How thick should it be?

Sid Post said:
I'd be interested in the names of knifemakers that use Magnacut for ~4" fixed blades in thin stock like this with good reputations for proper heat treatment and tempering. I have a medium sized knife (not a 4" hunter and not a 6" ESSE fixed blade) that has served me well with its 5/32nds stock in what now is not a premium or "super" steel. It has done all I asked of it but, that did not include cutting railroad ties or batoning huge hackberry stumps! For more normal stuff, it has worked really well in a rural farm setting.

Today, I'd like to find a nice ~4" EDC/Hunter'ish fixed blade with this 0.093" stock personally.
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I'd check with Robert Erickson Robert Erickson
 
RousingRabbles said:
IMO I’d say yes and no. In general, blade thickness is extremely overemphasized in the knife community, and is likely more important to armchair Rambo’s who will never use the knife than it is a practical consideration. A stock thickness of ~0.15 is all you’d ever need for any survival experience assuming it won’t be used primarily for chopping and prying, and that it’s well made, with a reasonably tough steel.

However, O.093 is on the thin side for a fixed blade, and would probably be great for slicing tasks and processing fish and small game, but too thin for batoning or chopping of any sort.

It’s up to you if you’d be comfortable with more of a “bird and trout” knife, but if you’d ideally like a slightly more robust blade then it’s probably worth the wait. Otherwise you’ll just be underwhelmed with what you get and wish you had.
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I agree for the most part with the .15" being the limit in thickness usefulness. However to play devil's advocate, making notes of various kinds for pothangs, traps, shelters, etc makes having a thicker blade pretty useful. People think splitting firewood when you say baton, but batoning with a knife is far more practical when doing the tasks I just mentioned. Birds beak notches, 7 notches, and many more.
 
^^^
Per Mora's website, they list the stainless Companion as 2.5mm or .098 thick. I have used mine to process (split) small to medium sized pieces of wood down into kindling hundreds of times. Never had any issues.

Am I trying to fall trees with it to build shelter? Obviously not, but for what it is, and it's thickness, it is plenty tough. Often times knives are capable of much more that what you would think..
 
I wish I had CAD software that'd run structural analysis so this qualitative data would be quantitative data. Such as 0.093" magna cut can withstand 200lb from a 6" fulcrum over a 12" blade then put it to 0.125" or change the depth etc. That'd give actual answers to this and probably a lot of other questions.

I mean if it's 600lbs on a 6" length before a critical failure, there's not many scenarios that'd create that situation. But if it's 35lbs, that's a blade you'd have to be careful with. My filet knife could probably hold 5 or 8lbs before its deflection would allow the wgt to slide off. 15 or 20lbs and it'd never be straight again.
 
Dr Rez said:
I agree for the most part with the .15" being the limit in thickness usefulness. However to play devil's advocate, making notes of various kinds for pothangs, traps, shelters, etc makes having a thicker blade pretty useful. People think splitting firewood when you say baton, but batoning with a knife is far more practical when doing the tasks I just mentioned. Birds beak notches, 7 notches, and many more.
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Is a thicker blade more useful for those, or do some users just feel more confident doing them with a thicker blade? You can absolutely do all of those notches with no problem whatsoever using a thinner blade. LT Wrights, puukkos and leukus can all handle those tasks just fine and are rarely ever above a thickness of 0.15. Thicker blades, aside from choppers, have become a bit of a security blanket for some users. I suspect a lot of makers who offer good warranties also make thick blades as a security blanket for themselves to reduce their own risk, so they then have to market them in a way that keeps people wanting them.
 
Sid Post said:
I'd be interested in the names of knifemakers that use Magnacut for ~4" fixed blades in thin stock like this with good reputations for proper heat treatment and tempering. I have a medium sized knife (not a 4" hunter and not a 6" ESSE fixed blade) that has served me well with its 5/32nds stock in what now is not a premium or "super" steel. It has done all I asked of it but, that did not include cutting railroad ties or batoning huge hackberry stumps! For more normal stuff, it has worked really well in a rural farm setting.

Today, I'd like to find a nice ~4" EDC/Hunter'ish fixed blade with this 0.093" stock personally.
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David Mary Knives. Great maker and a great person to deal with.
 
Sliciness is next to godliness, as long as you're not looking for a chopper. Given that it's being made from Magnacut with a thin edge, by someone who knows how to work steel, it sounds like a great knife.
 
RousingRabbles said:
Is a thicker blade more useful for those, or do some users just feel more confident doing them with a thicker blade? You can absolutely do all of those notches with no problem whatsoever using a thinner blade. LT Wrights, puukkos and leukus can all handle those tasks just fine and are rarely ever above a thickness of 0.15. Thicker blades, aside from choppers, have become a bit of a security blanket for some users. I suspect a lot of makers who offer good warranties also make thick blades as a security blanket for themselves to reduce their own risk, so they then have to market them in a way that keeps people wanting them.
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No I would say the thicker blade does about the same or generally worse.

The reason to use one however would be the thicker blade most likely is thicker behind the edge which would very possible stay sharper longer due to the constant impacts to the edge.

Think of it like if you were batoning a bk2 vs a thin chef knife into wood. The thinner edge of the chef knife is going to chip/roll much sooner. It's all about finding balance though. It's why I prefer a Terävä Jääkäripuukko 140mm. It's 4mm thick but has a pretty tough steel 80crv2 mixed with a half height zero ground scandi. Strong knife that's still thin behind the edge.

