Folder with .25" thick blade

[kjbenner]

I notice that there are a lot of knife people that seem to forget that knives are made to cut. No folder with a 1/4" thick blade is going to cut worth a crap.

Overly thick bladed folders are all show and no go.

I don't own many fixed blades, but I do own a Marble's ideal of 1/4" stock. It's convex ground and 1 1/4" wide, and cuts very well. Why is a 1/4" folder any more ridiculous than a 1/4" fixed blade?

My Ideal is no crazier than a Mora and a thick folder isn't more so than an Opinel. You simply aren't going to use a thick folder the way you would a thin one. Just because you or I don't have a need for a thick folder does not make its existence ridiculous.

 

[RoninPimp]

I can slice apples and pop hairs with my Extrema Fulcrum, and almost anything in between... I find such generalities to be the fodder of the weakminded. Buy a decent .25 thick folder and actually use it, then come back and talk about your experience.

-Why the hell would I buy a pocket knife that's heavy, expensive, and cuts worse than my Leathermans, Benchmades, Sebenzas, and SAKs?

 

[RoninPimp]

I don't own many fixed blades, but I do own a Marble's ideal of 1/4" stock. It's convex ground and 1 1/4" wide, and cuts very well. Why is a 1/4" folder any more ridiculous than a 1/4" fixed blade?

My Ideal is no crazier than a Mora and a thick folder isn't more so than an Opinel. You simply aren't going to use a thick folder the way you would a thin one. Just because you or I don't have a need for a thick folder does not make its existence ridiculous.

-I've owned Opinels and they were all less than an 1/8" thick. All would out cut a 1/4" knife super ninja tactical. The Marble's is wider than any folder I've seen. And a big fixed blade is used drastically different than a folder. There's a reason there's no historical folder with a ridiculously thick blade. Folders are made for cutting.

 

[Boats]

A .25 inch stock folder or fixed blade with well thought edge geometry will cut as much as you want it to.

What it will usually suck hard at is slicing--unless the blade height is proportional enough to make the grind acute enough to cut through something without wedging. I don't count splitting an apple in half to be slicing.

 

[RoninPimp]

Well I do mean slicing cuts. I should have been more specific. But my point remains the same. Unless your life depends on it, don't try to use them to pry, dig, chop, etc. because they suck at it. Its a horrible design as far as function goes.

 

[kjbenner]

-I've owned Opinels and they were all less than an 1/8" thick. All would out cut a 1/4" knife super ninja tactical. The Marble's is wider than any folder I've seen. And a big fixed blade is used drastically different than a folder. There's a reason there's no historical folder with a ridiculously thick blade. Folders are made for cutting.

I don't use my folders to split firewood or chop through trees, and it sounds like you don't either. But just because WE don't doesn't mean NOBODY does. Just as a big fixed blade will be used differently than a thin bushcraft knife, thick folders are used differently than thin ones.

I don't doubt that the Opinel will outcut a 1/4" thick monster. My point was that they fill very different roles.

You don't buy a big, thick, expensive folder to try to outcut your SAK. You buy a big thick folder because you plan on doing things with it that would break your thin knives.

 

[Dog Man]

Wouldn't putting an extremely thick...strong...blade on a folder be like putting a high security lock on a hollow core door? The door will break long before the lock does, and the pivot, or other part, of the folder, will fail long before the blade does.

My ZT 301, at .156 inch, is as thick as I'd ever want a folder.

 

[leatherman]

-Why the hell would I buy a pocket knife that's heavy, expensive, and cuts worse than my Leathermans, Benchmades, Sebenzas, and SAKs?

Your opinion is just that, YOUR opinion. Dont expect everyone to agree with you. Chopping and prying arent reasons to own thick bladed folders, not sure why your stuck on that, I just like the look of them.

The old addage rings true, "if you dont like them, dont buy them" I'm not coming over to the thin side just for you.

 

[cbxer55]

Wouldn't putting an extremely thick...strong...blade on a folder be like putting a high security lock on a hollow core door? The door will break long before the lock does, and the pivot, or other part, of the folder, will fail long before the blade does.

My ZT 301, at .156 inch, is as thick as I'd ever want a folder.

My favorite folding knife is the Lone Wolf Harsey Tactical. Granted it does not have a .25 blade, it has a .187 blade (3/16). It is built like a tank, with a huge pivot screw, and a LAWKS lock for the thick liner lock. Not that I intend to pry with it or anything, but this one is not going to break at the pivot area or lock.
The only knife I own with a .25 blade is a fixed blade Becker Companion that I keep in my truck, behind the seat. I had to spend a considerable amount of time getting the edge geometry right for this one to be satisfactory to me. But now that it is, it cuts well for what it is.

 

[shecky]

Just buy a friggin prybar already, and put an Opinel in your pocket for when you need to, you know, cut stuff.

 

[RoninPimp]

Your opinion is just that, YOUR opinion. Dont expect everyone to agree with you. Chopping and prying arent reasons to own thick bladed folders, not sure why your stuck on that, I just like the look of them.

