are bushcraft knives over built?

I like thinner "bushcraft" knives 1/8" or under, but you don't find many maker's that like to use thinner stock . Like someone stated above the warranty issue probably has a lot to do with it along with apparently a majority of the people so fare wanting thicker knives. It's all just preference but for me it's thinner. And I really don't think there is anything an 1/8" knife can't do that needs to be done.
 
I like having a slightly thicker blade attached to my person just in case I'm ever separated from my pack. 3/16 is about as thick as I want currently.

That being said, my ML Woods and Bush knife at 1/8" thick is a pleasure to use and hard to leave home.
 
I think they are popular because most people don't use knives and bought into the tank knives. As an example, I've read Busses were sold to people that never use them. They are collectors of one of a kind knives. I've seen videos of people trying to use them as knives and they clearly failed. There are many things in life that are "upside down".

People that know the difference are becoming fewer. I read one manufactures comments they he is supprised at how many of one of his models was selling. This is a person that knows knives and he cannot figure out why people are buying it!
 
I like to take more than one knife into the bush, that way I can have a thinner slicer and an overbuilt hard-use knife. The next time I go into the bush I am going to take my new Mora Bushcraft Triflex knife - it only cost $20 and isn't full tang, but it should handle what I'll use it for, the batoning or chopping can be handled buy a different knife.

I think that the Mora Bushcraft is a great example of the bushcraft knife style that the OP is talking about.

Then there are knives like my BK-9 which is good for chopping & batoning but maybe not as good for finer tasks. This is why I take both.

The last time I went camping I took some chopping knives to play with and a couple of Mora knives. I decided to leave my tent pegs in their bag and just make some pegs to use from what I could find. I tried a couple of my knives for the task of sharpening up some tent pegs and then I tried one or my Mora knives - WOW! They really do carve wood better! So I learned my lesson - take a Becker & a Mora and a SAK and I'll have the right tool for the job.
 
I think poeple just like to carry what they like. Just because one group of people might carry a thinner or thicker cutting tool it does not make it right or wrong. it is just what people like.
So I guess I do not think anything is over built. I think we just like good cutting tools.

Bryan
 
Well, I think there's a number of factors involved.

1.) There's the crossover from a bushcraft to survival knife. A survival knife may need to be put to use way beyond what a knife is designed for.
2.) Coupled with that, I see a lot of people posting about how they refuse to carry a heavy use tool like an axe or large knife, so they have to ba able to use their small knife for uses well beyond what they were intended for.
3.) Some just want that margin of safety a beefier blade gives.
 
I think, like a lot of others have already posted, that there's really no one good reason for it, but rather a cumulative effect.

Times change, and with that methods, and what's acceptable in terms of design and use. If you look at how things have trended, we do seem to be heading in the direction of convenience and speed. Speed in working with a knife, often leads to breakage or accidents. Convenience of carrying one tool to do multiple jobs is another facet of it. Just look at the market, not only for knives, but everything; If it only does one thing well, most people shun it, in favor of something that has 50 applications that it does moderately well.(iPhone anyone?)

It also doesn't seem "fashionable" any longer to carry the right tool for the job, or to carry more than you "have to". Multi-tools, ultra-light trends, some guy "surviving" with only a knife, water bottle, and flint? Doable, sure, logical...well that's debatable based on what you want to achieve. Whether you want to immerse yourself in the crafting, and working with the tools, learning skills, or just want to go as fast and light as possible, or just feel like carrying what appeals to you.

In a practical sense though, you have true users, who might choose "overbuilt" for valid reasons. Thicker stock, means you can get more sharpenings out of it. It also reduces the chance that it'll fail, thus it's a one time purchase, or at least fewer purchases. In a world of disposable, true users from a by gone day, still like that you can get one good tool that'll last.

Ofcourse, we could go on and on about this. Eventually, like most discussions here, it will all come back to personal choice. Whether those choices are motivated by socio-economic trends, fashion, aesthetics, practicality, etc. ad infinitum.

Then again, that's just my take on it. I'm just a poor, uneducated, country boy.


Gautier
 
Carry what you like as long as it works for you!
If its ground right i don't think 3/16s is too thick, adds to the weight though.
Personally I like Moras but some day i'm sure to buy a FFBM,lol.
What boggles my mind is that there are a few guys in the Busse forum with 60-100 Busses,some probably have more!
I'm not kidding i've seen the pics!
Good for them but for the cost of that collection around here i could buy a nice patch of land and build a decent little cabin!
:D
 
Cpl Punishment said:
Well, I think there's a number of factors involved.

1.) There's the crossover from a bushcraft to survival knife. A survival knife may need to be put to use way beyond what a knife is designed for.
2.) Coupled with that, I see a lot of people posting about how they refuse to carry a heavy use tool like an axe or large knife, so they have to ba able to use their small knife for uses well beyond what they were intended for.
3.) Some just want that margin of safety a beefier blade gives.
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This is my thoughts exactly. I'm done with small knives thicker than 1/8" thick. They just don't perform well for what I use them for. But, I carry a chopper and a pocket knife which makes a belt knife almost unnecessary. The only knives I would use that are thicker are big knives designed to do axe work like a 8-10 inch bowie or a kuk. Even then I think 3/16 is plenty thick from a good maker. That might be a reason for thick knives too. Makers compensating for crappy heat treat with thicker steel.
 
