New old guy - blade width question.

H

Houlahound

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Aug 2, 2017
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Hi all, planning to make my own knife one day. What is the design purpose of a large distance from the blade edge to the opposing edge.

I have researched it and the only reason I can find is for a thin slicing blade a wider blade arguably adds strength. This was important when steel was low quality back a few centuries.

Now we have amazing steel why are so many blades wide.

I hope my description of how I am using "wide" makes sense.

Thanks any tips.
 
I mean the distance from the edge that has the blade to the parralel opposite edge with no blade...on a single cutting edge knife.
 
The "Width" and "Thickness" of the material are chosen based on how the Knife is to be used. Narrow "Cutting edge to Spine" Filet Knife, Wide "Cutting edge to Spine Vegetable cutting Knife. Is this what you're asking?
Houlahound said:
Hi all, planning to make my own knife one day. What is the design purpose of a large distance from the blade edge to the opposing edge.

I have researched it and the only reason I can find is for a thin slicing blade a wider blade arguably adds strength. This was important when steel was low quality back a few centuries.

Now we have amazing steel why are so many blades wide.

I hope my description of how I am using "wide" makes sense.

Thanks any tips.
Click to expand...
 
I think he means thickness before the knife is sharpened.
ie:10 thousandths of an inch before sharpening.
 
I believe he's talking about the height of the blade. And yes, while there are amazing steels that can be thinner, if I'm chopping branches or whatnot, I need to have that thickness so the knife doesn't bend or go kablooey. Which means the blade height will be higher.
 
If I'm tracking right, most folks would call that the height of a blade. A taller blade is easier to grind thin than a shorter blade. A shorter blade is going to be more wedge shaped, geometry not quality of steel. Thin cuts/slices better than thick, ya don't slice tomatoes with an axe. Ground from the same billet/stock thickness this knife is way more wedge shaped:

0BQ5VsA.jpg


Than this blade:

hzpLYuZ.jpg


Which is still way more than these guys:

kByGMm0.jpg
 
Cool pics, I think I mean edge to spine or "height". The sharpness explanations make no sense. A box Knife, a scalpel or a old time barbers shavers are the "shortest" from edge to spine blades around and the sharpest.

I am looking at a general purpose knife to make for general use, camping, edc etc.
 
It always comes to preference, but for "general" use, that could be the swiss army knife type of height, but again, thats not a rule..there are so many preferences its really hard to make a "general" use knife to fit everyone's needs.
 
slyraven said:
Sounds fun, let us know how it went and post pics of the process and finished product!
Click to expand...

Will post details. Have a lot to get in place first. Long term future hobby project, I'm entitled.

Going to have hand guards cut from file width so that will result in a blade less than 2 inches high.
 
If you are going to start with a file, take a look at Anza knives, which are ground from files. Their blades tend to be relatively thick in relation to their height. Accordingly, they employ a hollow grind in order to get a blade that is reasonably thin behind the edge. To get a thin edge from thick stock, either make the blade taller with a flat grind, or use a hollow grind. With a file, you can only go so tall.
 
Henry Beige Henry Beige thanks for info, will chase it up. TBH I am in denial about sharpening an edge from stock, way out of my skill set. Prolly find some pro and pay them for that part.
 
Second suggestion, go to the knife-making sub-forum and ask questions there. I don’t know anything about making knives; I just made the observation about Anzas, because you said you would probably start with files.
 
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