Blade Thickness

T

trailside22

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Sep 8, 2005
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In my quest for looking for my perfect "woodsbumming" knife, I have run into several different opinions of what blade thickness should be. I myself am having a hard time in choosing what I want vs what will work the best for my needs. The blade length I want is around 4" give or take a little.

However, blade thickness is another story. You can find knives that people say is their perfect outdoors knife that range in blade thickness from 1/16" to 5/16" of an inch thick. Both have their pros and cons. I know the edge geometry has a lot to do with the way a knife cuts, whether it is hollow ground, convex ground, v-grind, convex edge, flat ground, scandi, etc. I believe that blade thickness has a lot to do with it as well. For instance normally you cannot expect a knife that is 1/4" thick to cut and slice as well as a knife that is 1/8" thick. You also cannot expect the thicker knife to cut nothches in wood as well as the thinner blade. However, you would not baton very hard or very thick wood with a thin blade, or would you try to pry wood appart. If you are using a knife for food prep, you can expect a thick blade to split some of the veggies where a thinner knife would make cleaner cuts.

So the question is, "What is the best blade thickness?" It depends on what you are doing. I myself am trying to find what works best for ME. I have been looking at several different knives that are all very different in a quest to find what works best. Here is a few I have been looking at as of late:

Bark River Canadian Special- .170" thick
Bark River Bravo-1- .210" thick
Fallkniven F1- .180" thick
Fallkniven H1- .200" thick
RAT Cutlery RC3- .125" thick
Skookum Bush Tool- .125" thick
2 Charles May Knives- .125" thick

So what have you found works best for you? I am very interested in your thoughts on this subject as I try to find my perfect "woodsbumming" knife. Any suggestions on knives that you have for me would be greatly appreciated was well.
 
I really like the RAT3 in .125 for the stuff you are talking about. But I always have it in combination with something bigger and thicker -- usually a Busse SFNO (.220), Ranger RD7 (.25), or RAT7 (.1875). I don't know if I'd want it to be the only thing I had with me at that thickness.

I'm very curious to hear people's take on the Bravo1. I really like the look of it, but it sounds thick for the intended use. So I'm not sold on it yet.
 
Thick knives seem to sell, even if they make poor cutters. Read into that what you will.

I tend to find little need for a blade over .125" thick. Especially for a knife that won't be chopping, perhaps 8" or less. Choppers benefit from the increased mass and stiffness. Even so, proven choppers like Tramontina machetes are all under .100" thick
 
My current woodsbumming knife a Benchmade Griptilian 151 fixed blade. I has a thickness of .119 but the blade is quite broad. I expect it to fall apart any day now as it is 154CM steel atop being so thin:D. A knife that is 0.125" thick is plenty for me.
 
Depends on the grind. You can have a thicker stronger blade stock with a full height grind and still get a nice edge. I find most edges to thick and that they need work.
 
It also depends upon how wide the blade is, spine to edge. A wider blade can be thicker and still have a very thin primary grind, while a "less wide" blade with a saber grind can have a thicker primary grind. Of course, the wider blade is stronger, but not as useful for fine cutting tasks. When I'm using a pinch grip for whittling, a flat ground stockman is just about perfect.
 
Very important thing is also weight of the knife!

For example:
  • 4" blade 3mm thick hollow ground SOG Field Pup = 106g (172g with sheath)
  • approx 6" blade, 6.4mm thick and flat ground Ranger RD6 = 459g (615g with sheath)

From my experience with RD6 I think 6.4mm (.25") thickness is an overkill. Yes, you can do about everything with it (and if your resharpen it a bit it can cut acceptably) but it so damn heavy to carry :(
 
Trailside22--you seem to have identified the differences that thick and thin blades make, but you haven't said what you plan to do with yours! YOUR use will determine what works best for you.
Me--I prefer thin blades and an ax or hatchet because most of my woods work is done close to a vehicle. If I had to backpack it all in for a good distance I would change how I work and what I carry.
Greg
 
I plan on using it for making snares and traps, food prep, and some skinning. It is more of a general purpose knife than a specific task. It will be carried on hunting, hiking, backpacking trips, however weight is not a major concern unless we start going over 10 0z. and all of the knives I have listed are under that mark. I have been carrying to many knives and am trying to cut my number down.
 
Sounds like 1/8 to 3/16 (.125 to .1875) would serve you perfectly Trailside. (Maybe athrow in a small axe or something with a sawblade).

May I suggest adding a Grohmann Boat Knife to your list? 4 inches long, 1/8 inch thick, you can get carbon blades or flat grinds...should suit any needs you have (other than chopping) just fine.

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+1 on the Grohman I was just checking out their full flat grind model earlier today.
It is the issue knife for the Canadian armed forces and the least tactical looking fixed blade army knife I have ever seen.
 
I have a 'Russell Belt Knife' that I bought while working as a forest ranger in 1965 that survived that use well. Even though it was carbon steel I had no problems with rust. A couple of years ago I got it out and 're-conditioned' it. It took a razor sharp edge just the way it used to.
Greg
Russell.jpg
 
Buck Knives has sold more 119's than you can imagine. They have stumbled on a winner with the fact that the knife is reasonably strong, light and thin enough to slice like a saber. I think this would be close to the knife you are searching for especially when price is a consideration. Go with 3/16ths and a thinner grind.

The Russell Belt Knife is another great choice as an all round piece as well as the Mora 2000. I think in general the trend towards ultra thick blades is a fad. Most of the time you are not going to need a 5/16 thick blade for anything, but, they are tough as a tank and might survive outside the normal limits of knife use/testing which seems to be a very popular trend these days.
 
trailside22 said:
I plan on using it for making snares and traps, food prep, and some skinning.
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Go for the thinner blades.

The farther you go from civilization, the deeper into the wild, the thicker the blade you might carry, especially without much backup to it. But for what you've listed, 1/8" is best/thinner is better as verified by actual use in my kitchen. :)

I play with the Fallkniven H1 and it does work well on most foods because it's so sharp. But even if you might need the extra strength, the blade is too shoprt to chop with.

I recently got a Grohmann Boat Knife and the canted blade is really handy. You can put a lot of force on it comfortably, also.
 
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