The Last Confederate said:
I can't see how a 1/16th of an inch difference would be enough to effect performance either way. That's a pretty slim difference.
It is
25% thicker than 1/4". A 1/4" blade is only 1/16" larger than a 3/16" blade. These can easily make large changes in blade stiffness, balance, and weight and are easily enough to effect cutting ability unless the geometry is adjusted.
[convex grinds]
Chiro75 said:
... when done properly you can use pretty thick steel and still cut like crazy
Same as any other grind, the extent of the grind and specifically how the edge is tapered is critically important. Convex grinds don't have an advantage here, if anything it is easier with flat and then hollow because you can create a thinner profile on the same stock thickness.
If it was 1" wide steel stock with 5/16" steel, it'd be practically useless.
David Boye's hunters were about an inch wide and they are all really thick, the ones I handled were just under 1/4", but some were significantly thicker. His dive knives were 0.30", just under 5/16" and the grind was only about an inch wide.
His blades cut very well on shallow cutting, as you don't cut with the spine, the thickness of the blade only matters if the material you are cutting can actually exert forces on the blade of the height necessary to make the spine thickness a factor, really rigid materials like thick vegetables and heavy cardboard.
Take one of Boye's knives and press it through a carrot alongside a Deerhunter and you will notice the spine being a drawback in regards to amount of force used and tendancy to crack the vegetables, however peel potatoes, cut ropes, fabrics, meats, light cardboard, carve woods, cut fish, etc., and they cut very well.
In general his knives outcut the vast majority of blades made out of thinner stock due to the fact that he grinds the edges so thin. In general I would take a different blade geometry for that type of knife but I would not call his useless. There are also advantages to the really thick stock such as if you do a lot of thumb on spine grip work. Some people also like the feel of more weight in the handle, assuming a sensible balance.
The ER Fulcrum IID has a much thicker grind even than Boye, as it is sabre ground on thicker stock, however if you full grind the primary :
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/CliffStamp/extrema%20ratio/fulcrum_modified.jpg
so the edge is < 0.005" thick, it can match the shallow cutting ability of knives like the Spyderco Military on 3/8" ropes, wood whittling, peeling vegetables.
The downside to thick stock is it needs thinner edges, thinner stock can leave thicker edges and get the same cutting ability and have vastly greater edge durability. But of course you lose prying ability and other features of the thick blade stock.
There are really no useless blade grinds, they just have the performance optomized for different tasks.
I have khukuris that are over 1/2" thick and they chop like crazy, but they also have a weird compound grind that is hollow and convex at the same time...
It is the normal hardwood axe grind. Some of them get more complex as they run multiple hollow grinds, but some axe grinds do as well with cheek hollows, multiple facing grinds and so forth, especially the racing axes.
-Cliff
