Do you really need a tip on your knife?

S

SuzukiGS750EZ

Joined
Dec 30, 2008
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I've always been a bit on the crazy side when it came to knife tips. Had to have them extremely sharp and perfect. But lately i got to thinking how much i actually use the tip of the knife. I tend to use the portion closest to the tang for splitting small twigs in half or whittling wood. The belly for slicigin open boxes and general cutting, but rarely use the tip. I actually find the wharncliff design a better design for me than the clip point i used to use. On a SAK or my JK Seraphim, it has a spear/modified drop point, so there is a point yes, but i mostly use it for digging at stuff. Delicate tips make me nervous the more i get into the woods, so i find a useable but not needle tip acceptable. I care more for drop point or spear point knives now a days.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
I've always been a bit on the crazy side when it came to knife tips. Had to have them extremely sharp and perfect. But lately i got to thinking how much i actually use the tip of the knife. I tend to use the portion closest to the tang for splitting small twigs in half or whittling wood. The belly for slicigin open boxes and general cutting, but rarely use the tip. I actually find the wharncliff design a better design for me than the clip point i used to use. On a SAK or my JK Seraphim, it has a spear/modified drop point, so there is a point yes, but i mostly use it for digging at stuff. Delicate tips make me nervous the more i get into the woods, so i find a useable but not needle tip acceptable. I care more for drop point or spear point knives now a days.
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I use the tip all the time (one sidenote: Wharnie's have a tip just fine, sheepsfoot not so much): I use it to start cuts into tape when opening packages, if I need to carve something, and a whole host of things I can't even think of right now as I'm on the run. I remember a post a while back asking how much you need the REST of the blade for, as long as you have a good tip. Bushcraft can be different, but if you need to make an indent on a stick for a bowdrill; and others that the W&SS will detail. Suffice to say, I love my tips, and I get rather perfectionist about them too, in large part because for small cutting chores I only use the first inch or so of my blade if it's sharp enough.

Zero
 
I feel that wharcliffes have one of the most useful tips out there. Just yesterday, I used the precise tip on this knife for taking the core out of a tomato.

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I love Wharnies too - very useful blade shape. However, there are real advantages with a conventional tip too, especially for things like picking out splinters and careful/precision cuts (e.g., cutting a tag off clothing without cutting the clothing itself).

- Mark
 
I love a nice sharp pointy tip on my knives. I use it mainly for cutting tape on boxes (which I do A LOT) and cutting material against a backing (like cutting leather against a piece of wood. I also find them to be the most useful shape for whittling. The wharncliffe and sheepsfoot are usually my two favorite types of general utility blades, but really I like to have an assortment of all, as each one has its place in my usage. I really like knives that have a bit of belly along with a nice pointy tip like the BM 943.
 
Hmmm - In the days before adjustable box-cutters I used to pinch up on the blade and just use the tip for opening boxes so it won't penetrate too far and damage the contents - technique I developed when shelf-stacking and in warehousing
 
I used to think I didn't need a tip until I got a knife that did not have one (Case Sod Buster Jr.) and tried to EDC it. Got a new insight into the importance of having a good tip.
 
I EDC a wharncliffe. I don't really use it often, but when I do, the tip sees a lot of use.

With my SAK, I never use the tip since the awl is so much safer and effective.
 
Phillip Dobson said:
I feel that wharcliffes have one of the most useful tips out there. Just yesterday, I used the precise tip on this knife for taking the core out of a tomato.

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Nice knife Phillip....putting that KMG to good use I see. :)
 
When setting up for starting a fire by the bowdrill method, a nice strong and sharp tip is needed to carve the initial depression in the baseboard to accommodate the drill. I have broken a tiny piece off of the tip a couple of knives that weren't up for the task.
 
Oh man, that's like asking if you need boobs on a woman! Of course a tip is very important, at least for me. Try opening a bag of chips without a good sharp tip. It is the lack of a good tip that makes me hate my Griptilian. An otherwise great knife I never carry because it is useless.
 
I use the tip fairly often. If I'm cutting open a bag of anything, I generally prefer to slice across the face of the bag near the top rather than try to cut off the top of the bag, and for that I use the tip of the blade. Anytime a package arrives, I cut through the tape with the very tip of the blade. If I'm cutting a hole in a box, tip goes through first. So my knife's gotta have a decent tip and it's gotta be sharp.
 
antonio_luiz said:
Hmmm - In the days before adjustable box-cutters I used to pinch up on the blade and just use the tip for opening boxes so it won't penetrate too far and damage the contents - technique I developed when shelf-stacking and in warehousing
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I wish someone would pass that along to the people who handle the stock at the big chain stores (target, walmart, etc.), who tend to slice right into packaging or damage merchandise because they don't know how to handle a box cutter.
 
axtalan0 said:
Oh man, that's like asking if you need boobs on a woman! Of course a tip is very important, at least for me. Try opening a bag of chips without a good sharp tip. It is the lack of a good tip that makes me hate my Griptilian. An otherwise great knife I never carry because it is useless.
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I'm looking at my Griptillain now trying to figure out what you're talking about? Do you have the hole opening modified sheepfoot or the drop point?
 
Yeah, I have that terrible "modified sheepfoot" blade because I like holes much better than studs. I know they have a drop point version, but only with the stud.

If I could have a do-over, I would get that version.
 
I do far more slicing than piercing myself. That said, I still do appreciate a nice sharp tip for when I do need it.
 
I was more so talking and had in mind a buck 110 clip point type tip. As i stated in my original post, i think that in my case a sturdier, stronger point is useful. I don't so much need the needle point. I do agree digging wood out for bow drills and such needs a tip, i wasn't omitting the tip out of the equation lol. I just feel that me, being in the woods & fishing all the time, a clip point or equivelant will just snap on me. I dig and break open rotten logs and such to get at insects and i'm always afraid to snap a tip. That's why i find spear points equally as useful, but have a more useful tip than modified drop point. Wharncliffs have always been a favorite of mine because all of the cutting force can be put into the tip without having the knife so vertical.
 
me2 said:
I'm looking at my Griptillain now trying to figure out what you're talking about? Do you have the hole opening modified sheepfoot or the drop point?
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This made me think. Maybe i dislike slender tips not because of the design itself, maybe it has to do with the blades thickness.
 
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