Question - height of some "bushcraft knives" blades

[Herlock]

Hi. Maybe I’m wrong, but lately, it seems to me, I see a few “bushcraft knives” (at least defined as such by makers/manufacturers ) sporting rather high blades. I won’t mention specific brands/makers to avoid giving impression of “pointing fingers” and start potential quarrels, which is not my purpose. This is not a criticism, I am rather really interested in understanding why having 4 and even 5 cm height on blades 10-12 cm long. Do you think it’s a proper ratio length/height? I am asking because functionally, with regards to my modest experiences as a week-end hiker, I’d say a knife blade high and short is not the most “controllable”, one of the key features I’d expect in a “bushcraft knife”.

Maybe it really boils down to personal preferences but, from a functionality point of view, for most of my food preparations outdoor (e.g.: filleting, slicing, peeling, dressing, precision cutting, etc.) I’d go with a narrower blade, the kind of a kitchen paring knife type. For fine wood-working (e.g.: carving, whittling, notching, engraving, incising, etc.) I’d use a short bladed knife too (so 10-12 cm works fine with me) but, also here, I’d go for a much narrower blade. As far as “hard” wood-working, for me, chopping with a 10 cm blade is rather impracticable, batoning on the limit, but how would these heights help more? Such a height of the blade would feel sort of cumbersome and unwieldy to me. I’m just talking about the height here, blade thickness it’s another important thing, but that it’s a topic well discussed .

High blades I really understand in the kitchen, mainly in order to properly grip the knife and slice without bumping knuckles on cutting board, but on “bushcraft knives”, which is exactly the reason to go for such high blades? Just curiosity, desire to learn and for the pleasure of chatting a bit . I haven’t found many explanations about this. Thanks!

 

[22-rimfire]

I would guess strength. I agree with you on the dimensions you provided and the height of the blade in terms of nimble usefulness. Most of the knives labeled for bushcraft tend to have about height of about 1 inch or so (or 2-3 cm, perhaps 4 cm). I'll use the Condor Bushlore as an example of such. I tend to prefer a sabre shaped blade generally similar to the Kabar Becker BK-15 for general use and even for hunting chores. I have a number of blades in that category. I do find the typical bushcraft knife shape to be very versatile but un-necessary for me.

 

[smith357]

It may have to do with batoning, I don't typically baton my knives so this is just speculation, a taller blade can be pounded down a bit further into the log before you have to start rocking it and hitting the tip and the handle.