You will find on this page some illustrations, and learn more on the vocabulary as well as the techniques used in knifemaking.

The illustration "Anatomy of the knife" shows the various parts and components of a knife.

The illustration "Kind of grind" shows the most used grind used in custom knifemaking. The grind is the section of the blade which is thinned to form the sharp edge.

The last two illustrations show the two techniques usually used to fix the handle and the guards (or bolsters) to the blade. It should be noted that a multitude of alternatives exist besides these two techniques.

In the "Full tang knife", the blade continues to form the handle where pieces of wood or other materials are fixed. With this technique, the sides of the tang remain visible on the sides of the handle.

In the other technique, the "Hidden tang knife or Stick tang knife", the blade does not form the handle as in the previous technique, but it becomes narrower to pass through the guard and inside the handle. Sometimes the tang end can be fixed at the end of the handle in the pommel. With this tehcnique, the tang is not visible when the knife is assembled.