Looking for a primer on grinds

[Krefcenz]

I'm done on steels, locks, heat treatment. I'm trying to learn a little bit on the grind of the blade, flat, hollow, whatever. And yes, I've run some queries on the search function before coming here. But, no matches. Maybe I'm search illiterate. Probably am. Question. How does the type of grind affect the performance of the blade? Is one grind inherently superior to another? Or are there tradeoffs? Are there examples of similar knives (steel, size, etc) with different grinds where you would say the grind makes the difference? Thoughts. Thanks. I'm appreciating BF more every day.

Kref

 

[cpirtle]

I don't think any one grind is superior over the other, they all have their trade off's. Ideally you would want to match the grind to the task at hand.

Flat grinds leave more material on the blade behind the edge and do not bind as much while slicing. The down side is as they are resharpened the edge gets thicker and will need reprofiled sooner.

Hollow grinds are the opposite, they lighten the blade, don't slice quite as well because they are more likely to bind & have less material behind the edge, but can be sharpened many times before the edge needs reprofiled.

Chisel grinds can serve many purposes from food prep to self defense. They leave a large amount of steel behind the edge and more importantly the tip which makes them excellent for penetration. In food prep they should ideally be ground outward based on the dominant hand of the user and are excellent for slicing. They can be hard to sharpen and do not do well on certain slicing tasks because the edge wants to "walk" in the direction of the grind, like a car out of alignment.

Obviously there are a lot of factors that I didn't cover here but this is a quick rundown.

 

[Krefcenz]

Much appreciated

Kref