Have you ever seen a person go
into a room, sit down and within a few minutes stand up to straighten a
painting that is hanging at an angle? Ever done this yourself? An
unbalanced object makes us feel uncomfortable, maybe because we are
precariously balanced on two stilts.
If a knife is not balanced, your
customer feels uneasy. Most times he won't be able to put it in words,
he'll pick it up, handle it, put it down again and go for another design,
or even worse, move on to the next maker's table where he spends $$$ on a
knife that is obviously not as well made as yours.
There are a number of axes of
symmetry on a knife. One running from tip to pommel when the knife is
viewed from the top, one from tip to pommel when the knife is viewed from
the side, one running vertically when the knife is viewed from the side
and one running vertically through the centre when the knife is viewed
from the tip or pommel.
It is obvious that if you make it
symmetrical across all the axes that you will have an oblong, square or
even ball shaped knife!
Therefore, a knife must be
asymmetrical when viewed along one or more of these axes. This means that
achieving balance can be a daunting task, unless you know how to apply the
elements of design.
Lets view a knife from the side.
Tip left, spine upwards. Draw an imaginary line from tip to pommel (or
where the pommel would be if your knife does not have one.)
Draw an imaginary line vertically
in the position you think represents the visual balance point of the knife
along that axis; where the handle roughly equals the shape of the blade in
form and size. If the point where these two axis cross lies on the
physical balance point as well, you have a perfectly balanced knife. Test
by balancing your knife at this point on a ruler or over your finger.
Most commonly, this point will be
on the ricasso.
There are a number of things you
can do to move the physical balance point: Tapered and drilled tangs,
heavier (denser) handle materials, adding a pommel or making bolsters
longer or shorter are all things one can do on the handle. On the blade,
one can apply a flat instead of a hollow grind, or increase or decrease
the grind height, have a distal taper on the blade or have the blade widen
towards the tip like on a kukri.
The physical weight and balance
will be determined by the purpose of the knife. For a chopping tool, the
physical balance point should be towards the tip. This however, does not
mean that the visual balance point will be in the same position. By
applying the elements of design, you can move the visual balance point at
will.
How?
Each of the design elements can be
used to add visual weight to the side that looks lighter. Darker colours
looks heavier, texture can draw the eyes towards a specific side, line
leads the eye. In visual balance, it is the side that that the observer
looks at most that is the heaviest.
Sword makers use a variety of
techniques to visually balance those long blades: intricate handles, large
pommels, inset jewels, curved guards (shape, size, texture, colour and
line)
