Somebody set me straight on blade shapes!

[trestle]

The previous thread on choice of steel for sharpening was very interesting and generated thoughtful response. To continue, what then are the best blade shapes for sharpening? Does it even matter? And why are so many people disinterested in recurved blades? Much harder to sharpen and maintain, I'm sure, but how much harder?

I really know very little so you guys are a big help.

 

[Kaizen1]

The easiest is probably the tanto and wharnecliffe blades. Curves generally change the angles of the edges, so when someone is sharpening them, they need to adjust the angle of the knife as they go through different sections of the edges. This isn't always the case, but most knives come out of the factories with at least slightly different angles as the edges go around curves. If someone wanted to make the angle constant on a recurve or drop point for instance, they'd have to grind down the metal until the entire edge is the same angle, which a lot of people lack the patience, skill or both for.

A tanto or wharnecliffe generally comes out of the factory with the same angle, so there's minimal adjustment through the sharpening motion (if any) on the stroke.