Tend to agree with these posts... make a knife you can carry everyday. Its a lot more usefull... So keep the blade under three inches and give it a nice cutting edge. One edge only. I work in DC and honestly unless your going into a museum or some of the federal offices... wearing a pocket knife is not a problem. On the other hand a fixed blade knife however usefull is just not acceptable unless your hunting, camping, hiking or on a farm...

Self defense knives are foolish as already discussed.

Anyone know where you can find diagrams of different knife cross sections, distal taper, etc?

Amen, Daniel.....Make her a one-of-a-kind, special, totally unique bladed weapon, that she can use to cut her lunch sandwich or open up her next box from KOA. A hand-crafted knife from a loving friend is an heirloom to be passed down through generations. Make it beautiful...and special...with love. Made this way, with the heart in mind, it will NEVER fail. McM

I can recommend http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/11-Self-made-Gear
http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/18-Edged-Tools

There are a lot of posts on knife making and quite a few have put up posts on knife designs including blade and handle designs, plus a fair number of knife projects made from saw blades.

i see a lot of the recommended post for a recommended style. things to consider . . .

what will she use the knife for the most this will make the over all design. if she hunts, you'll want a smaller knife, with a really good edge - smaller the knife, think of making a finer edge - something hollow ground that with very little work a razor edge can be put on that blade.

the bigger the blade, you can choose a flat grind - personally my belief is, a knife under 10 inch should all be hollow ground. and your not going to find may uses for a blade over 10 inches. although hollow grind is a little tricky in comparison to flat, you'll find the difference in honing the blade.

whatever design you decide on, keep this in mind, no flat lines. make every line at an angle. if you read up a little on profile and distal tapers a little you'll see what i mean. no only do they look better - like an actual finished piece not just stamped but the little bit of taper aids in cutting. in knifes its not a huge idea, we see tapers in swords multiply their function dynamically, but to myself and may experiences collectors - seeing profiles in the blade is a sign that someone is paying attention to what their making.

if you just want to make a keep sake, sky is the limit. but keep in mind that a knife should be sleek, not bulky. its not a hammer its a knife. i'd also think about getting something a little thicker than just old saw blade or what kind of saw blade are we talking out? circular saw, old carpenters saw?

I'm a big fan of the early American fighting knife that was first described as a "butcher" knife and later became the multi-faceted Bowie. If we're talking about a project that would represent a classic fighting knife without being meant for actual carry, that would be at the top of my list. Some of these were extremely simple at first. As often happens, they became more decorative as they became more of a wannabe fashion item. I like the plainest early ones. The one below is between those extremes, and is generally representative of the type. Imagine this blade with all-wood grips instead of bolsters, and a leather over wood sheath, and you'd get the image of the plainer types.

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Ahhh...sounds like a nice light fieldcraft knife would be good! I know you want to make the blade, but I'll just throw this out there anyway. The best knife in my house is my grandfather's ancient, light Old Hickory cabbage knife (see the new one below--$8.50!).

There are bigger, thicker OH butcher knives that would be better fighting knives, but these shorter, thinner blades are fantastic and easily take and hold an edge. They're carbon steel, so they have an historical look about them and will take a beautiful natural patina with use. If you wanted to focus on the bling, you could get one of those very inexpensive knives, make new grip scales (horn? bone? figured hardwood?,) add silver pins or escutcheons, make a lanyard hole, make a beautiful sheath, etc.

This place has these and a huge assortment of other carbon steel knives with an historical look to them.

http://www.ragweedforge.com/HistoricalKnifeCatalog.html

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I think you'll find a few patterns in this link for both blades and handles.
http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php/...e-patterns

Yeah, I got one of the big butchers and stripped it for reshaping and a new grip treatment. Fantastic bargain.