Help me understand - what is a hollow grind knife good for?

A

AlonzoMosely

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Aug 18, 2002
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Over the past 15 years I have acquired dozens of knives, from a couple of Sebenzas to a few Microtechs to a Randall to a Strider and to many Benchmades and Spydercos. I have found that high end hollow ground knives (like a large or small Sebenza or Strider SJ75) are useless for anything beyond opening envelopes or shaving hairs on one's arm. My flat ground blades and my convex ground blades do everything else better (such as cutting through cardboard and rope) and are just as good at opening envelopes. If I need to cut up a cardboard box (I order tons of stuff from Amazon), my very thick-bladed convex-ground Fallkniven A1 does a much better job than my Strider SJ75, which just rips the cardboard and makes a mess. I would buy several more Sebenzas in different configurations if they were flat ground, but they are not. What am I missing? What is a hollow ground blade good for that a flat or convex ground blade is not??
 
I'll try to explain this the best I can, every time you sharpen a flat ground blade, your edge is getting slightly thicker. The advantage to a hollow ground blade is longevity, the edge still gets slightly thicker as you sharpen, but to a much lesser extent because instead of a V you have a more of a Y. Does that make sense?
 
Hollow grind was extensively used in straight razors as it takes a much finer edge than flat or convex grinds. So to answer your question "What is a hollow ground blade good for that a flat or convex ground blade is not??" Shaving it the answer. That and I love to look of hollow grinds like my Insingo Sebenza over flat or convex.
 
9blades said:
I'll try to explain this the best I can, every time you sharpen a flat ground blade, your edge is getting slightly thicker. The advantage to a hollow ground blade is longevity, the edge still gets slightly thicker as you sharpen, but to a much lesser extent because instead of a V you have a more of a Y. Does that make sense?
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Yeah. There's sort of a reason why we don't really see flat ground straight razors.
 
In all the time I have been around knives, I am 58 and had a knife since I was 8 or 9 years old, I never really understood the advantages/disadvantages of the hollow grind. Thank ya'll for the explanation.
 
The sharpness of the apex/very edge of the blade is not dependent on the grind behind it. In other words, you can get an edge just as sharp on a flat, hollow, or convex grind.

Hollow grinds are used because they are relatively easier to manufacture, as both sides can be ground with wheels at the same time. With repeated sharpening, the edge thickens more slowly than the other grinds, meaning it remains quick to sharpen for longer. Hollow grinds can be just as strong or weak as any other, since they can be just as thick or thin as any other grind. I had hollow ground blades that were 0.04" behind the edge bevel before thinning them down to 0.005" at the top of the bevel (17 dps).
 
A hollow grind is good for super-fine edges that do not need to be super strong and that may be sharpened quite a lot. For example, most straight razors used for shaving are hollow ground.
 
It allows to combine a thin cutting edge with a thick, strong spine. Good for hunting knives, I'd say. And it's much sexier than a flat grind, IMO. Can be tricky to sharpen freehanded without scratching the thicker part of the blade.
 
You may want to check out the Sebenza 25.
It feels like a flat grind and cut's like hell.
red mag

PS: "Are all people at the FBI called A. Mosley?"
quoted form one of my favorite movies.
 
XiaolongJackson said:
Yeah. There's sort of a reason why we don't really see flat ground straight razors.
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Actually. ... We do. They call those "wedges" and they're quite populair among the straight razor crowd.

But with a razor it doesn't Matter because they're zero ground and sharpened anyway.
 
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