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Bevel width

williamsld8

williamsld8

Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
226
I've noticed that a lot of the traditional knives on this site have very thin bevel widths, then the modern folders have much more gradually sloping bevels making them wider. And lastly the camp and bushcraft knives have bevels that appear to be 3/8 to a half inch wide, leading me to wonder what causes this difference in bevel width and if it has any indication as to the level of sharpness the edge has reached or the angle of the bevel itself. Any wise words are appreciated.
 
The thinner the blade the thinner the bevel will appear, assuming that the edge angle is the same between knives.
 
^That pretty much sums it up. A thick blade's bevel width is wider, because a lot more metal had to be removed, compared to a thin blade with the same edge angle. Conversely, if one tried to make the bevel width the same on a thick and a thin blade, the thin blade would have to be ground extremely thin to do so. OR, the thicker blade would have an extremely wide edge angle.

Think of 2 pieces of steel bar stock, used to make knife blades. One piece is 1/4" thick, the other is 1/16" thick. Looking at the pieces in cross-section (directly at the ends), draw a 40 degree inclusive angle on the end of the bar stock, with the very apex of the angle in the center of the lower edge of the bar stock. Look at how much metal is 'outside' the angle, from the lower edge of the bar to the sides. That's how much metal has to come off, to attain the same angle at the cutting edge of the blade. The distance from the apex to the point that intersects each side of the bar stock will be the bevel width.

Some blade styles, like Scandi grinds and bushcraft knives, have more extreme bevel widths, translating to a relatively thick blade that will slice like a very thin one.
 
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Well I couldn't have asked for a better explanation. Question answered and I thank each of you. That makes sense and I assumed as much. Every slippy I ever handled did seem very thin in comparison to the modern ones.
 
It seems that people knew better than to use knives for things other than cutting back in the good old days;)
 
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