Is 5/16" about the maximum stock thickness?

[mikemck]

5/16" is the thickest stock I have seen in custom or production knives. Now, 5/16" is pretty thick, no doubt, but is there anyone else using anything thicker, or is 5/16" the maximum?

 

[LJU]

There really is no maximum stock thickness.I own two knives that are 3/8" thick. Ive seen Khukuris that were 5/8" thick.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

While it may be true that you can get blades that are thicker than 5/16", it is very hard to find suppliers of bar stock that have anything thicker than that. At least that is the case for knife steels. Many of them do not seem to come thicker than 1/4". If you have enough money to do a custom order I would imagine that you could get them made thicker, but that would cost many thousands of dollar. The big knife companies would have the money, but would they have the demand?

Now, if you were looking at a forged blade it could be made as thick as you would like. Although after a certain thickness it becomes more of a prybar than a knife.

 

[Bobwhite]

Himalayan Imports khukuris regularly pass this. 1/2 inch is not uncommon at all in some of the bigger models. They are hand forged from Mercedes Benz truck leaf springs. At that thickness they are superb choppers. Go over the that part of the forums and check it out.