busse war dog hack 4" blade?

[DL Robin]

I am considering various res-c handled EDC sized blades and needed this forums help. Is the busse war dog hack 4" blade hollow ground or convex? If hollow ground could it be made conex? What are the cons/pros to a hollow ground blade?
Thanks in advance

 

[RVO3VOM]

The Scrap Yard War Dog HACK is a hollow ground INFI blade.
The Scrap Yard War Dog w/ INFI is a flat ground blade.

Neither would really convert to a full convex blade. The hollow grind just couldn't be done, its concave and can't go the other way.
The flat grind would lose a lot of blade height (from edge to spine) trying to change the primary bevel from flat to convex.

The hollow grind makes for a great slicer. :thumbup:


∞

 

[BlackNinja]

The Scrap Yard War Dog HACK is a hollow ground INFI blade.
The Scrap Yard War Dog w/ INFI is a flat ground blade.

Neither would really convert to a full convex blade. The hollow grind just couldn't be done, its concave and can't go the other way.
The flat grind would lose a lot of blade height (from edge to spine) trying to change the primary bevel from flat to convex.

The hollow grind makes for a great slicer. :thumbup:


∞

+1
Right on... no chance for the hollow & you would lose a LOT on the flat... not much more to add.

 

[darkaether]

plenty to spare on the full flat spine. it could be made full convex with a leaner spine

 

[teclis22]

you can just have the edge itself turned convex without too much material loss.

 

[RokJok]

What are the cons/pros to a hollow ground blade?

That depends on what you are using the knife to do. The properties that make a knife a great cutter in soft materials may well prove detrimental for chopping frozen wood, and vice versa.

(For clarity of explanations given, see drawing below showing relative shoulder thickness for the grinds.)

The thin shoulder (blade thickness dimension) immediately behind the cutting edge of a hollow ground blade offers less resistance to blade penetration into the material being cut when slicing, relatively speaking, than does the thicker shoulder of a flat-ground or convex-ground blade. This makes the initial penetration of the hollow ground cutting edge into the material easier (think slicing a tomato -- tough skin supported by soft material). The hollow ground thin shoulder is, however, more delicate and more inclined to chip out or otherwise get damaged while chopping or cutting at hard material (elk leg bone). Also, once the hollow ground blade has penetrated to the top of the curving grind, the outward flaring shoulders of the grind actually make the cutting harder in hard materials like dried hardwoods.

Convex grind has more shoulder behind the edge than does the flat-ground or hollow-ground blade. That makes initial penetration into the material harder than hollow ground or flat ground. However the thicker shoulder is more robust when chopping. My experience is that it also makes better splitting of wood along the grain of the wood **once the edge is into the wood**.

Flat ground and nearly-full-height saber ground blades are a nice compromise of the advantages of the hollow and convex grinds.

However, the sharpness, toothiness, and angles of the cutting edge itself, coupled with the thickness of the shoulder and other blade geometry shapes & sizes will determine how well the blade will work for each job and material. The metallurgical properties and heat treat of the steel itself are also considerations that can help or hinder your intended use for a knife.

The holy trinity of knife making is: Steel, Geometry, Heat Treat. Mess up any one of them and the knife is less, often much less, than optimum. The unseen and so often unheralded beauty of Bussekin wares is that they have nailed the heat treating process to get very good performance from their steels & geometries for the rough & tumble uses their knives are marketed for.

 

[stephenthesuave]

The SY INFI WarDog is full flat ground, but has a thick convex "zero edge". That is to say, there is no defined place where the main grind stops and the edge bevel starts.

I find it a bit long for an EDC. The Mud Puppy may be a better choice, but you lose the INFI advantages (which may be merely academic on a slicer/EDC blade.)

 

[DL Robin]

Educational guys, thank you