Do you like em thick or thin?

thin blades definitely. Knives are for cutting... not prying open doors

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I like .120" all the way to .19". With the right steel and HT, you really don't need anything thicker. I have seen blades that are over .300" thick. A 12 inch blade that thick to carry around with you in the woods, out doing work, NO thank you!! Even my 22 inch blade slim-line machete that I beat the crap out of is 5/32", has never let me down! If I need extra weight/strength/whatever I will use an axe. Two things I do not like is a thick grind, thick behind the edge, and a thick tip. IMHO

Personal choice though, some people like thick blades. They might like the extra weight for chopping, don't know? Maybe prying?
 
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Same as my preference when I was dating...both! :D

I don't get all hung up on exact specs, and just get what I like. :)
 
I'm very much in the thin and light camp. The only departure in my EDC rotation is a PM2. That's about as large and heavy as I'll go.

At work I've got a rather large assortment of tools within arms reach, so the knife isn't required to do anything but cut.

For fixed blades, well, I'm not much of a fixed blade guy. I'm still fat, not so much as I was, but fat nonetheless and they're impractical and uncomfortable for me to carry. So fixed blades are dedicated to working tasks and camping. A Cold Steel SRK and a dozen or so assorted Moras are all I really need.
 
OK
First a warning : members who have been here pretty regular for the last year or so will probably want to just skip my post. You have heard it all before . . . my overly enthusiastic table pounding . . . redundant photographs . . .
same old hat.

New dudes (and dudetts) look ye at some decent performers . . . though they may not appear to be “awesome” purveyors of havoc and destruction.

I took this knife (Cold Steel Pendleton Hunter)


with a blade this thick ( knife on the left) (5 mm)


and ground it down to be this thick (2.2 mm)


I guess that lets you know which camp I’m in

My near grail knife :
One knife is toothy, one is polished edge; both are like 1.5 mm thick. SHAZAM !


This photo I use occasionally to demonstrate WHY / HOW they work . . . at least for the work I do.


Note how little the second knife from the right (Cold Steel Kitchen Classic 3 inch paring knife (my near grail)) needs to displace the material being cut to do it’s job. Compare the “kerf” to the kerf of the first knife which is the Buck 110 I bought and carried in the early 1980’s. I think this illustrates why when I want to look at a nice knife I look at the Buck. When I want something with me that weighs next to nothing but cuts like the knife of an angel . . .
well lets just say the thin one gets a little more carry time.

I became so enamored with my 1.5 dream knife that I wanted one with a longer blade, longer handle and 3V or some other super steel hence all the grind grind to the Pendleton Hunter.

If that isn’t enough
I took a perfectly lovable 4 inch Ti Lite (bottom knife here)


and made it 2 mm thick.
No ! . .. You say.
Yes ! . . . I say. And I’m glad I did it. Glad . . . do you hear me . . . Glad.

 
I like thin for cutting stuff. The PM2 is thick at the pivot, and is saved by its distal taper. The good lateral stiffness is helpful for fine control, not whippy. My machetes are thin and work very well in brush.
 
For me even 3/16th is pushing it in terms of thickness. Thin is in, because it actually makes the knife function better for what it's designed for. Sure thicker knives are stronger, but honestly strength is overrated for a knife that's used properly, in my opinion.
 
kamagong said:
Both? It depends on the knife and its intended use.

22200956919_716fa77a04_c.jpg


I own and like both these knives, amongst others.
Click to expand...

That's the right answer. Carry all sizes, depending on situation and intended use:
6mm, 3mm, 2mm:

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Hi! It depends on the job to be done, as far as I am concerned :). Fixed blades, for me, are only in use during outdoor activities/hiking/camping knives. My common EDC in urban/working scenarios it’s folders.

My usual hiking/camping companion, when I need/want to carry a fixed blade, it’s the Fallkniven F1. 4mm thickness blades it’s the maximum thickness I find useful for my own type of outdoor tasks, when/if I carry only one knife. It’s a good balance, for me, between cutting/slicing/carving tasks and splitting/chopping/batoning ones.

Thicker than that it starts to become impractical for me, thinner than 3mm, I don’t feel comfortable with (but I recognize it’s more a “psychological” issue, not supported by any scientific truth :D). I normally carry folders on my hikes (generally ranging from 1.5 to 3mm thickness) for cutting tasks and couple them either with a folding saw (Felco 600) or a compact axe (Fiskars X5) for wood processing. Never broken a knife blade so far :).

So thick or thin? I’d stay with the in between ;).

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Anything about 1/8 to 3/16 thickness at the spine for me.
 
I like thick, spines and I can not lie. You other brothers slice your pies.
 
I'm in neither camp, I like both. Some super thin blades like the Spyderco Chaparral are great for fine detail work, slicing, opening up letters, etc., but I also like thick blades which seem to cut better at heavier tasks due to the extra heft, and you don't have to worry about snapping the blade, but I EDC both.
 
For anyone who's used an old Boye fixed blade, is hard to find a better combo of thick and thin in one knife. 3/16-1/4 inch spine, ground to 0.005 behind the sharpened edge bevel.
 
Both types of blades depending on type of knife, but 3/16 will be max in thickness for a fix blade. The type of grind is more important than the thickness of the spine, at least for me.
 
Machetes aside, For fixed blades I prefer anything between >.10" to <.24"

Between a Mora Companion to a KaBar chopper, but it all depends on so many factors; length, profile, style/design, grind, etc...
Shorter can afford to be thinner, longer I prefer a little more "umph".

My favorite tandem is a Mora SS companion @ .11" + a KaBar Magnum Camp @ .19"
 
I like both. I will say though, I can't make a thin blade stronger, but I can use a little more muscle to cut with a thicker blade.
 
to me, thickness is like everything else, such as horsepower, just as an example... people get all impressed by it, but you can only use so much. sure a rear wheel drive Lamborghini sounds faster than a golf R on paper... and in a straight line in dry conditions it will be the better car to go fast... Hands down! but that is only to a point, as you can't go 180 mph for very long for obvious reasons (if they aren't obvious, look up fuel mileage, tire life at speed and the local speed laws in your area) so in my imagination i see myself in perfect weather with my foot planted and blowing past 99% of the cars on the road, however i live in a world planted more or less in reality, so which one is better for my needs? First off, will I always be on dry pavement in great weather? NOPE! I live in Canada, not California so when you start doing the numbers, in reality the golf will be the faster car for most of the year, especially since I'd be a complete idiot to even try winter driving a 700hp rear wheel drive car with zero ground clearance, so what's the point of having it? whereas the Golf with it's all wheel drive and more than enough power, I'd bet dollars to donuts that I can get anywhere I need to be just as fast with the golf, since there are sooo many more factors than just MORE POWER" to quote Tim Allen, like bringing more than one person, storage space, comfort, noise, visibility etc, and i can still do more with it when I'm not driving like an idiot... same goes for knives; yes a 3/8" beast will be a great pry bar and can get sharp enough to cut, but it won't cut like a thinner knife, and i still have to live with that huge brick on my belt the rest of the time, so why not get a knife thick enough to be strong but thin enough to actually live with? all this to say... i like em just thick enough to be tough enough without being hard to use for their intended purpose, for example i usually EDC a fallkniven F1 and a spyderco Endura.

rant over i suppose.
 
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