Chisel ground knives all lefty ?

C

CAMPOY

Joined
Jun 7, 2006
Messages
113
Is it me or most of the manufacture production chisel knives
are ground on improper (for right handers) side.
All japanese chief knifes are ground on the right side, that's perfect.

CQC-7
Timberline aviator and specwar
MT socom
are all ground on the left side of the blade.

Thanks :D
Chris
 
yea i have noticed that too over the years, hence why i will NEVER buy a chisel grind. I cut with my RIGHT HAND, and AWAY from myself, not with my left towards myself like you have to with a chisel grind.

i'd insert the jerkit smiley, but apparently thats taboo.

:D
 
I watched a show the other night about making sushi knives. They are ground on the left side, and are used in the right hand to cut the sushi that is held by the left. Perhaps this was extrapolated to determine what side of a chisel ground knife should be beveled.

FWIW, I'm left handed and most chisel grinds work well for me, well, the few I've carried anyway.
 
The misunderstood chisel grind. How can there be so much confusion about such a simple, functional design. For reliable info, contact Pohan Leu or Phill Hartsfield.
 
Iv never had any problems cutting with a chisel grind....

The grind is SUPPOSED to be on the left. This way, if your holding it in your right hand cutting away from you, the grind side is down into the material.

This is EXACTLY how you use a chisel for wood working: http://www.rd.com/17903/article.html
 
Yes thats true, but not everyone wants to buy an emerson to chip away at a block of wood. I also dont like chisel grinds for regualar cutting.
 
not when chiseling/pushcutting. The lack of a grind on one side means that there is force perpendicular to the cut just on the other side, causing the knife to drift. It isn't a problem with soft offcuts and a substantial base (chiseling), but try cutting a straight line through stiff cardboard, even paper cuts crooked because the medium gives so easily.
 
Again, Mr. Trooper, this does not hold for blades. Chisels and blades are not the same. Recently I dug out an old Winchester knife (not really great, but it was the first "good" knife I ever bought). Anyway, it was a chisel grind blade, ground on the right side and was so much easier to cut with!

If you cut at a low angle, the edge won't bite into the material you're cutting if the bevel is down (see image below). In fact, many times the material being cut will glide along the bevel actually preventing the edge from getting a good bite. If the bevel is up, the edge will bite right into the material and there's no problem.

Now on a double-grind knife the bevels don't seem to be a problem. My Cold Steel knives bite into anything I'm cutting. My CRKTs, on the other hand, slide all over wood until I get the angle right. But oftentimes, it's not the angle I want.

The only reason they grind the left side is, as someone ealier pointed out, because of aesthetics. It just looks strange to put the grind on the right side. But there's no denying that as strange as my Winchester knife looks, it definately cuts better than my CRKTs.

KnifeGrinds1.jpg
 
Joe Talmadge's blade geometry FAQ explains:

The chisel grind is a knife which is not ground at all on one side. So it is completely flat on one side, and has a bevel on the other. It is simple to produce (the maker need only grind one side), and simple to sharpen (it is sharpened on one side only, then the burr is stropped off the other side). It is also typically very sharp, due to the single bevel design. Whereas a blade ground on both sides might be sharpened at 20 degrees per side, for a total of 40-degrees edge angle, a chisel ground blade is often ground at around 30 degrees, making for a thin (and thus sharp) edge.

Accurate slices are very difficult with the chisel grind, due to the fact that the non-symmetrical design forces the knife to curve in the medium being cut.

That's another problem I have with CG blades. I can't get them to cut straight. As for them being sharper, perhaps they are on Emersons and Spydercos. I haven't yet seen a Columbia River CG anywhere near as sharp as a Cold Steel Recon 1 or Voyager.

On another thread, knife maker Erik Isaacson, when asked if one of his knives would have a chisel-grind edge, responded: "And one other thing, it will not be chisel ground. And if we ever did make a chisel ground blade, it would be done on the correct side."

And in an article in Sword Forum Online, an author going by the name of WarAngel writes: "Tests have also proven that in addition to improved ability for cutting, the curved point is actually superior in piercing ability to the much vaunted 'chisel' point favored by so many American makers. The real reason for the chisel point is that it is much easier to grind to shape than the curved point, and it approximates the appearance of traditional point-all the stories and hype are just an attempt to hide laziness and lack of skill!"

I tend to be in agreement with those who say that it's a cheaper means of manufacturing. It saves the manufacturer money. Doing a Google search, I found very few people who actually like the configuration. It doesn't cut straight, even when cut on the proper side, and V-grind knives are plenty sharp and plenty easy to sharpen without chisel grinds in our lives.

But that's just my opinion.
 
i make chisel grind knives and a friend who is left handed can use any of them i have. some people do have trouble with them but once you figure them out it wont matter. when doing something like peeling potatoes it can make a little difference but like i said, once you figure out how to use a chisel grind the side its ground on wont matter.
 
