Spine thickness?

[EChoil]

I like a thicker spine when it augments tip strength. Especially for outdoor use.

 

[RedneckBear]

To do a little necromancy ... what do you think about the new Condor Mini Hudson Bay, regarding the thickness? It's not a big knife but has a spine thickness 5mm and (allegedly) full flat grind. Do you think the thickness would impair its usefulness?

 

[Thomas Linton]

Depends on what use you are talking about. Thinner slices meat better. Thicker batons better. Either, if sharp, should slice functional feathers off or cut cordage.

 

[RBid]

Thick blades are disadvantageous if and only if making cuts which involve fat portions of the blade passing through material. If you make those cuts, go with thinner blades. If not, even a Praetorian would be fine.

 

[RedneckBear]

Depends on what use you are talking about. Thinner slices meat better. Thicker batons better. Either, if sharp, should slice functional feathers off or cut cordage.

I use fixed knife for everything - cutting meat, preparing food (no gutting as I don't hunt), eating with, batoning small diameter wood, making feathersticks, cutting cordage ...

Thick blades are disadvantageous if and only if making cuts which involve fat portions of the blade passing through material. If you make those cuts, go with thinner blades. If not, even a Praetorian would be fine.

By fat you mean cutting inside something "thick" ... ?

 

[RBid]

“...fat portions of the blade...” = the thick parts of the blade

 

[herisson]

That's my take... Imagine a blade 4" high/wide and 8" long. It could be 1/4" at the spine and still perform great at slicing/dicing/hacking on the board. It wouldn't do that good at cutting thin slices of a big fish or thin pieces of meat (where the whole blade must go through the medium). Yes, it's kitchen territory, I know, but it boils down to "there is more than thickness at the spine, thickness behind the edge, angle of sharpening and what not...". The whole design of the blade makes for the final alchemy.

 

[Wowbagger]

Do you think the thickness would impair its usefulness?

Yes but looking at most all modern knives, folders in particular, I usually have an almost uncontrollable urge to grind the spine / blade (including the behind the edge thickness come to think of it now ) to half of what the blade is from the maker.
Spine from 5mm down to 2.2mm or 1.9mm ( I did that to those dimensions on some knives)
and behind the edge from 22 or 20 thousandths down to a more useful 10 thou or so.
but what is a person to do ? Without getting a custom we are stuck with these idiot proof knife shaped objects.

Froes are for "batoning"

Knives are for cutting things.

 

[herisson]

A lot of modern folders are more designed to give the owner fuzzies than to do some real work.

 

[Wowbagger]

Here is a couple old photos I whip out for these sorts of discussions.
As far as cutting meat . . . meat is squishy stuff that easily conforms to the shape of the blade / edge. No reason fatness shouldn't cut squishy stuff with little effort.

It is when one gets into firmer stuff, think carrots, that the thin blade and edge shines.

Of course if one has lots of horse power I suppose one can drive about anything through about any material.

What I enjoy in edge tools (fine knives in particular) is the relatively effortlessness that a superior edge tool displays.

Sure the froes are thick and thick edged and the steel is way less hard than a knife (so it might have a hope of holding up to this abuse) . . . BUT . . . WE HAVE TO USE A FREEKIN' MALLET (BATON) TO GEEEEETER DONE.


By the way my Grail knife is the one that has cut the kerf that is so minimal it has closed up.
The thicker knives are the kerfs that are wide and wedged open demanding significant power to keep cutting.

 

[Lapedog]

Since most prying is done with the tip the nature of the tip grind is a huge factor in how well a knife can safely pry.

But honestly we all know we shouldn’t be prying.

 

[herisson]

[No reason fatness shouldn't cut squishy stuff with little effort]
Nice pictures... but meat/fish prefers thin blades when you are cutting through. I think I've already said that, by the way. Go fillet a salmon, with let's say, a Pretorian. So, your point is ? You prefer thin ? Agree totally ! But I don't baton, split, chop or that kind of stuff with my current knives. The bushcrafter crowd, however, will strongly disagree... and prefer thicker knives. To each his own...

