Can a knife’s wait affect its performance?

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DocT

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Mar 25, 2012
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Can a knife be too light or too heavy for a certain tasks and blade sizes and become problematic in its performance? Will being too light in weight cause problems with cutting and even perhaps safety? Will being too heavy calls different problems?

What extreme light weight for example calls problems with the knife bouncing in and out of the media or otherwise cutting poorly and perhaps even posing a danger to the user? If it life is too heavy what it calls dragging or other performance issues as well? at what point Does weight become a detriment to performance?
 
I think weight is sort of a relative thing and it mostly relates to your carry. I carried a Schrade 250T (large two blade folder) for years and never thought much about the weight. But it was in a belt pouch like a Buck 110. Now, I view the Schrade as a heavy knife. --

Weight can relate to metal thickness and hence strength. Not an absolute, but I think most of us would view a 1/4" stock fixed blade as stronger than a Mora or inexpensive Vic kitchen knife.`
 
In performance I have found the total knife design is the major factor according to the task and materials being cut. But the weight can be an issue with extended or repetitive use such as a processing plant or factory. Ergonomics is also an important factor and maybe even more so.

In terms of general usage in intermittent or momentary usage weight doesn’t effect me as much as being handy and ease of carry but that’s just me. I think then weight is by a personal preference.
 
ScooterG said:
Generally, the longer I have to wait for a knife, the worse perceived performance it has when it finally arrives.
Click to expand...

I agree. I once commissioned a meat carving knife in 1647. By the time it arrived to my door, and this was back 2016 or 2017, the edge certainly wasn't what I would call first rate. There was noticeable pitting in the carbon steel. You would think that if I had to wait 370 years for my knife, the edge would come perfectly sharp.

In short, I won't be buying a knife from Dan Koster again.


My serious answer, yes. Weight can be an issue when it comes to performance. This is physics. A machete will cut really doggone well through a lot of stuff. I mean, shockingly well for a $15 piece of spring steel. However, at a point it starts to bounce off thicker material.

Conversely, a heavy khuk like made by HI will tackle an oak tree if you have the arm for it. However, it will simply mash vines. Also, we have a saying around the khukriverse, "Let the knife tell you when you are done". They are very heavy blades. You will get tired. If you get too tired, you get sloppy. If you get sloppy, that weight can cause the knife to overtravel from what you are chopping at and carry the edge into where you don't want it to go....say your shin.

Weight has a huge effect on performance.
 
Yes weight and balance can effect the performance of a blade the larger the blade hence sword length the more
 
Tarzan should have carried a machete
and Zorro should never used a broad sword.
Yeah, knives should have a certain
type of required feel of balance
when it is held in the hand.
Tip heavy is great for chopping stuff
as you wanna get gravity to do the work.
Likewise you want some weight
In the palm of your hands in a fighting knife
to counter balance the agility or
"liveliness" when weilding the blade.
Its about getting a firm control
of a blade in motion in order to execute
precision of use.
And weight plays an important physical role
In this matter.
The question is just how heavy
an overall weight to bear?
Before it becomes a dead weight!
But of course things can be done with brute strength to make up for the lack of physics.
A scaple is delicate tool, but with the right technique and a little patience there is nothing it can't overcome.
But in this imperfect world
not everyone gets to own everything let alone begin to understand the concept or benefits of having the right tool for the job.
We all learn to make do warts and all.
 
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Weight certainly impacts the performance of swords and machetes. There is also the balance aspect as Girlymann mentioned. Weight doesn't seem to impact performance of folding knives as much.
 
GIRLYmann said:
Tarzan should have carried a machete
and Zorro should never used a broad sword.
Yeah, knives should have a certain
type of required feel of balance
when it is held in the hand.
Tip heavy is great for chopping stuff
as you wanna get gravity to do the work.
Likewise you want some weight
In the palm of your hands in a fighting knife
to counter balance the agility or
"liveliness" when weilding the blade.
Its about getting a firm control
of a blade in motion in order to execute
precision of use.
And weight plays an important physical role
In this matter.
The question is just how heavy
an overall weight to bear?
Before it becomes a dead weight!
But of course things can be done with brute strength to make up for the lack of physics.
A scaple is delicate tool, but with the right technique and a little patience there is nothing it can't overcome.
But in this imperfect world
not everyone gets to own everything let alone begin to understand the concept or benefits of having the right tool for the job.
We all learn to make do warts and all.
Click to expand...

Fantastic poem!
 
My Bk2 is pretty good at chopping tree limbs , but my Kershaw Knockout is better at slicing and carving things.
 
