Merits of a double-edged knife

[golok]

The norm is usually a single-edged blade for most knives whether it be a fixed blade or folder but there are knives (not swords) which are double-edged.

I was just wondering the other day how a double-edged knife has an advantage over its single-edged cousin.

The other thing that came quickly to mind was a double-edged knife is generally preferred by those in the combat profession. I suppose there could be other merits of having a two-edge blade.

Now what would those be?

 

[Crayola]

I often encounter a general perception that daggers are poor cutters because the grind only goes up hald the width of the blade (half on each side, of course). Also, it is said that there is usually little belly, and so there isn't much slicing ability. HAHAHAHA! I say to that!

There are plenty of well-designed daggers out there that woudl make great UTILITY knives. Cold Steel has soem ncie designs in their Peace Keeper series, as well as their taipan. Strider Knvies have soem awesome daggers, including IIRC the JW model which is a very wide dagger. Daggers offer 2 edges, so you can put one edge to a super polish for push cutting, and the other edge can be left toothy for super slicing.

Since many a steak knife (not double edged) and screwdriver (not edged at all) are used by bad guys to do in their victims, to me it makes no sense to classify a dagger a weapon, and therefore more dangerous than, well, a steak knife! Daggers can be great utility pieces, if you get the right design. Skip the Fairbairn/Sykes daggers if you want utility, and get something wider with a rounder (curvier) point. Again, check Strider, Applegate/Fairbairn, etc.

 

[MelancholyMutt]

Advantages?
Generally speaking... (there are always exceptions)

you get twice the cutting adge, and all the options that go with that.

you don't have to figure out which side your edge is on.

you get to change the direction of a stroke or slash without changing your grip or awkwardly twisting your wrist and still present an edge.

when used offensively or defensively, you stand a greater chance of severing a vital blood vessel or cutting a vital organ.

on the minus side...

You generally get a lighter knife.
more difficult to do chores especially delicate work
you get a weaker knife
more chances of a careless person cutting self or others
illegal in most jurisdictions
scares sheeple more than other knives

did I leave any out?

 

[Akwacko]

Two sides of a knife to cut yourself with!! Actually I have a Gerber river that has two sides that is an emergency knife. I have it attached to the raft for anyone to grab to slash rope, raft, etc that may trap a person. And yes, I've sliced my had once cutting a bagel when I forgot it was double edged.:grumpy:

Bruce

 

[shanghaied]

I think I've heard somewhere that a second edge (or a false edge, or bevel for that matter) makes it easier to retract the blade once it has been, uh, jammed or stabbed into something, hence the double edge on rapiers, daggers and bayonets.

Although I might be wrong here...

 

[scottdaniels13]

Hey Guys,

I just picked up a gerber silver trident, and this thing is awsome! The double edged blade still has plenty belly on the bottom edge and the top edge still has alot of utility value. The cross section is probly just as wide as my SRK but since there is the top edge theres not a huge block in the way when your trying to cut anything thick.

Anyways I think double edged knives are pretty darn cool.

 

[Jason Cutter]

I think it is important to not get confused between a true double-edge and a sharpened clip. A real double edge has both edges pretty much the same length and a sharpened clip is usually only a small portion the length of the main edge. Its not just they behave differently, but they are viewed differently under the laws. Eg.- the Silver Trident has a sharpened clip rather than a dagger double edge. In fact the good ole KaBar USMC has a sharpened clip and is perfectly acceptable in most jurisdictions. The Fairbairn Sykes dagger and the Loveless-style Big Bear fighter is a true double edged.

I would mirror exactly what Melancholy Mutt said about the pros and cons. One has to consider that having 2 equal edges can itself be a disadvantage. More is not necessarily better. Many of use knives with the thumb braced against the spine of the blade for control / strength. Unless you use a dagger exclusively all the time, it can be hard to mentally switch back and forth with grip techniques once the muscle memory has kicked in, especuially under stress. One also needs to consider that the "blunt" side of a blade has its own practical uses.

The sharpened clip or sharpened "swedge" IMHO, achieves the practical advantages of a double edged blade, and very few of its disadvantages. Like with most things, a compromise often does better than any extreme.

But thats getting away from Golok's question.

Personally, I can't think of many double-edged applications that aren't "tactical" or "martial" in nature. The big one I can think of is that you can put on 2 types of edges, as already suggested by Crayola. Some of the folks who like Smatchets have been doing that for decades. Technically, the maker could also make a double-edged piece that had not only a different edge, but also a different grind - deep hollow one side, true flat or convex one side for the best of both worlds in real life use. But thats hypothetical. Jason.

 

[SIFU1A]

one big disadvantage of double edge stuff is ya cant push down on the top of the blade w/your hand when cutting, not easily anyway, and doubles dont work well when skinning game/fish either imho,

greg

 

[Ferrous Wheel]

What has been said, but with fewer drawbacks than lisred if you;re adept with handling a 2edger.

I think the ideal modern dagger is the SOG Pentagon. One edge is plain, the other serrated, grippy rubber handle, finger traction for the first inch of the blade to reduce hand-on-blade slippage and to provide a foregrip leverage for other cutting tasks, fine point fer delicate work, guardless design for low drag, compact (5inch blade, 4inches of cutting surface on both, 9.75" OAL)

Here it is! As cool as the day it came out in the late 80's:

There's not much belly, but the ultra sharp edges seem to make it irrelevant. Point is reinforced by the flat grind, with distal taper. Ya jsut put the point in something and rip up or down to unzip. I demolished a plastic 2-liter this way, as well as opened a 40 pound bag of dog food from bottom to top (no one ever uses the rising strikes much, wonder why not?)

Keith

 

[Eerik]

I think Colt combat commander is a good double edged knife. It has normal blade shape and normal blade and the other side it has a serrated blade. I think it is much better than those half serrated edges.