 

[Wowbagger]

PS : my motto is fat handles thin blades.
PPS: I have only broken (actually cracked) one long blade and it kept going for five years after that and the crack didn't travel; I just retired the knife.
The blade was about eight inches long, it cracked while batoning a super tough squash. I saw them open now.
The crack is at the tip of the red tie.
The knife blade thickness at the spine is . . . are you ready . . .
1.25mm !
I just measured it with a micrometer.
By the way the knife is a MAC brand and I highly recommend them as a superior quality product for actually cutting stuff. Doesn't look as impressive, for the magazine photos, as the fine Japanese knife we replaced it with does it ?
Nah, don't hesitate to buy a MAC knife (also Japanese).

 

[herisson]

Don't baton squash with your fine Japanese knife...

 

[Wowbagger]

Don't baton squash with your fine Japanese knife...

Please reread my post vigorously scanning for the key word "Saw".
Guarantee you will feel more relaxed after that . . .
Nah I just baton chocolate with the new monster
(well actually chopped without the hammer . . . and only once . . . one has got to verify the heat treat (think "Three Body Sword" worth looking that up if that term isn't familiar).
Chipping up the slabs off an eleven pound chocolate block similar to this one (different knife in this photo).
I didn't chip the blade on the fine Japanese knife . . . too much . . . well nothing I couldn't fix.
No, in all seriousness I didn't harm that fine edge it took it fine.
Nice knife !

 

[DocJD]

Froes are for "batoning"

Back in the day , was a hairstyle !

 

[Sonnydaze]

An SMF can slice very well with a good edge at 20DPS.

I have no issues shaving through phone book paper with my FFG. Cardboard is as easy as I need it to be.
Food prep is a breeze.
Are there better knives? For sure, but you make it sound like an SMF can only pry, which makes me think:

A: You can't put an edge on a knife.
B: You've never used an SMF.

It can also pry and chop, the paring knife can't.....

I would think that as an EDC, as a knife that's in your pocket, some versatility would be a big consideration....

You're welcome to your opinions...wrong as they are...
I had a nice collection of Striders...twenty or more Striders in four folder models...and their customer service is the finest I've experienced. I had about six SMF's in various steels, several MARSOCs...but it is purposely larger and heavier-duty than my casual carry needs. Of course it's a fine knife..for those who may benefit from its use. It's not much good at slicing an apple; it will go half-way thru; then wedge-snap it.
Prying and chopping are not something I do any more...and rarely needed to.
I much preferred the SJ-75 and the SnG; they provided all of the versatility that I needed.
This is an older pic...



Report

 

[herisson]

I stumbled on this video and it's quite relevant to the slicing / spine thickness subject.
At 0:53, you see a beautiful big knife, not so thin at the spine, do splendid slicing.
At 3:00, same chef with the same knife does some amazing mango prep.
At 4:03, paper thin peeling with a knife again not so thin at the spine.
At 6:56, another knife with quite a solid spine.

Of course, a big knife cannot be paper thin and all these blades are polished and sharpened to hair splitting level.
Honestly, the whole video is worth watching and strangely relaxing, especially the tuna prep (I'm a tuna nerd...). The music grates a bit on the nerves but can be muted. The only thing out of place is the cheese cutting. Enjoy !

 

[herisson]

I hope you appreciated the very precise, committed and focused work of these cooks. Not only is the blade important (definitely normal focus for knife nuts / professionnals...) but those who yield them are paramount.

 

[Sonnydaze]

An SMF can slice very well with a good edge at 20DPS.

I have no issues shaving through phone book paper with my FFG. Cardboard is as easy as I need it to be.
Food prep is a breeze.
Are there better knives? For sure, but you make it sound like an SMF can only pry, which makes me think:

A: You can't put an edge on a knife.
B: You've never used an SMF.

It can also pry and chop, the paring knife can't.....

I would think that as an EDC, as a knife that's in your pocket, some versatility would be a big consideration....

Interesting post from JR88......post #20
Had you bothered to do a rather simplistic search, you would have seen that I was BUYING AND SELLING, posting and showing pics of my SMF's and three other Strider MODELS back in 2012...Which was a YEAR or so before You made YOUR INITIAL ENTRANCE onto our Forums.
And, as far as putting an edge on a knife...you really are misinformed...REALLY!
However, your opinions have been noted, and discarded.