pocket friendly tang edges

bRCwZJ

bRCwZJ

Joined
Mar 2, 2008
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Kroo makes some nice traditionals where the tang edge is hidden, sloped below the bolster / lining so as to not catch on your pocket material.

Was also noticing on my Schrade Old Timer (1970s) and Camillus 72 Carpenter’s Whittler (1990s) that the tang edges (when closed) have been rounded - something I've never seen GEC do.

GEC two blade tang edges - very sharp - run your finger over the bolster to the blade and there it will catch your skin

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Camillus 72 Carpenter’s Whittler - rounded edges of the closed tang... closer to the bolster / liner

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Other side of the Camillus Whittler - run your finger over the bolster to the blade and there is no catch

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Schrade Old Timer - you can see clearly how the edge is smoothed on this side and the next:

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other side of Old timer

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Yeah GEC hasn't done many sunken joints. I'll ask to see if there's a reason.
 
In 60 years of carrying at least one traditional knife loose in my RF pocket, every day and all day, I've never experianced a knife creating a hole my pocket.

Since the spine of the blade is also against the pocket material, I believe that prevents the tang from wearing through. If the non-pivot end is raised a bit for whatever reason, pivoting on the edge of the bolster will also keep the tang from contacting the pocket.
A square bolster with a sharp not radiused corner edge might eventually wear through, but that would be about it.
And, how many knives have a sharp non-radiused bolster edge?
None I can think of, not even the few FROST knife shaped objects made in Pakistan or Afghanistan I've seen at a few truck stops, had that.

(Yes. Those FROST knife shaped objects never left the store with me.)
 
New knife buyers seem to want that perfectly flush spring with no gap at the tang and everything square and neat. I bet GEC purposfully leaves the tangs square to it meets the spring as tight and flush as possible. I have seen so many comments on proud or sunken springs. Many want the tang-spring-liner-bolster interface to disappear as if it was a fixed blade knife. If GEC started rounding the tang edges there would definitely be comments on how the tang and spring don't mate properly.
 
This is why I haven't kept any 2-blade jack knives from GEC. I hate that second sharp tang being there when I have one blade open. Call me wuss if you like, but there are too many options out there for me to put up with that. I have 2 other 2-blade-same-end knives, one from Case and one from Schrade. Both have sunken joints and are very comfortable.

However, on a single blade knife, or with blades at opposite ends, I don't really care. I usually carry in a slip anyway, so I don't have any concern over a sharp corner in my pocket.

I agree that people would complain if the open knife showed an apparent gap due to rounding.
 
i think maybe the camillus rounded tang edges are likely due to the blades being tumble polished? Which is generally considered a gaff in the fit-and-finish department.
 
Two options: Sunk-Joints (I suppose there are limitations on the size of blade/pattern that can be fully or near sunk?) Copperhead bolster which shrouds a sharp edged tang, as seen on Copperlocks, Mini Copperlocks, Canoes and of course Copperheads/Mini-Copperheads and maybe Hunters

CASE manages sunk-joints on its very fine Swayback Gent/Jack pattern plus a few others. GEC less so but the 57 has near sunk-joints and the latest 62 Easy Pocket Congress, named so for good reason :cool:

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Sunk joints is usually a pattern specific thing, but not always. Robeson had an entire line of sunk joint knives called pocket-eze. Certain patterns like wharncliffe frame jacks, canoes and some slim stockmans and such are inherently sunk jointed.

Most old knives (before the delrin era and all that) have sharp tangs.

jrawk said:
i think maybe the camillus rounded tang edges are likely due to the blades being tumble polished? Which is generally considered a gaff in the fit-and-finish department.
Click to expand...

They had a big buffing wheel and would put blades on a sheet that held them and buff a lot of blades at once. This was done in a horizontal pattern. Maybe they started tumbling later on but I don't know.
 
I do round the tangs on all my users eventually.

I also carry most in leather slips.

My whalers, I've not made a slip wide enough. I also have not rounded my Sunfish tangs yet, even though I have been carrying that one for years now.

If you zoom in on the tangs you can see they are all slightly rounded.

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Bigfattyt Bigfattyt Nice array :cool: I do the same with my GEC users (part. the 73s) got to tape the bolster when rounding them off though:eek:;) Those Sunfish are the size of a surfboard :D

Thanks, Will
 
Unless I’m working in the yard, or fishing, or in the woods, I don’t wear worn out pants. The material fades or frays before the pockets develop wear holes, so the pants are gone before the pockets are worn out - solves the problem for me. A slip will also work. OH
 
The only problem is with Lauren pockets I ever had was when I used to carry knives with Clips. I started taking off the clips. Then I sold all those knives and bought slip joints. Still no problem.
 
Honestly never had any of my knives wear a hole in the pocket, and I carry nothing but Gec, all with the squared off tangs
 
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