General Blade Shape Questions

[GraysonK]

Hi All,
I was looking around this morning at some knives (gee what a surprise) and wondered if maybe some of you could answer some questions.
What is the purpose/advantages of the different blade shapes/edges?
Is there a blade shape that is better for slicing vegetables? Whittling? Skinning? Batoning? etc? Shapes that make sharpening an exercise in patience/frustration?
I apologize if this a really simplistic topic but I'm still learning. What brought all this on is that I was looking at some Kershaw's (I"m in love with the JYD II) and noticed the Needs Work knife. The blade itself is really interesting looking, but what caught my attention was the edge...from the pictures I saw it is straight and I mean STRAIGHT. I was wondering about how that would affect it's performance depending on what it would be used for? To me it kind of looks like a big, funny shaped razor blade. Was wondering what a blade like that would be an ideal tool for.
I might be over simplifying things a bit. But I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.
Thanks,
Gray

 

[Planterz]

The straighter the edge is to the point, the more "dig" and control you will have doing draw cuts, but curve makes slicing easier. Skinning is best done with a knife with a big belly. Whittling is actually done best with multiple blades.

But a lot simply personal preference. I tend to prefer a straighter edge, or a gradual curve as long as the tip is thin and stabby. My favorite carry knives are the Benchmade 940 or the Spyderco Calypso 3. I do not like blades with big bellys or all the curve towards the tip.