so what is a straight-back knife good for?

S

storyville

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Aug 11, 1999
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Aha, here’s a question for which you cannot simply reply: “it depends on your uses”! For what kinds of uses is the straight back design particularly well-suited? Is there a particular length/thickness which might be optimum for ths design?

(While tantos are technically straight-back knives, they do not “count” for this particular query!)
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Glen
 
If you want a knife with a relatively narrow point and yet a curved belly a straight back knife can be useful. For example a hunting knife to both gut rabbits and skin deer might be made with a straight back. A drop point blade will be broader near the tip and will be hard to use on the rabbits unless made sufficiently small that it might be less desireable for deer.
 
Or if you want a lot of belly and don't want a narrow point, as for a pure skinning knife ... you can go to a swept point for that kind of knife, too; a straight back will be a little less extreme; you might want to retain some pointiness.... The most popular shapes for real tantos had a straight spine (I assume it was American tantos you were excluding) and it's well suited to both thrusting and cutting ... so do many other pure fighting knives, with more or less belly to them. There isn't a lot of difference between a perfectly straight spine and an only slightly dropped point; either can make a good hunting knife that's used both for gutting and skinning.

For optimum length and thickness ... I hate to tell you this, but it depends on what you want to use it for again ... sorry....
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-Cougar Allen :{)
 
Thanks for the replies, Jeff and Cougar. As lots of folks on the forum routinely express praise for drop pts and tantos, I was wondering if there were any militant "pro-straight-back" users out there (e.g., "drop pts suck, straight backs rule!"). By the slow traffic this Q has generated, I suppose not!

Thanks again --
Glen
 
My most used utility knife is a straight Mora knife. If I had the money I'd get the small Dozier Outdoorsman I think it's called, a straight back knife. If I could have only one blade shape it'd be a straight back.
 
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