Question to Makers on design?

[BAK]

Is it just preferance or is it ease of construction that it seems so many more knives are made and shown here without any type of finger guard?  My own preference is to not even use one without but it seems the majority are made without them.  What say you?

[D.Ellis]

I personally like hunters and small utility style knives without guards, although I like them with guards as well. Properly designed a guardless knife is plenty safe to use when used for it's intended purposes. Adding a guard adds more work and cost to a knife, so usually it's a more affordable design if made without.
No real reason why either style is better, they're just 2 different ways to get to the same place.
Darcy  

[kbaknife]

I agree with Darcy.
A properly assembled guard can be quite time and material consuming and requires attention to its design and construction.
And the right customer to pay for it.

[akaboomer]

I agree, mostly, with Karl and Darcy on this. I really like bird and trout knives in the 3" blade range guard less. For a standard hunter I want a guard. Most knives bigger than 3 1/2" don't look right to me without the guard. Just my perspective though.

Chris

[Bobby Urban]

Both.  I prefer a knife w/o a guard unless it is integral with the blade or the semi-famous :brute de forge" design.  My skills and tools are limited so making those perfect guards are beyond my skill set for the most part.  At lest beyond my time set(because it would take me forever to make a nice guard) but they sure look cool.

[Bladepeek]

I think the type of knife and intended use determines whether guarded or guardless is most appropriate. I like little "utility" knives without a guard for 99% of my use.

On the other hand, when I was living in Germany I was making knives and selling them to a gun maker who then resold them in his shop. I brought him the prettiest little knife without a guard. He refused to buy it and said it was dangerous. This may be an urban legend or not, but this guy normally didn't lie or exaggerate. He said one of his customers was boar hunting; shot a boar and it appeared dead when he approached it. He put his gun down, got his knife out and started to roll the pig over. It suddenly came to life and started kicking and thrashing. He tried to stab it behind the front leg, hit a rib and his hand slid down the blade and he nearly amputated a finger.

I think you can make a solid case for either design if it all fits as a package - visually and according to its use.

[BAK]

I think I got my answer.  Costs more and takes longer.  Thanks.