I would prefer a proper ground chisel edge -- the grind on my strong side, which for me is my right. I was able to use my Benchmade Emerson successfully, but there was a learning curve.

I just came across an interesting knife tonight, the Buck Bravo Folder, which I'd buy if they had a plain edge version. I'm not interested in the serrations. :(
 
ummmm, my wood chisels and planer blades are all RIGHT HAND cut like the pic above left. Not like the pic to the right.......who has been using their wood chisels upside down.......? :confused::confused:

as for knifes, my PRIMARY reason for owing a knife is to make wood shavings in the woods, to start a fire, or to quickly cut a limb for a shelter or whatever. The ONE chiesl knife i used for this, did not cut a damn thing or make a shaving. My buddy used it (he is left handed) and he made a mountain of shavings. I gave it to him. it was USELESS to me. I made a knife out of an old planer blade (right hand cut) and i could easiyl; make shavings with it.

so THERE is a MAJOR issue with chisel grinds being on the wrong side, UNLESS you are left handed. Ten they are the cats ass.


(no offense to any blademakers)
 
The CQC-7 as well as the Timberline Spec War and Aviator would be left hand ground because they are all Emerson designs. All Emersons are ground that way. They are "left hand biased".

Most custom maker's who grind chisel ground edges grind them for proper "right hand" use.
 
Thank you, Bushman5, those are my expieriences to the letter. Chisel grinds can't cut straight, they can't cut paper without ripping it and they're off balanced to boot. But they do have one HUGE advantage: they're cheaper to produce. Actually, it boils down to who wants a knife that will only do some things well when you can have a knife that will do all things well...and which can be used by both right-handers and left-handers alike?

The proof of the pudding is my Recon 1. It does everything very well, and it will cut those little shavings all day long without nary a hiccup.
 
In my experience with chisel grinds (the left-ground kind), I get the best cut when I cant the knife away from me a bit more. It feels odd, like I'm cutting with the knife perpendicular to my cut.

As for this idea that chisel grinds are designed to save money, does anyone have any facts that support this? I don't see how making two grinds on a blade is going to be cheaper than one. If I remember things right, wasn't Bob Lum the one who introduced the "Americanized Tanto"? I'm having a hard time imagining a custom maker (especially Lum) coming up with a profile designed to cut costs.
 
I prefer a right hand side chisel grind personally. zero grind if possible.

however, I have to say that with regard to chisels, I was taught to use the chisel the same way as Mr Trooper. the bevel is at the "bottom" when I chisel into the wood, not the other way. I believe one of the reasons is that the edge will not "bite" too deeply and over"chisel" (I don't know the terminology). The fact that it "curves" in the wood also helps avoiding "splitting".
 
kjbenner said:
If I remember things right, wasn't Bob Lum the one who introduced the "Americanized Tanto"? I'm having a hard time imagining a custom maker (especially Lum) coming up with a profile designed to cut costs.
Click to expand...

A common misconception, but chisel grind and tanto are not synonymous. Bob Lum made v-grind tantos as did Cold Steel after him. I have a chisel grind drop point.
 
Confederate said:
Thank you, Bushman5, those are my expieriences to the letter. Chisel grinds can't cut straight, they can't cut paper without ripping it and they're off balanced to boot. But they do have one HUGE advantage: they're cheaper to produce. Actually, it boils down to who wants a knife that will only do some things well when you can have a knife that will do all things well...and which can be used by both right-handers and left-handers alike?

The proof of the pudding is my Recon 1. It does everything very well, and it will cut those little shavings all day long without nary a hiccup.
Click to expand...


if you tilt a chisel grind slightly, it now becomes symmetrical as far as cutting paper or whatever you're cutting. The material being cut has no idea whether it's being cut by a chisel or double ground blade.

I'll show you chisel grinds that will go through a piece of paper as if the paper wasn't even there and not rip a thing :D

It actually takes yes..LONGER to grind a chisel grind then it does a double grind. One would not think so, but lets say you're grinding a chisel ground blade to 20' degrees...well that's all the material off one side and as the bevel gets higher, there is more material to remove. A double grind at 10' degrees per side meeting at the middle, is ground a lot faster by hand.

Cheers!

Most manufacturers make the chisel grind on the left side for photo purposes only.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
A common misconception, but chisel grind and tanto are not synonymous. Bob Lum made v-grind tantos as did Cold Steel after him. I have a chisel grind drop point.
Click to expand...

isn't tanto


____________________________
\
.\
..\__________________________
............................./\
cutting edge is here.. |

and chisel ground means that cutting edge looks like

this
|. /
| /
|/

instead of this
\..../
.\../
..\/

tanto is a blade shape, and can be ground however you please, flat, chisel, concave, convex, etc.

chisel is a blade grind that can be applied to any blade shape.

or am i wrong
 
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