Wow- I almost like that enough to consider picking one up...
Heh...almost?
can someone enlighten me on the pros to this style of blade? it looks like the tip would be stronger, or is this more for aesthetics?
It's less about tip strength and more about pure utility. Look at the kershaw leek; the relatively straight edge, lack of belly, and the point being beneath the center line of the knife make it very well-suited to general purpose cutting chores. Things like box-opening, or cutting paper or fabric on a flat surface are easier because of the lower point, and things like whittling are easier because you have more straight edge to work with.
There was also an article in TK awhile back, where Michael Janich demonstrated that a wharncliffe-style blade can be a superior slashing weapon because the acute point grabs material and cuts aggressively in places where a more conventional drop-point blade might simply slide off the target.
On the other end, the lack of belly makes the knife a difficult one to process game with, and as a weapon most knives designed for stabbing have a curvature to them so as to cut and penetrate at the same time. Regarding tip strength, I would think most wharncliffe-style blades would have a weaker tip than most, since the spine of the knife curves down to meet the tip, and not the other way around.
Personally, I feel that proper geometry is far more important to a cutting edge than the particular shape it happens to have. While a wharncliffe blade shape may make certain chores easier, there's really nothing it can do that the regular Sebenza blade can't. As with most things, this simply comes down to personal preference.
