Recurves; like them? hate them?

What is your opinion on recurved blades?

  • Total voters
    165
eveled said:
They remind me of old kitchen knives that have been sharpened badly. Leaving a worn spot an inch in front of the ricasso.

A blade can have a big belly and be straight from the ricasso to the apex of the belly. I see no advantage to the recurved area.
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CanadaKnifeGuy said:
Everyone that doesn't understand what use a recurve is, doesn't understand what use a hawkbill design is either.
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eveled said:
That’s completely false. A hawk bill or hook knife is a useful work knife shape. Or for horticulture. It does not have that recurved section in front of the Ricasso. A hook knife is different than a recurve blade.

One is useful the other is not.
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Totally disagree. A recurve has the advantages of accelerating material Into the blade without the end result being a hawkbill. You can use the rest of the way you can't a hawkbill. It's a bit more versatile for me. I use both just fine. A recurve certainly isn't useless.
 
I like a little bit of recurve in some knives, if they are big enough to sharpen easily. Like the $2 hand-forged Thai knife on the left with the deluxe water pipe sheath. Subtle recurve.

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Personally I usually don’t want a recurve blade but I can think of a few times when a large/ long recurve blade came in useful. They do cut brush and vines better than straight. On small or pocket knives I don’t think they would be of much benefit except a hawkbill garden knife in that instance. So there are some tasks they would be better at. IMO.
 
:) I own a whole bunch of them and carry some regularly , so I guess I luv 'em .

Not hard to sharpen if you know how .

Look cool and work better in any slicing type cut (not stabbing) . :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Probably more functionally effective on longer blades , but still nice on the shorter .

All my oldest , amateurishly sharpened knives eventually end up recurved ...so I've learned to love them ! :rolleyes:

Only thing better than a plain recurve is fully serrated recurve ! :p
 
I really like them but have a wicked edge so I can't use my best sharpener on them. A real shame I'm stuck with the spyderco sharpmaker.
 
I love them. I never am more than an arm reach away from a khukuri, and my edc is a ZT303.

I never understood the hate. I have used my ZT until it no longer cut well, used a gentle free hand sharpening on a stone then took it to a couple grades of ceramic sticks and followed with a loaded strop...what's the big deal with that?
 
What’s not to love? A recurve on a chopper improved performance by 1) adding mass foward, 2) creating a longer cutting edge per blade length, 3) changing the cutting angle of the edge, & 4) helping to trap materials within the sweat spot.

Of course a lot depends on the specific knife. As with anything else, there are those that look good and work great and others that do neither.

N2s
 
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I don't like them at all. I understand the need for the belly for some uses but why not make the edge straight from the handle so it would be easier to sharpen?
But mostly I don't care about them because I usually don't find curved blades that useful.
That's just my personal preference though.
 
This is my current and new dive knife for freediving and spearfishing.

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Pull cuts through fish are like butter (to get the spear tip out) and the serrated portion goes through rope like it was warm licorice.

It didn't come sharp, but I put a decent edge on it with the WorkSharp belt sharpener.

I might try the Sharpmaker to put a 40* micro bevel on it as well.

For freediving where entanglement, pull cuts and rope / netting / line are a critical reality, I really like this blade shape. :thumbsup:

MUCH more utilitarian and versatile than the standard triangular profile daggers that are generally used for spearfishing.

4116 blade steel too and I'm pretty impressed with it so far - but it's only seen freshwater spearing so far. The salt cometh soon!!
 
danbot said:
I like recurved edges on a knife. I don't mind sharpening them and I like the sweet spot it gives the blade for cutting.
I think it would be interesting to see the split of opinions among the members here.

So, what do you say? recurves; yay or nay? And why?
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I like a mild recurve. I don't want to have to wrap sandpaper over a dowel to sharpen it, but a slight recurve makes for easier cutting.
 
I like a slight recurve on certain knives, but not so subtle that it just looks like a bad sharpening job...enough to know it's on purpose. That said, think I only have one or two knives with a recurve.
 
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