- Joined
- Jan 3, 2017
- Messages
- 21
I've recently been doing some measurements on my Buck knife collection and would love to see if any of you have input on the following thoughts.
Knife makers do a great job at telling us the following:
1) Spine Thickness
2) Overall Length
3) Blade Length
4) Blade Material
5) Weight etc
One thing they don't tell us, though, is the blade thickness where the cheek meets the bevel/blade edge on hollow grind knives. I've started to notice that the steel thickness right at the edge of the bevel varies greatly from knife to knife. My theory is that the more steel you have behind the bevel, the stronger the knife for chopping and harder tasks (feel free to challenge this theory). A few months ago I had a small crack in my Buck Mesa blade that led me to realize that it's my "thinnest" knife in terms of steel behind the bevel.
To start measuring this on each of my knives I used a digital caliper to measure 18mm out from the choil. Here's what I found (measurements in millimeters):
Knife ----- Spine Thickness-----------Bevel Edge Thickness
1) Nighthawk 5.89---------------1.21
2) Frontiersman 4.59----------------.87
3) 119 Special 4.45----------------.83
4) Buck General 4.45----------------.79
5) Paklite Skinner L 4.77----------------.87
8) Mesa 3.59----------------.68
My measurements showed that the Nighthawk design has the most steel behind the bevel and is easily my thickest overall blade. It also showed that the Paklite Skinner L is amazingly thick for such a small knife. Buck did a great job making sure it has a stout design. The measurements also showed why the Mesa only handled a few months of medium/light work with wood before developing a crack. It also showed that the Frontiersman is a solid knife in comparison to smaller knives like the 119 and General. I was hoping for more steel thickness on the Frontiersman, but I still like it.
Let me know if anything doesn't make sense (I'm new to knives so some of my terms could be wrong). Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.
Knife makers do a great job at telling us the following:
1) Spine Thickness
2) Overall Length
3) Blade Length
4) Blade Material
5) Weight etc
One thing they don't tell us, though, is the blade thickness where the cheek meets the bevel/blade edge on hollow grind knives. I've started to notice that the steel thickness right at the edge of the bevel varies greatly from knife to knife. My theory is that the more steel you have behind the bevel, the stronger the knife for chopping and harder tasks (feel free to challenge this theory). A few months ago I had a small crack in my Buck Mesa blade that led me to realize that it's my "thinnest" knife in terms of steel behind the bevel.
To start measuring this on each of my knives I used a digital caliper to measure 18mm out from the choil. Here's what I found (measurements in millimeters):
Knife ----- Spine Thickness-----------Bevel Edge Thickness
1) Nighthawk 5.89---------------1.21
2) Frontiersman 4.59----------------.87
3) 119 Special 4.45----------------.83
4) Buck General 4.45----------------.79
5) Paklite Skinner L 4.77----------------.87
8) Mesa 3.59----------------.68
My measurements showed that the Nighthawk design has the most steel behind the bevel and is easily my thickest overall blade. It also showed that the Paklite Skinner L is amazingly thick for such a small knife. Buck did a great job making sure it has a stout design. The measurements also showed why the Mesa only handled a few months of medium/light work with wood before developing a crack. It also showed that the Frontiersman is a solid knife in comparison to smaller knives like the 119 and General. I was hoping for more steel thickness on the Frontiersman, but I still like it.
Let me know if anything doesn't make sense (I'm new to knives so some of my terms could be wrong). Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.
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