Steel, blade geometry etc. How does it all fit together?

D

D-Rock

Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
17
I apologize if this question is too complex to be answered online but I was wondering how all the materials and characteristics of a knife come together to make it ideal for its task.

For instance what advantages do certain blade ginds and geometries have over others? Are certain grinds better suited to certain tasks? Why is high carbon steel not always a popular choice for large choppers? What does the rockwell hardness scale really tell you? What makes a certain steel good for one application but not so good for another? etc. etc. etc.

Is there a book or FAQ out there discusses how all aspects come together to make a great knife.

Just a knife noob looking for knowledge.
 
While all the questions you ask are good, the material to answer them could fill many books.

I do not have a title for you to read, but would suggest that you use google or similiar to search this site for relevant threads, which would help to answer many of your questions.
 
Welcome to BladeForums.

To keep it on the basics, a thinner blade slices better than a thick one. But a thin blade is weaker than a thick blade. So if you are going to chop, or think you are going to cut with the chance of hitting something hard embedded in what you are cutting, you want a thicker blade. If you want to purely slice something like meat or cardboard, you want a thinner blade. Hollow grinds and flat grinds are normally slicers as they are thinner. Something like a saber grind would maybe be better for chopping.

There is no one steel that does everything best. Different steel compositions give different combinations of properties. High strength alloys (good for edge retention) also have a certain amount of brittleness. Tough alloys (good for chopping) have somewhat lower strength, or lower hardness. Rule of thumb: the higher the carbon level, the harder and more brittle the steel. So slicers want something like 1095 (0.95% Carbon) and choppers want something like 1075 (0.75% Carbon) and throwing knives are often 1055.

Look on the maintenance forum for Joe Talmadge's Steel FAQ sticky. That's a great place to start.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368828
 
Go on rec.knives and read old posts of Mike Swaim,Alvin Johnson and Joe Talmadge.
Everything is answered there.
 
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