Knife stock and thickness?

Thin knives for me. Ive held a long term gripe about the established trend of thick knives. Thick behind the edge, thick at the spine, reasons why ill never buy 80% of what medford makes. Choppers need to be, and should be thick, and i believe partly due to the "bushcraft craze" seems like almost every knife turned into an axe in terms of thickness as to handle woodcraft making them simply unwieldy and too heavy for most jobs encountered out of the woods/boonies/sticks/bush.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
A chopper needs a certain weight.
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AntDog said:
Choppers need to be thicker just for the weight. Thin choppers still chop but it seems like they fatigue you faster
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ShaiHulud said:
Choppers need to be, and should be thick
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May I respectfully submit that while a chopper does need a forward weight bias, and sufficient weight to bite into material without undue effort, that can also be accomplished by tall blades that are not necessarily "thick". I've made a few choppers in 1/8" and even 3/32" stock thickness, and they performed quite nicely. That being said, depending on the application one might want a thicker spine and a more distinctly wedge shaped blade to prevent the blade getting stuck. Such as if you are chopping wood that is somewhat punky, for example.

I made Baraxes a few years ago in 15N20, blades 15" long and nearly 2" tall, only 3/32" stock thickness. They would easily bite DEEP into wood, and while sometimes it was an effort to wrench them out of the log again, it is a compromise that allowed the tool to be light and easy to carry, making it a great option for hiking or portaging where you might find yourself not only wanting to process wood, but just clear a trail or camp site. The latter two tasks would be much less fatiguing with a lighter long knife than a heavier one.

And we know someone who makes titanium machetes and swords, which also exemplify this idea.
 
.125" to .145" is preferred thickness, thinner for folders and a bit thicker is OK for fixed blades. The important part is to be ground thin behind the edge, especially if slicing performance is what I'm looking for. .015" behind the edge is pretty good, though not all that common.
 
David Mary said:
May I respectfully submit that while a chopper does need a forward weight bias, and sufficient weight to bite into material without undue effort, that can also be accomplished by tall blades that are not necessarily "thick". I've made a few choppers in 1/8" and even 3/32" stock thickness, and they performed quite nicely. That being said, depending on the application one might want a thicker spine and a more distinctly wedge shaped blade to prevent the blade getting stuck. Such as if you are chopping wood that is somewhat punky, for example.

I made Baraxes a few years ago in 15N20, blades 15" long and nearly 2" tall, only 3/32" stock thickness. They would easily bite DEEP into wood, and while sometimes it was an effort to wrench them out of the log again, it is a compromise that allowed the tool to be light and easy to carry, making it a great option for hiking or portaging where you might find yourself not only wanting to process wood, but just clear a trail or camp site. The latter two tasks would be much less fatiguing with a lighter long knife than a heavier one.

And we know someone who makes titanium machetes and swords, which also exemplify this idea.
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I agree that tall blades give the blade strength.
But weight can also be achieved by thickness.
If we wanted to keep the blade skinny, then we would probably want the blade longer.

Me personally if I want a long blade, then I like 3/16" thickness.
I prefer 1/4" for around 8-10" blades. (Choppers)
6" and under, it's usually not necessary to go over 1/8"

Titanium's weight is complicated.
One needs to swing harder.... physics can't be cheated

-I'm glad Ive been part of the Thin Blade Movement over the last few years.
 
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Only makes sense to talk about thickness together with length.

A CRK Zaan blade is 3.7“ x 0.14“ thick and cuts well. Why is that ?

My favorite chopper is 10“ x 0.28“, but hollow ground.

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PS: interesting to study the grindlines on this stripped version, IMO
 
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designing a knife is nuanced. The thickness of the steel is one of a great many considerations, all of which need to be in sync for the knife to fulfill whatever potential purpose(s) it was designed for.

In my experience, some knives fall short of their potential due to an illogical, (or marketing related) bias toward one or a few poorly considered attributes/features/characteristics which end up defeating the intended purpose of the knife. Or, in other words; 🍋
 
Deino said:
In the pursuit of indestructibility, people are blinded when looking for the purpose of a knife.

The most offending ones are the under 5 inches blade but thicker than 3/16. Not good enough for chopping, not good enough for cutting without significant compromises. Sharpened prybar is not a compliment.
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Yeah this is what made me the most annoyed. When i bought my first quality knife from fallkniven (s1x) its rather short, 0.23'' thick, not good for wood craft but not a chopper either.
 
Deino said:
In the pursuit of indestructibility, people are blinded when looking for the purpose of a knife.

The most offending ones are the under 5 inches blade but thicker than 3/16. Not good enough for chopping, not good enough for cutting without significant compromises. Sharpened prybar is not a compliment.
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You may be right, but I do love really overbuilt knives! Can't resist to comission more and more!
 
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David Mary said:
May I respectfully submit that while a chopper does need a forward weight bias, and sufficient weight to bite into material without undue effort, that can also be accomplished by tall blades that are not necessarily "thick". I've made a few choppers in 1/8" and even 3/32" stock thickness, and they performed quite nicely. That being said, depending on the application one might want a thicker spine and a more distinctly wedge shaped blade to prevent the blade getting stuck. Such as if you are chopping wood that is somewhat punky, for example.

I made Baraxes a few years ago in 15N20, blades 15" long and nearly 2" tall, only 3/32" stock thickness. They would easily bite DEEP into wood, and while sometimes it was an effort to wrench them out of the log again, it is a compromise that allowed the tool to be light and easy to carry, making it a great option for hiking or portaging where you might find yourself not only wanting to process wood, but just clear a trail or camp site. The latter two tasks would be much less fatiguing with a lighter long knife than a heavier one.

And we know someone who makes titanium machetes and swords, which also exemplify this idea.
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You're right and Condor Discord is a good example, being only 1/8" thick and a great chopper.
 
I generally prefer thicker blades with robust tips since they'll succeed without breaking at things I sometimes use knives for, which includes all kinds of unanticipated you-shouldn't-use-a-knife-for-that nonsense, but for which the knife is likely the only useful tool in my pocket.

Yes, I cut things with them, too, including food prep, but I have also pried and chopped and dug and scraped with them, too, so I appreciate the reliability as well as the ability to cut.

Among my favorite such knives: Cold Steel's 4-Max and SR1 Lite Tanto.





But for wee tiny slicers, I really like Cold Steel's Holdout III.

 
Laima Forge said:
Hello everyone! A while ago it was in trend for every knife to be thick ''atleast'' 3/16. I also got on that train, but then after using knives more and more, my knife choice and design has gotten slimer.
Thinner knives cut better and for me perform better too.
What do you say?
What works best for you and what are your prefrences? If you like them thicker, why and what advantages do they give for you?
Let me know!

Have a good day!
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every what knife?
Fixed blade? Folder?
Usage? .... EDC? Chopper? Survival? Whittling? Cardboard slicing? Filleting fish?
What blade steel? Sometimes you want to use a steel with high abrasion resistance, but it's somewhat brittle and you need to make it thicker.

Way too many factors to say "THIS is the only reasonable thickness for a blade."
 
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