Jimping as a stress riser?

stabman

stabman

Joined
Sep 17, 2007
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Just wondering what the consensus is on how jimping affects overall strength of a chopping knife.
I know serrations are a stress point...does jimping act the same way?
 
Jimping is typically very shallow, so I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Keep in mind that a stress point is a v shaped cut into a brittle material. Instead of spreading the applied force over the entire surface of the material being stressed, the v cut, scratch, chip, etc focusses all the applied force at that point. That's why you scratch glass in order to break it in a particular shape. Jimping and (most serrations) will almost always have rounded bottoms and bevelled top edges. That way you maintain the continuity of the item's surface and dont introduce a stress point. Properly applied jimping and serration won't introduce a stress point, but it will remove metal, so the metal is weaker at the jimping/serrations than a the full-width portions of the blade.
 
Cool.:)
Now I have to decide the eternal question of "to jimp or not to jimp..." :D
 
lonepine said:
Does a chopper "NEED" jimping?

- Paul Meske
Click to expand...

That's what I'm trying to decide.
I'm going to have to do some more RD-9/Junglas comparisons and work up a couple of different handle designs to see if i feel it's warranted.
I keep going back and forth on the issue.
 
It's my understanding that jimping is usually on the top of the blade where a person would place their thumb to help control the blade. If this is correct, then it seems to me a larger knife is not going to be used much for detail work and so jimping would not be needed. It certainly isn't going to be useful while chopping.

On the other hand... If a person is using a large knife for detailed work then perhaps they would need help to control the blade.

I don't know. I'm a non-jimper myself.

- Paul Meske
 
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