blade thickness behind the edge

T

tim37a

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May 18, 2010
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I am making a hunting, back packing, general camping knife out of S35VN hardened to Rc60 by Peters. The blade is .094" thick at the spine and .91" deep. Blade length is 3 5/8" long, full flat grind. My question is how thick should it be behind the edge? Edge Pro, which I will use, recommends a 21* angle. Right now, the edge is .015-016" thick. How much thinner should I go?

I am not going to use it for batoning wood or anything stupid like that. I might sharpen a stick, gut a fish, skin a rabbit, carve some tent pegs, cut some nylon line or put a hole in some nylon webbing. If I am white water rafting I might, in an emergency, cut a hole in the raft to deflate it quickly.

Recommendations please.

Tim
 
I've not had the chance to work with, and more importantly test, S35VN yet, but here's what I'd do. Thin that .015-.016" to at least half that and make your inclusive edge bevel at 25-30 degrees. Perform your own testing for edge stability and make adjustments if necessary. That's what I plan to do when I get my hands on some.
 
Thin is in. Peters' knows how to keep 'em straight. I agree with Darrin, .005" is good. It will be easy to get - and keep - very sharp.

Starting out with too thick of an edge on a fine cutter/slicer not only makes it harder to sharpen and cut poorly to begin with, it will only get worse as you sharpen it more over the years.
 
james terrio said:
Thin is in. Peters' knows how to keep 'em straight. I agree with Darrin, .005" is good. It will be easy to get - and keep - very sharp.

Starting out with too thick of an edge on a fine cutter/slicer not only makes it harder to sharpen and cut poorly to begin with, it will only get worse as you sharpen it more over the years.
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What James and Darrin said. You can always thicken up a .005" pre-edge if you want to. Definitely no more than .010". My hunting knife was done super thin and it held up great through its one deer. No problems with bone or anything.
 
Thanks guys. So far the general consensus seems to be .005 - .007. I'll go for .005, which is about what I thought would be right.

Tim
 
I would thin down to about the .005. By the way I never found the S35VN to be anything special. It takes a dull finish. Frank
 
I like to take them down to where they almost have an edge and then put a tiny convex edge on it.
 
Frank,
I usually bead blast the finish so a dull S35VN finish is OK.

Darrin,
I'm using an EdgePro and I don't know if I can get a convex edge with that. Will have to call them.

Tim
 
Well for me a .005 edge is to thin for a general purpose camping knife. I would want something I dont have to baby, .015 is good all purpose thickness. I do have a smaller knife I use at .005 edge though. I agree with others though If you find its too thin and you bend or chip edge , it is easy enough to take it back a bit.
 
Some people may think I'm crazy (actually a lot of people do) but I believe its best to grind a blade a little too thin for its intended use. If it chips, sharpen the chip out and it will be a little more durable. Sooner or later the edge will "find" the proper geometry. Does that make sense to anybody other than me?
 
darrin sanders said:
Some people may think I'm crazy (actually a lot of people do) but I believe its best to grind a blade a little too thin for its intended use. If it chips, sharpen the chip out and it will be a little more durable. Sooner or later the edge will "find" the proper geometry. Does that make sense to anybody other than me?
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That's how I do it, too. Not one complaint so far.

Perhaps we're both crazy. :p
 
I hear ya James, as long as the people who are spending the $$$ are happy, I'm happy.
 
Would I be able to grind a 1084 knife to .005 before heat treat if I use salt pots for HT? If not what is the thinnest I could grind the bevel pre HT?
 
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