Lets talk Fixed blades, distal taper tangs and tapered blades

[johnwaynesandw]

Until recently, I have been more of a folder kind of guy since I have lived in the city for the last 12 years. Don't get me wrong, being a knife nut I still had some fixed blades but never really carried them unless it was for a specific task. We bought another home in my home town with the plan of getting "off the grid" as much as possible. Then I started getting more into fixed blades and started pulling out some fixed blades to use more often since I would be in the country. I went through my Barkie and settled on my woodland special with Lignum vite wood handles. While using it to cut oakra durning the rain, I noticed a skinking and swelling of the scales which got me thinking about switching to micarta for my EDC. The only micarta handles fixed blades I had were Bravo I size and larger which put me on the hunt for a new EDC and lead me to this little custom knife that I have fell in love with (see pictures below).


Well not being into fixed blades hard core prior to a few months ago I never thought much of the tapered tang, in fact I did not like them at first. I thought it was more for looks until I did a little mroe research on them. Learning that the tapered tang helps with the balance instead of cutting out the tang it made the knife less pron to stress fractures (not that this would be an issue in a knife this small) I came to favor the tapered tang.

After EDCing the this new tapered tang knife I noticed it felt very nice in the hand and balanced the knife out very well. After using my Cold Steel Carbon V master hunter with full distal taper with food prep, I noticed I really liked the thinness near the tip. With the blade being thinner as it get closer to the tip, I fear it may not be a good choice for a bushcraft type chore, which leads me to my following questions.

(Note FDT= full distal taper)


1. Will a tapered tang knife feel as nice and balanced on larger bladed knives?
2. Has anyone used a knife similar to the CS Master Hunter w/ FDT or larger blades on harder chores?
3. Does having a FDTed blade and tang on larger knives make the knife too light and/or weak for heavier work ?

Thanks,
John

 

[chiral.grolim]

Many machetes feature a FDT and are quite suitable for heavy work, but how heavy does depend on the thickness of the steel, if it has sufficient structural support. For those which are too thin near the tip, that is for lighter work, thin vegetation, while closer to the handle or in the "sweet-spot" it is thicker for heavier work. On shorter knives, I have seen well tapered sweeps and tips for skinning, etc. while the main belly is thicker - same idea. Weight distribution can be managed by grinding thicker/thinner at various points along the length of the blade - i.e. FDT is not an impediment to a hard use blade, even a long one, if done right and used properly.

Regarding the tapered tang on larger blades, the purpose is weight balance. If the blade is too heavy, even a full-thickness tang may not counter balance it, however if the blade is ground quite thin and is therefore light, or if the goal is to move the balance point forward in the blade, then tapering/hollowing/reducing the tang would be an advantage. Medieval broad-swords featured tapering stick-tangs - the handles were then fashioned to counterbalance the weight of the blade to achieve the best compromise between momentum and agility. The point is, whether or not the tapered-tang will balance properly on a larger knife all depends on the design of the blade with its final weight. How large of a blade were you thinking of?

By the way, beautiful knife! Who's the maker?

 

[johnwaynesandw]

Thank you for all of your help and kind words.

The little EDC is made by a guy is S.C. by the name Wayne Hendrix. It sports an ATS-34 blade which is pretty good at holding a shaving edge. I prefer steels that takes a patina, but I feel there is always a place for SS.

The knife I am thinking of when asking my qestions would be something along the Bravo II size (about 7"). I have a Bravo II, and I really enjoy it, but it does feel a little chunky.

 

[chiral.grolim]

The Bravo II is VERY thick (chunky, "sharpened prybar") by design, but I have read that it balances on the index groove like the Bravo 1. If the tang were tapered/hollowed, the balance point would move forward into the blade, improving momentum in chopping. However, if the blade were thinned down or given a FDT, then it would be necessary to taper the tang to maintain a forward or even index-finger balance. Doing this would also lighten the knife considerably :thumbup:

The Buck Hoodlum features a full 10" blade and is about as thick as the Bravo II but is the same weight because it is ground thinner in the blade (flt vs convex) and features a skeletonized tang (reduction similar to tapering) that puts the balance right in the finger-choil :thumbup: At its size, the Hoodlum feels light whereas the Bravo II is chunky.