The Lapps lived and died by Carribou, Reindeer and other arctic animals. In my personal opinion, traditional scandi blades differ much from modern bushcraft blades in that skinning small and large game were among the main roles of their knives-versus today, in which a vast majority of what I see bushcraft knives used for is solely menial carving tasks-spoons, traps, etc. (at least how they are represented on these forums...) Traditional puukos have much more belly, and sometimes sacrifice a bit of a working point, whereas bushcraft blades seem to focus on a point centered on the axis of the handle, sacrificing belly. I don't mind thick blades at all- as long as they are contoured reasonably to a 15 degree edge. That said, my main bushcraft knife is a .1 inch thick Koyote puuko. For me, it's much more about the edge than it is the spine. Look at Himalayan imports for example. The forged tapers on their smaller knives are from often 3/8ths thick down to a very high performance slicing edge. I don't mind weight as long as the blade is balanced and responsive.
 
As part of a set of cutting tools like what has traditionally been used, the knife (and I'm talking about an average sized belt knife here) wouldn't really be expected to do any really tough work like splitting wood or chopping, that's what the axe was for and it was built tough accordingly. The knife was for slicing and cutting so it was made thin and better suited to the tasks that it was meant to preform. This system works great when all the tools are present but remove one and it falls apart because each tool has it's own role and is designed to work specifically in that role so obviously when pushed into another tools role it won't work nearly as well.

The idea that you may lose your axe and have to rely soley on a knife to survive has made some people beef up their knives so they can trust them when the chips are down, as well as some people considering axes too heavy and insisting on carrying a lighter chopping tool, usually a knife of some sort.

I've used Mora's and found that they perform better for cutting tasks than thicker knives (which was expected) but for me personally, I just feel that they're not strong enough for me to trust my life to if something did happen. This is why I prefer a thicker knife as my main belt knife, but I don't go overboard on the thickness either because then I lose funcionality. I want to have the minimum thickness that I think I could get away with so that I can really trust my knife but still have a usable cutting tool, I think modern bushcraft knives are a good example of this. They are sort of a jack of all trades, master of none knife but that's ok with me as long as they get the job done (and I still use an axe along side them but it's nice to think that if I did lose the axe that my knife would be able to handle some heavy use).
 
sicily02 said:
I think poeple just like to carry what they like.......

Bryan
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I don't care HOW thick someone else's knife is. I just don't want mine too thick.:D

Shotgun said:
...... I'm done with small knives thicker than 1/8" thick........
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I was tickled that BHK made the Maverick Colt in 3/32" and 5/8" in height. I have seen/used a lot of neat little knives that were just too thick to make them as handy as they could have been. It's hard to please everyone though and BHK probably lost a sale or two to guys who thought it should have been 1/8" thick.
 
The recluse I made for myself is 1/8" thick. I've never had any trouble with 1/8" thick blades.
 
Fiddleback said:
The recluse I made for myself is 1/8" thick. I've never had any trouble with 1/8" thick blades.
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With the full height convex on my Bushcraft Jr., 1/8" was just right.:thumbup:

Had it been a Scandi, maybe 3/32" would have been the ticket.
 
Riley, you answered your own question, I think.

If the Bushcraft knife is one that may be called upon to handle a number of different tasks, then 'over built' is a good thing.
 
1/8" is the limit for me, and I honestly prefer something thinner than that. As for why overbuilt knives are so popular, I can't say, though several good theories have been espoused in this thread. Blades of thinner, but quality, stock have always performed better for me, and will hold up to a lot more abuse than most folks give them credit for. Kgd has a pic of an Old Hickory splitting a rather sizeable log via baton. Lots of folks do some pretty rough stuff with their Moras. Pict, in his YouTube vids, routinely beats the hell out of his 8$ Tramontina machetes.
 
I've got a Condor Bushlore. Talk about thick for length, it took me a while to thin the edge out but when I actually used it today, It was the best short blade splitter while battoning I have ever used. It also seems to be good at drilling, shaving and scraping.
 
Are todays blades overbuilt, yes I think so. Even in survival situations, non combat or urban environment , I can't think of anything that would stress a knife to the point of breaking. What would you do with your knife that might break it, any knife, regardless of thickness.

Batonning? I have batonned lots of thin machetes and kitchen knives and never broken one, not to mention lots of ways to skin cats without batonning.

Prying? What exactly do you pry in the woods?

Chopping? Again I don't see this as absolutely vital, most down wood can be broken over a rock or between two trees and in shelter building you really don't need logs.

Digging? As has been said I will carve a digging stick or just pick one up off the ground.

Man survived in the harshest of invironments for thousands of years with nothing more than a flake of rock. I think there is a HUGE gap between what we need and what we want. Chris
 
I'm firmly in the 1/8 - 3/16" size range now.My current carry knife (ESEE-3MIL) is 1/8th.The biggest knife I carry now is my Junglas at 3/16.My new knife on the way is 1/8.(BHK "MUK").
 
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