and stability.  The handle was also made to be held in the left hand.

0

Outcomes

The final design features a ring for the middle finger and two resting places on the blade for stability.  The circular resting place is for the thumb, while the oblong resting place on the other side of the blade is for guiding the index finger into place.  A small point on the bottom side of the handle allows for a framing of the end of the pinky finger.  The handle has squared-off edges at the end and more rounded edges near the blade for comfort of the user.  This final design was in part inspired by specialty hunting knives with finger rings in place to improve grip and reduce slippage.  Although I'm happy with the end result, the skeleton of this clay project would have been more sturdy and less prone to breaking if it were to be made with wood rather than 3mm acrylic.  Due to the acrylic skeleton breaking in the middle of clay modeling, the original design had to be altered to incorporate a "bridge" in the center hollow.

0

Sketches

0

Presentation Board

Process pictured from top to bottom: Final design sketches, Fusion360 CAD drawing, SLICER skeleton design, initial clay prototype, intermediate clay prototype, final clay prototype.

0

If questions about this project, feel free to contact me: jkwang1@andrew.cmu.edu

x
Share this Project

Found In
Courses

24-672 Special Topics in DIY Design and Fabrication

· 22 members

Offers students hands-on experience in DIY product design and fabrication processes. Students work individually or in small groups to design customized and personalized products of their own and bu...more


About

A reimagination of a kitchen knife handle, specially designed to accommodate a left-handed pinch grip.