bolster function

[69camaro]

Why is it that most of the big knives I see have a dropped edge with a bolster. What is the need for a bolster on a dropped edge knife? I am just beginning and some of these bolsters look out of place to me. Am I missing something?

 

[69camaro]

Ok, in my haste, I used the wrong terminology. I meant finger guard.

 

[JCaswell]

Well I don't know about finger guards other than they are desirable for keeping your hand from sliding up the knife resulting in severe tendon damage.
Though not universal anymore, bolsters add a lot of rigidity to an assembly such as a liner lock. I didn't think so at first, but an engineer friend demonstrated how this was so. If your chassis is well designed and uses sufficiently sturdy materials you can drop the bolsters, but usually it would be stiffer with them. (Obviously they wouldn't do much on framelocks, etc.)

 

[DAMNENG]

While it is true that if the edge of the blade is dropped enough it will keep your fingers from sliding out onto the cutting edge, the back of the dropped blade at the ricasso or what ever your knife has in its place, is still a little rough on the fingers if you slide into it. The guard also keeps things you are cutting from sliding back on your fingers, which a dropped edge doesn't, i.e. tree limbs, bones, berry bushes and possibly another knife blade. Lets not forget, it many times just looks more sophisticated and pleasing to the eye.

Jim Arbuckle

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

If you jammed the knife into something ( by accident or in a real life use) your hand would just jump the dropped edge and keep on going. The fingers would drop off as you continued down the blade. With a guard, the hand would slam into the guard and stop cold. Better than the first scenario!
Stacy

 

[GibsonFan]

A guard is functional, keeps your hand from slipping onto the blade. A bolster, which may include a guard, is largely ornamental on a fixed blade, IMHO. I see little functional point to them other than to bring weight/balance back towards the handle end. Similarly, I think rear bolsters are mostly there for asthetic balance. Folders such as the classic Buck 110 have both bolsters, because the design almost demands them for strength. They add a lot of weight, and frankly I've handled some very finely-made knives that balanced about like a handful of brick due to the big chunks of NS or brass in the handle. A matter of preference, I suppose. I like to feel where the blade is, rather than have all the weight in my palm.

I have a sneaky suspicion that bolsters as we think of them today, are in large part due to the evolution of full-tang knives, where they are the simplest way to add a guard (pretty difficult to slide a "standard" slotted guard on most full-tang knives, where the butt is wider than the hilt). They also call to mind classics like the 110 and others. Of course, a lot of knives where made with both bolsters before the 110 was ever dreamed up.