The old addage rings true, "if you dont like. them, dont buy them" I'm not coming over to the thin side just for you.

-Well thanks for stating the obvious. Of course anybody can buy whatever they like. But if that's your only argument for owning super thick folders, then it only proves my point...that they suck for any task normally left for small folders.

 

[leatherman]

-Well thanks for stating the obvious. Of course anybody can buy whatever they like. But if that's your only argument for owning super thick folders, then it only proves my point...that they suck for any task normally left for small folders.

Can you back that up? I mean, how can you make those assumptions without evidence? Prove to me that a thick bladed folder cant do what a thin bladed folder can.

 

[RoninPimp]

I type too slow to give a basic physics lesson...

How thick are the knives used in the meat packing and processing industry? Or how thick are nice kitchen cutlery?

The only designs that are overly thick are the ones designed to hide forever in a BOB just in case "the poop hits the fan" and one is suspended upside down behind enemy lines rogue warrior 007 ninja fantasy style...

 

[leatherman]

:thumbup:

 

[sodak]

I know what he meant, I was just being pedantic.

Fact is, geometry cuts. With good geometry thick blades cut well.

Thank you. I've been arguing this for years on other forums. I have a SR Bandicoot that I thinned the edge out on, and it will take your breath away, easily outcutting all of my Moras. The Bandicoot does this while keeping it's strength for outdoor tasks, a real do-it-all blade, I love it! About the only slicers that I have that will beat it are some Doziers and Krein re-grinds.

I've had 3 opinels, and none of them would hold an edge, even after I thinned the edge out. Yes, I actually thinned one out, and it would *really* cut well. For 2 cuts. I suspect the heat treat was bad, but that turned me off on buying cheap knives that ended up being bad deals. If they would make an opinel in well heat treated 52100, I'd pay some $$$ for that!

 

[leatherman]

Hey you! No common sense allowed in this thread!

 

[Unbreakable]

I think that Rat Fink summed it up for me when he said, "But I think it has less to do with need, mostly just wanting a cool knife." Plain and simple is that I could get by with my Case Gunstock pattern for the cutting chores I have, and NEED nothing more. But since I am a knife nut I WANT what I perceive to be the strongest built folder I can get. Doesn't matter to me if I never have to use it. I like having the ability and freedom to carry such a knife, sorta like Linus and his blanket, but it is me and my knife.


I think it ridiculous to claim that thick bladed folders are ridiculous. It's just plain ole' RIDICULOUS!!

It is a want issue. I have enough thin little work knives to take half of them out side and set them on fire and still have more than enough to last two lifetimes. I want a huge thick overbuilt tanklike folder damn it! LOL. I always think it's funny when you make a thread on this forum asking does X or Y exist... and there are those who just can't stand it and have to tell you why they think what you want is wrong. As if their opinion meant a thing. Oh yes... please share your boundless knife experience with me. I never asked are thick folders useful or functional... point is... I could care less. I want one. Bottom line.

 

[Unbreakable]

Severtech makes a thick ole auto, Strider makes the AR which is a BEAST. Ontario has the XM 1 extreme which is a thick folder and is affordable(dont know exact thickness but have held it and its built).

I already own a Severtech... what a knife. It's the reason for this new taste for tank like folders.




I'll look into the others. thank you.

 

[Unbreakable]

-I've owned Opinels and they were all less than an 1/8" thick. All would out cut a 1/4" knife super ninja tactical. The Marble's is wider than any folder I've seen. And a big fixed blade is used drastically different than a folder. There's a reason there's no historical folder with a ridiculously thick blade. Folders are made for cutting.

If you kow how to sharpen a knife correctly you can get anything to slice. I promise you, any knife I sharpen will keep up with your Opinels.

 

[Unbreakable]

they suck for any task normally left for small folders.

What tasks are you refering to? If your talking about slicing deli meat paper thin then perhaps you're correct. But then again... the right tool for the right job dictates that you use a meat slicer or thing kitchen knife for such a task. If you're talking about making paper thin slices of vegetables in the kitchen... again, something only an idiot would use a folder for. Most folders are used for cutting boxes, rope, tape, plastic, rough cutting food, sometimes cleaning game or fish, gardening, bushcraft, utility type activities, and rarely but certainly not never... self-defense or self-rescue. In this world... .25" will do just as good as .125". Now no one is saying that a .25" folder will be MORE useful than a thinner one. But to say it's less useful or that it even sucks whispers of an inferiority complex in someone that feels threatened by someone who says their idea of right isn't the only idea. I defy you prove that a thicker folder can't perform just as well as a thinner one in duties performed by a folding knife. I can peel an orange with a 5/16ths thick blade as easy as with a thin little kitchen knife. Though I generally don't like my work knives touching my food since I cut lots of dirty things with my work knives and don't want it in my mouth. For the things that a pocket knife encounters... I cannot imagine where a .25" black would be lacking.