Is that knife necessary for making notches and such....hell no lol..but I also don't ever have to worry about it chipping or snapping.
 
Corton93 said:
^^^
Per Mora's website, they list the stainless Companion as 2.5mm or .098 thick. I have used mine to process (split) small to medium sized pieces of wood down into kindling hundreds of times. Never had any issues.

Am I trying to fall trees with it to build shelter? Obviously not, but for what it is, and it's thickness, it is plenty tough. Often times knives are capable of much more that what you would think..
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Interesting, Im not sure how I got the idea that companions are 0.125 inches thick
 
I can tell you that during QC at the place I worked we had magna in .093 and during QC they would bend and some did break, wasn't really being forced just adjusted to the frame for centering. The .14 and .16 s30v, s35vn and CPM 154 blades never broke or bent during the same QC process and were plenty sharp that I assure you a few hands can attest to that. I think some are over thinking the need for thin when the middle road thickness is the best of all worlds and truth be told a proper blade grind solves thickness issues easily just look at the grinds on CRK even their Seb31 magna is .12 doubt you'd find a slicery blade in its class.
Just my take.
 
^^Interesting, thank you. Can you share some basic details, like hardness of the samples and test procedure?
 
It seems a lot of people find it difficult to adjust their cutting techniques for different blade styles and thicknesses. Thick blades are a fairly recent phenomenon in the world of personal cutlery. I like both thick and thin blades. I have both, and, using them as cutting tools, I've not had a problem. My edc folder blade, at .140", is thicker than my edc fixed blade, which is .130" at the spine. I have thicker fixed blades, up to .280", and thinner. I have thicker folders, and thinner.

If you're still in the design phase, why not just discuss you concerns with the maker? He'll likely advise you wisely, reputable makers get that way by treating customers right. Listen to his recommendations, even if it means you have to wait, or you just decide to. Buy the knife. Use it as a knife. If it fails, in what you consider normal use, contact the maker, and have an honest discussion about what happened. Knife makers like repeat customers.
 
Hi guys! I'm trying to decide what to do with the rest of my .06" sheet of 15N20, so I'm going through the forum search and reading threads on thin steel stock for ideas. First off, thank you to a few of you for your kinds words about me and my work. I wanted to respond to a few other things here as well.

os_tempore said:
About 0.18" seems to be the minimum thickness of my blades for EDC, trekking, camping, fishing, etc. Half of that seems more like a kitchen knife.

Am I off base? Got pics or real world exp to counter my hesitation?
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Yes, as many have explained, .18 or just under 3/16" is very thick for a knife. You don't even need this much thickness for a chopper. I've made choppers half that thick that devour hard wood.

beeinak said:
Tough does not mean thick imho.
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Exactly. Tough means you can hit stuff hard with it and it won't break. And if you choose the right alloy and heat treatment, it won't deform either. AEB-L, 8670, 15N20 and 1084 at 61 RC will do this for you, even in thinner stock, and a full height convex grind that tapers down to .020" behind the edge or even thinner. You'd have to be hitting the hardest of hardwoods, or regularly batoning through knots to start causing meaningful damage to these edges.

os_tempore said:
I generally like a 15 to 20lb EDC blade.
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Must be a typo or an attempt at humour. Or you're 40 feet tall.

os_tempore said:
I wish I had CAD software that'd run structural analysis so this qualitative data would be quantitative data. Such as 0.093" magna cut can withstand 200lb from a 6" fulcrum over a 12" blade then put it to 0.125" or change the depth etc. That'd give actual answers to this and probably a lot of other questions.

I mean if it's 600lbs on a 6" length before a critical failure, there's not many scenarios that'd create that situation. But if it's 35lbs, that's a blade you'd have to be careful with. My filet knife could probably hold 5 or 8lbs before its deflection would allow the wgt to slide off. 15 or 20lbs and it'd never be straight again.
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Haha. I'm picturing someone stabbing a filet knife into a tree trunk and trying to stand on it. I have CAD software, but no idea how to run those analyses. I just eyeball my designs and think about whether they should hold up to normal use with a margin for some abuse. With a little experience, I am sure you and your maker can come up a reasonable design that is not the massive overkill you seem to be looking for and will still hold up to some abuse.

The Grendels said:
Sliciness is next to godliness, as long as you're not looking for a chopper.
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I would say challenge accepted, but I've already made many slicey choppers. I strongly encourage you to try a chopper with a 2" tall blade in something like .125" or .09" stock and a tough alloy like the ones I mentioned above, at the hardness I mentioned. You will be amazed.
 
David Mary said:
Exactly. Tough means you can hit stuff hard with it and it won't break. And if you choose the right alloy and heat treatment, it won't deform either. AEB-L, 8670, 15N20 and 1084 at 61 RC will do this for you, even in thinner stock, and a full height convex grind that tapers down to .020" behind the edge or even thinner. You'd have to be hitting the hardest of hardwoods, or regularly batoning through knots to start causing meaningful damage to these edges.
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Tough does mean thick though. If everything else is equal the thicker stock and/or thicker edge/apex will be tougher. No matter the steel.

If I am wrong here someone correct me. Take any steel in any knife and make the stock thicker or edge thicker and it will be tougher than it was previously.
 
Dr Rez said:
Tough does mean thick though
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No.

Dr Rez said:
If everything else is equal the thicker stock and/or thicker edge/apex will be tougher. No matter the steel.
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Yes!

But why you think they are the same is a mystery to me, and I don't know how to untangle these two separate concepts for you.
 
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