As has been mentioned, weight toward the tip helps with chopping. Reduced blade weight toward the tip helps with tip control. It makes a big difference in certain applications, when the weight involved is enough to be relevant. So... there would be an appreciable difference in chopping and tip control between an ESEE 6 and a Bugout, but the practical difference in chopping or tip control between a Bugout and something like a Bareknuckle is effectively nonexistent.
 
For sure. I have been waiting 5 years for my Randall Model 1. As a consequence I don't dare to use it :D Can't think about a more terrible performance.

All pun apart, I have noticed that a light, thin machete does the job a bit faster than a heavy one, but YMMV.
In EDC folders, I tend to favour heavy, as weight don't really matter to me. I feel safer using them, sounds stupid and it probably is but I can't help !
 
I think weight can have some effect in smaller knives, but really its about when a knife is light enough to be fully within the control of your fine motor control for delicate tasks. For example, digging out a sliver, a few ounces in weight can make that a much harder task where as a very light knife lets you work by feel much more. For longer tasks, the weight does play into the overall ergonomics of the knife, balance, how hard you have to hold the knife to preform the task etc. So a light knife might be very good in one case, but a more balanced knife might be even better even if its heavier. I don't think momentum matters much with controlled cuts, as long as you are "letting the knife do the work" but its hard to know for sure because its very hard/impossible to test a large knife against a small knife without the weight also being a variable.
 
The ESEE 6 is a good example of weight and balance enhancing the overall performance of a knife.
 
Aside from chopping, I have not felt any real effect from weight and balance on cutting performance.

But the weight does kinda go hand-in-hand with cutting performance especially on folders. Mainly it's because the weight is a consequence of very thick blade stock and very steep blade grinds resulting in a massive heavy blade that doesn't slice well. It doesn't slice well because it's so darn thick but being thick also makes it heavy.

So it's more of the other way around. Poor slicing blade tends to add weight because it's so thick all around.

But all this is theoretical for me as I don't own any really beefy, over-built folders. My Cold Steel Code 4, Cold Steel American Lawman, Spyderco Para 3, they're all relatively lightweight knives and while they're quite substantial, and some would argue that they are "hard-use" folders, I think they're more like mid-weight folders - more heavy-duty than ultra-lightweight folders but not as heavy-duty as the true behemoths. They slice very well, too.

I do have a bit of experience with chopping wood with a few fixed-blade knives, and balance of weight is more of a thing for me. My little Ka-Bar BK11 chopped better than my Gerber Strongarm and I think it's because the BK11 is heavier towards the tip whereas the Strongarm is heavier towards its butt.
 
I’m going to come off like s blade snob but oh well

Like I mentioned earlier balance and weight really comes out in larger blades , swords. Etc

Most have not had the chance to handle really high quality larger blades and swords

If you think a full tang non tapered tang fixed blade has good balance your wrong

They are great for pry bars but compared to a well done stick tang that exhibits radical distal taper they are just that sharpened pry bars

To compare a Busse Battle mistress To a Bagwell Bowie is like comparing a Ford F-250 to a McLaren

They are two different animals with different design parameters

One feels like a paper weigh one feels alive

This can translate to many high end customs as well

I’ve walked the ABS section of the Blade Show for decades and handles many MS blades that had no distal taper that felt like paper weights as well

Just because your an MS does not mean you know how to make a blade that feels alive

Makers like Bagwell and Nick Wheeler and David Mirabile have a talent to make blades that transition in the hand and change direction like not many others



Bagwell goes as far as making his knives right or left handed




When it comes to larger as in sword blades the balance and weight element are the true magic

When most pick up a high end properly made sword they are amazed how light and nimble they are

Combinations of fullers and distal taper with properly counterbalanced handles and pommels make up the magic

This enables a blade like a Mirabile Dragonfly Cutter the ability to cut like a much larger sword and change direction with a whim

Enabling it to make power cuts in multiple directions hence not over swinging easily










When it comes to small blades there is not as much as a difference as in the larger blades

A well made not over built folder with a comfortable grip makes daily use a pleasure

An over built brick feels good when you drop it in a sock and swing it at something :)

Small bladed fixed blades can still benefit from a well shaped handle and a tapered tang giving them a lively instrument type feel vs a cheap kitchen knife feel
 
To put it as concisely as possible, weight matters a great deal when it comes to chopping, and added weight is a huge help in the sorts of cutting tools designed to chop.

In cutting as such, and particularly slicing, not so much. For those tasks other attributes than weight become far more important.
 
Joe, out of curiosity, what do you call that thing? it looks to be about wakizashi length, but with a few more inches of handle...
and of course the blade is more of a modified bolo or even leaf shaped where it's double edged. :thumbsup:
 
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