Sharpening Back Edges (swedges)

[Recoil Rob]

I have 2 fixed blades, a Marbles Woodcraft, and a Puma White Hunter that have what seemsto be a "back edge" or swedge I believe it's called.

The Marbles is 1/2 the blade length starting from the tip, the Puma about 2/3 starting back from the tip, neither were sharpened by the maker.

Are these meant to be sharpened by the user? If not, what's the purpose? Are they for esthetics or to balance the knife by removing weight from the blade?


thanks,

Rob

 

[Comeuppance]

It serves the purposes of slight weight reduction while also making for a finer point at the tip of the blade. The alternative would be a very wide triangular point which would be significantly less useful for most applications.

 

[Recoil Rob]

I can see that for the Marbles but what's with the Puma? That long reduction makes it weight forward...

 

[Lapedog]

I can see that for the Marbles but what's with the Puma? That long reduction makes it weight forward...

The blade shape of the puma appears that it is supposed to be able to do some chopping. So it is likely they want it weight forward.

Also even if unsharpened a swedge makes the tip penetrate better because it has a finer cross section.

 

[Recoil Rob]

That makes sense, hacking through elephant bones