Negative Blade Angle

David Mary

pass the mustard - after you cut it
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jul 23, 2015
Messages
15,434
A knife whose blade is at an angle bringing it lower than the pivot or centerline of the handle, and thus lower than the user's hand. Increased cutting leverage by way of solid edge contact to the cutting medium, without the need to bend the wrist to get there. A design element very common among Spydercos and Ed Schempp designs. It has found its way into many of my designs as well, notably the Prevail, my favorite large EDC design.

IMG_2839.JPG
IMG_1244.JPG


It's also present, though somewhat less so, in the Spyderco Resilience, my favorite large EDC folding knife, and its little brother the Tenacious.
IMG_4322.JPG
IMG_4320.JPG


It's also quite a nice feature to have on tactical knives. The Ka-Bar TDI knives and many karambits feature it in its more extreme iterations. Here are a few I made sporting said feature:
IMG_0047.JPG
IMG_0701.JPG
IMG_8731.JPG


And of course it is a great design element for chopping knives, with the most obvious example I can think of being the khukuri:
IMG_1254.JPG



So if you also like a knife or knives with a negative blade angle, which ones make your palms sweat and your heart race? Please share photos, why you like them, how you use them, etc. You know, the good stuff.
 
Well, the ring knife in LC200N you made me recently fits the bill. Obviously a good design feature for self defense, but I really like it for a lot of every day cutting tasks as well.
 
The 0566 has a slightly negative blade angle like you mentioned and It makes for a great little work/edc knife.
 
Really interesting topic. I've never thought much about it.

The knives I like best are straight -- neutral blade angle, I guess.

My initial thought is that the blade angle really depends on the orientation of your cutting: below the waist, over the head, eye level, etc. For the most part, I can't get a good feeling about a negative blade angle, except for longer choppers, like that beautiful khukri you made. If anything, the positive angle of a Canadian belt knife seems more useful in most situations. It just looks weird.
 
Really interesting topic. I've never thought much about it.

The knives I like best are straight -- neutral blade angle, I guess.

My initial thought is that the blade angle really depends on the orientation of your cutting: below the waist, over the head, eye level, etc. For the most part, I can't get a good feeling about a negative blade angle, except for longer choppers, like that beautiful khukri you made. If anything, the positive angle of a Canadian belt knife seems more useful in most situations. It just looks weird.
I hadn't thought about it much either, then it dawned on me.
Pick up a knife and a piece of rope, double the rope over and hold in your left hand then put your knife in there as if you're cutting the rope by pushing the knife away from you. When I do this the harder I push the knife the more it rotates in my hand by compressing my hand. This rotates the knife and the blade ends up "straight" with respect to the rope. If I started with a knife that had a straight blade, the blade would now be angled and could slip out of the rope.
 
I know what you're saying and definitely like the function of these designs. I've been a hater of recurved blades for a long time now simply because it makes sharpening and stropping a pain. However a good recurve blade sure does pull whatever you're cutting into the edge if it has a down sweeping recurve. Something similar to the old Kershaw Bumps. A little different than what you're talking about but the same idea, just for part of the blade.
 
This classic Imperial Frontier 422 is probably the most drastic example I have.

pccmwNM.jpg
 
I know what you're saying and definitely like the function of these designs. I've been a hater of recurved blades for a long time now simply because it makes sharpening and stropping a pain. However a good recurve blade sure does pull whatever you're cutting into the edge if it has a down sweeping recurve. Something similar to the old Kershaw Bumps. A little different than what you're talking about but the same idea, just for part of the blade.
LimpCroissant LimpCroissant , yes, the negative blade angle is a way to get the cutting power of a recurve without the extra finicky sharpening.
Very true my friend.
 
Back
Top