![]() My knife engineer, Phil Gibbs, refers to it as the Canel (CAN-ELL). The edge grind and the blade grind often get confused in conversations by makers and knife enthusiasts alike. There is not industry wide terminology for the grind of the edge of a knife. A thick edge is strong, but will not cut as well.Ī quick note: The edge of a knife can get confusing with different terminology. Thin edges risk rolling over or chipping. Generally, the thinner edge will cut better, but is weaker. The edge thickness has the same related tradeoff in strength versus cutting ability. It comes down, once again, to trade offs: Strength versus slicing ability. But it is not meant to be used as a screw driver or a can opener. It is designed to slice, and to slice very well. On the other hand, it is not designed to have the strength or weight for chopping, prying, or heavy piercing. Or I can use a flat grind, such as the Titanium Lockback, to really reinforce the benefits of the thin blade. It is entirely possible that for cutting tasks the difference will not be enough for you to notice, but when it comes to slicing the overall thickness of the blade is much more important.įor a thin blade, I can choose to reinforce the blade with a sabre grind, so that the blade is a bit stronger than it would have been otherwise - due to the extra steel reaching farther down and reinforcing the blade. In the picture on the right, the sabre ground Ka-Bar Companion (1/4" thick spine) goes through some cardboard well enough - but not quite as well as the much thinner, flat ground Titanium Lockback would. Take a look at my Blade Grinds Article for more about grinds. In this case, flat and hollow grinds will be superior to sabre grinds. However, if the blade has to pass through the material, for instance corrugated cardboard, or even an apple, then different designs in the blade will affect how much drag the blade has on the material. If you are cutting something and you don't need the knife to go through the material, it doesn't matter how thick the spine is, it is down to the the edge grind, the workmanship, and materials at that point. So if I have a very thick blade, but it tapers down to a thin edge, it can be as sharp as any other blade. There are a few things that might moderately affect it, but as long as the edge has the same thickness, it will cut about as well as another knife. This distinction is important when it comes to the thickness of a blade.Īny knife, properly sharpened, with almost any design or blade profile can be nearly as sharp as another knife. Slicing means to move through with a sharp object. For our purposes in this article, cutting means to separate into parts or to sever. There is a difference between “slice” and “cut” in the knife world. Even though the spine of the blade is thick, the profile of a flat or hollow grind will not offer as much drag to the blade as it slices through a material. For instance, if you have a thick and strong blade, I can choose to go with a flat or hollow grind to reduce the weaknesses of a thick blade. Once I’ve decided on a thickness, I can choose a grind that will either help reinforce the attributes of that thickness, or try to make up for any weakness. A fillet knife needs to be able to slice with excellence and be thin enough so that the blade can flex as needed. ![]() Survival knives need to be able to take the abuses of hard use. They need to hold to the rigors of combat. Self-defense and combat knives need to be sturdy. However, the most important factor in designing a knife is the intended purpose of the blade. ![]() ![]() As a knife designer, I navigate the territory between the two extremes. We don’t carry around a metal rasp either. The picture on the right there shows a few of Jake’s Exacto blades with broken tips. They break too often and aren’t as reliable as a real pocket knife. There is a reason we don’t all just carry around Exacto knives in our pockets. The choice of blade thickness comes down to compromising between strength and slicing ability. ![]() Thinner blades will have a slimmer profile - which allows for easier and better slicing. How thick a blade is will affect how strong it is, as well as how well the blade can cut. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |