cutting perfomance design: RICASSO

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stezann

Joined
Apr 13, 2011
Messages
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Hi gent's,
browsing coop's beautiful photographs of best knives, i did notice a widespread tendency to build large ricassos for fixed blades.
Is it serving some purpose? When push cutting generally i prefer to use the nearest to the handle cutting edge portion, considering lever principles (more direct force)... a long ricasso makes for a bad lever...unless you have a very long thumb, but then what is the handle for? :D
Jokes aside, i would like to see what is your thougths about ricassos, i consider interesting design/purposes explanations in custom knives.

- When the ricasso is too long just for soldering, to me it is not a very good reason, as you can do it properly without ruining the heat treatment the same if you do it properly.

Thank you

Stefano
 
I always understood that a larger ricasso is a place where you can put your indexfinger and grasp around the guard. Like Randalls
 
Yeah, I was thinking that big ricasso was an ABS thing. Otherwise I think most folks try to fit in as much cutting edge as possible.
 
One thing about a traditional ricasso is that it leaves a nice thick solid piece of steel right at the junction of blade and tang/handle. This is good for maximum strength.

tryppyr said:
A larger ricasso is a good place to put a makers mark. :D
Click to expand...

Nathan the Machinist said:
Yeah, I was thinking that big ricasso was an ABS thing. Otherwise I think most folks try to fit in as much cutting edge as possible.
Click to expand...

Most forging knifemakers stamp their mark... it can be difficult to get a crisp, clear stamp on a surface that's not flat and parallel.

I etch my marks, so I can put them basically anywhere I want, as long as I can wrap a stencil around it. That allows me to do the maximum cutting edge thing.
 
I often forego the ricasso, completely. I do believe that the original function of the ricasso was to accommodate a forefinger. It also provides a good platform for shouldering guards. The ABS judges you on square ricassos, so it's a good idea to include them if you are testing. Other than that, no biggie.
 
A lot of our ideas about what a good knife looks like come from what happens almost automatically when you forge a blade out of stock. Ricassos happen where you start forging the cutting edge out of a bar, so it naturally says "forged knife."
It's worth thinking, when designing a knife, what it's going to be like to sharpen, i.e. does the thumb stud of a folding knife get in the way, or is it going to be easier with a bit of ricasso to move the start of the cutting edge to where it's easy to sharpen on a stone without bumping a guard.
 
I prefer a ricasso long enough to choke up on the blade, my feeling is if you are going to have a ricasso (or any other design feature for that matter) it should be functional and serve a purpose, otherwise, why have one at all? I suspect the primary purposes they serve is to make it easier to fit a guard, to have a parallel surface to stamp or rockwell test, and a convenient way to end a grind... as far as knife use, they are only useful on a larger knife to make it function as a smaller knife, IMO.
 
Rick, none of mine were square, and I've never seen that mentioned before.
Or heard it advised. And I've set in on the JS/MS knives/design seminars numerous times.

Rick Marchand said:
The ABS judges you on square ricassos, so it's a good idea to include them if you are testing. Other than that, no biggie.
Click to expand...
 
Karl B. Andersen said:
Rick, none of mine were square, and I've never seen that mentioned before.
Or heard it advised. And I've set in on the JS/MS knives/design seminars numerous times.
Click to expand...
Square was the wrong word. I meant that the ricasso is a feature that is easy to judge. They look for symmetry and flow. I should have used "balanced" or something like that. The easier you make it for the judges, the better. Give them clean features to look at you aren't trying to wow them with innovation... the classic styles are the safest.
 
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