- Joined
- Jul 31, 2002
- Messages
- 2,954
Collector brought this up in another thread, but I think it deserves its own.
When you have used a large variety of knives in many different situations, thru experience it becomes possible to make some reasonably accurate assumptions about other knives you have never handled. Don't put words in my mouth here; I'm not saying I know a given knife will make x number of cuts thru rope by looking at pictures or anything. All I'm saying, is that unless the pictures are very misleading or there is something truly different or abnormal about the knife that you can't tell from a picture, (say, like if the knife were made from 1/2" thick steel- I may not be able to tell this from a profile photo) it is easy to at least narrow down the choices before selecting a knife suited to your tasks.
Example:
I'm looking at pictures of a Fairbarn-Sykes dagger, and a Russel Green River Skinner. (with the wide upswept blade and blunt point) I have never handled these knives in person, (well, actually I have- this is just an example) but I am 99.99% sure the needle pointed dagger will penetrate better in thrusts. How can I possibly know this without ever handling them? Some here have even gone so far as to say I have absolutely no right to speak about them without using them first.
I have used *other* daggers and skinners in the past of very similar shape, and am basing my opinion on that.
If I want to buy a new knife for processing and canning tomatoes from the garden, I want a thin edge. I see pictures of a medium sized professional chef's knife, and a stout looking meat cleaver. Based on my experience with chef knives and meat cleavers in the past, I'm 99.99% sure the chef's knife will have an edge more suited to my task. Do you think I'm right?
If someone else is looking for a new brush clearing tool, and I recommend an 18" machete rather than a 3 1/2" bladed tactical folder, how many of you would disagree with me? How do YOU know which will work better without ever handling these two knives?
I have taken these examples to the extreme to demonstrate we all do this to some extent. Those with more knowledge and experience can often get a good idea of the performance differences between two knives of more similar design. Important stuff like edge geometry must of course be evaluated first hand, but knowing basic generalizations will keep me from wasting time handling daggers when I'm trying to find a new skinning knife.
When you have used a large variety of knives in many different situations, thru experience it becomes possible to make some reasonably accurate assumptions about other knives you have never handled. Don't put words in my mouth here; I'm not saying I know a given knife will make x number of cuts thru rope by looking at pictures or anything. All I'm saying, is that unless the pictures are very misleading or there is something truly different or abnormal about the knife that you can't tell from a picture, (say, like if the knife were made from 1/2" thick steel- I may not be able to tell this from a profile photo) it is easy to at least narrow down the choices before selecting a knife suited to your tasks.
Example:
I'm looking at pictures of a Fairbarn-Sykes dagger, and a Russel Green River Skinner. (with the wide upswept blade and blunt point) I have never handled these knives in person, (well, actually I have- this is just an example) but I am 99.99% sure the needle pointed dagger will penetrate better in thrusts. How can I possibly know this without ever handling them? Some here have even gone so far as to say I have absolutely no right to speak about them without using them first.
I have used *other* daggers and skinners in the past of very similar shape, and am basing my opinion on that. If I want to buy a new knife for processing and canning tomatoes from the garden, I want a thin edge. I see pictures of a medium sized professional chef's knife, and a stout looking meat cleaver. Based on my experience with chef knives and meat cleavers in the past, I'm 99.99% sure the chef's knife will have an edge more suited to my task. Do you think I'm right?
If someone else is looking for a new brush clearing tool, and I recommend an 18" machete rather than a 3 1/2" bladed tactical folder, how many of you would disagree with me? How do YOU know which will work better without ever handling these two knives?
I have taken these examples to the extreme to demonstrate we all do this to some extent. Those with more knowledge and experience can often get a good idea of the performance differences between two knives of more similar design. Important stuff like edge geometry must of course be evaluated first hand, but knowing basic generalizations will keep me from wasting time handling daggers when I'm trying to find a new skinning knife.
