blade thickness in relation to bushcraft

on_the_edge

on_the_edge

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For those folks who have tried different knives for bushcraft, how significant is blade thickness? In other words, is a knife that is .125" thick necessarily easier to use for bushcraft than one at .19" thick???

More specifically, I have a Fallkniven H1/3G that looks a lot like the Skookum Bush tool. In fact, specs on them are very, very close with one exception--blade thickness. In my question above, the Fallkniven is .19" thick, the Skookum is .125" thick. And before one jumps to a conclusion that thinner is better for bushcraft, let me say that the Fallkniven has a much higher (convex) grind. What say everyone? Will they be too close in performance to see an obvious difference???



Chris
 
I think depending on the grind, a thicker knife can still be used, but any knife around an 1/8 of an inch will make a awsome bushcraft knife.
 
I have read that a Scandi grind is better for wood working and ,for example,will produces finer,tighter curls when making feather sticks.....I don't know if this is true but will let you know maybe next week !!!:D:thumbup:
 
pitdog said:
I have read that a Scandi grind is better for wood working and ,for example,will produces finer,tighter curls when making feather sticks.....I don't know if this is true but will let you know maybe next week !!!:D:thumbup:
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Pit,
It is true!

Scandi's are my favorite bush blades
 
I like the thinner blades with Scandi grinds as they just seem to work better for me in most tasks, especially fine carving, cleaning animals, kitchen duties, etc. - they feel better in the hand, easier to wield. Why??? I can't answer that, as the other knives I have that are thicker, are also different in other respects.

I am starting to get into edible and medicinable plants again and I now that I think about, I also appreciate the thinner blade for harvesting herbs, bark, etc. (On a side note, my daughter started developing a cough so I made her some tea from the inner bark of white pine yesterday and she is doing much better today). Stuff like that and carving traps and fire boards is more important to me than the occasional batonning I may do.

So, one might ask themself what is the finest type of work I will be doing with my knife, and on the other end of the spectrum, what is the most abuse I will dish out; and from there find a compromise.

Regardless of what you pick at this point and time, we are all constantly learning and as I have stated before, whether you realize it or not, trying to simplify they way we do things. Thin or thick, it won't be your last knife!
 
I agree that the scadi is a very good wood working blade. I'm partial to the full convex grind though and find that my Northstar cuts deeper and feathers finer curls than does any of my Mora knives, except the M2K, which was a very close second to the BRKT.
 
I like thinner too for most stuff.:thumbup:

Fallkniven is a great all around blade though. H1 looks great though. Good woods blade!:thumbup: Maybe not shave as fine a fuzzy stick or slice as well but really excellent in every other way.:thumbup::thumbup:
 
Thanks for all the answers folks! I really appreciate your valuable input!

Longbow, I also happen to have the Northstar. I especially like using it in the kitchen, so admittedly, she doesn't see a lot of time in the woods. Maybe I should take her and the H1 out for a little side by side adventure. Performance differences might become a little more obvious to me then.
 
So far as I think I know:

A thinner blade is better at cutting thick material than a thicker blade. Otherwise, cutting ability is primarily a matter of the accuity of the edge.

A so-called "sandi" grind (saber grind with no secondary bevel) may be more acute than a flat or full convex grind -- or not. Depends of how high the single bevel begins.

Based on twenty-seven I have, the vast majority of knives manufactured in Finland, Norway, and Sweden do not have the so-called "scandi" grind. Score is now "scandi" 3 (2 Helle; 1 "MORA"); secondary bevel 24.

I also have two custom knives from maker Trond. They had hollow "scandi" grinds when I got them 'cause that's what he set out to do. They are sharp but not particularly acute, so they bind somewhat in thick material - while cutting thin material like a light saber.

My wife's grandfather was a professional woodcarver (for Pullman Corp.) from Germany. He had been a professional carving for furniture makers to the ruling class over there. All his carving knives I have (11) had convex edges - a natural consequence of free-hand sharpening. They are about as thick as a typical kitchen paring knife (but lots harder). They cut wood just fine, thank you.

I conclude that a "scandi" grind is more specialized than the more common grind.
 
My Howling Rat is high flat with a convexed edge and I haven't had any problems doing what little carving that I do. My whistle didn't work because I suck, not my knife.:o
 
Shotgun said:
My Howling Rat is high flat with a convexed edge and I haven't had any problems doing what little carving that I do. My whistle didn't work because I suck, not my knife.:o
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That's where you went wrong, you should blow a whistle not suck !!!:D
 
For me, a high flat or full flat grind works better than a scandi grind. The back of the knife can be thicker, lending more strength to the knife, and the primary grind still more acute than a Mora. Sometimes, you can have your cake and eat it too!
 
Th H1 works well for carving woods and for light chopping. The spine thickness does not matter much for most bushcraft because the cuts are in general very shallow.

Most will be impressed with the scandinavian bevel simply because the angles are acute, usually 9-11 degrees compared to the common tacticals of 20-30 degrees.

-Cliff
 
If you have a thicker spine on a full flat grind, you can progressively (and slightly) thicken the grind towards the tip for more strength in splitting tasks, while retaining cutting efficiency at the wider parts of the blade, towards the handle. For wood usage, I'm leaning more and more towards knives with that design. Good cutters with strong(er) tips.
 
I'm not familiar with the "scandi" style(but with the price of a Mora, I will be soon). How does the scandi grind differ from the others stated. I thought I had just about every kind of grind in my collection, but I guess I was wrong.
 
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