Swedges

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Lo/Rez

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Feb 10, 2013
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What are your views on putting a swedge on a blade? I decided to try it on a few of my knives from my first batch for aesthetic purposes. It's a skinner style knife. It's W2 pre heat treat with a ways to go on the bevel.

Swedge_zpsffb367b8.jpg
 
I read somewhere a long time ago that the purpose of a swedge was to make the tip thinner so it would slice better. I suspect that it's actually a cosmetic preference as often as not, but reading that actually made me rethink my idea of edge angles and grind types back then and leaned me towards full flat grinds, with no swedge
 
Well, I am trying to wrap my head around how a swedge, by thinning out the spine, makes it cut better. Never really thought about it much at all, and these are my initial thoughts.... If the spine is thinned out, the bevel is still just as thick as it was to begin with, right at the bevel/swedge conjunction anyway. I think of a V cross section, then cut the swedge to make it a coffin shaped cross section. Does the thinning out of that little material near the spine really add to cutting ability? I can certainly see how a swedge would allow easier stabbing, but push cutting/slicing? To me, it is more form over function. But I am not so hard headed to where I can't learn from you guys!!
 
On the right blade it can make all the difference in appearance.

I like them. They do remove unnecessary weight and make for a wicked back cut on a fighter :)
 
A crowned spine works just as well or better than a swedge when it comes to stabbing stuff or passing through deep slashing cuts. Other than that, it's mostly for looks... and they do look cool as heck, no question about that.

For fighters, there's no sense in putting a clip or swedge on a blade unless it's sharpened. It's almost frightening, how well a sharp clip digs in and cuts on a back cut.
 
I use swedges to reduce weight forward if a blade dose not balance where its supposed to. As James pointed out, on a fighter they double the usefulness of the blade, in actual use. Any blade built for puncturing will benefit from one.

This fighter is blood letting sharp on both edges and I don't remember how many times I cut my self during the build.
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I've found that they can help on certain blades with curving cuts through softer materials. They look cool, can aid in balance, as mentioned above.

I'm not saying that they cut better, but they most certainly don't cut worse with a swedge. If the swedge is integrated properly with the bevel and tip, I feel they can assist to some point there.
 
To me, like Fred said, it's about balance first and aesthetics second. You want a fighter to be fast, what better way than to reduce weight at the tip.
For swedges that have plunges, I grind like beveling a blade... for swedges that blend up to the spine, I grind vertical on the platen or wheel. Strong light at the grinder is your friend, and if you have a blade with time invested, mark it out first and grind to the line.
 
They look cool, and if incorporated with the point can really help with stabbing cuts, and on small knives can make for a wicked precision point. As far as cutting, they do nothing to increase the initial cut, but once the material is flowing over the blade, like say slicing through meat or fruit or what ever, the swedge allows for a slightly thinner wedge and for the material being cut to flow around the wedge. Take a look at the Japanese sword cross section, the flats are not flat, they are tapered or swedged to the spine, i.e. narrower at the spine than the end of the bevel, which is convex, to reduce drag in slicing cuts.

Just my .02 cents on the subject. I don't normally do swedges on drop point hunters, but bowies and such I often do.
 
Ah...that's right. The top of japanese blades (swords/tantos and the like) do indeed have a couple swedges on the spine, one each side. They spent quite a bit of time studying how to slice thru someone.....so......there ya go! Good info.
 
On long swords that will swing fast you would think aero dynamics would have a say it how straight it swings, much like a heleicoptor blade. Put a foil in it basically. As far as small shear trusting ability would be my two pennies.
 
I have considered using a sharpened swedge on an outdoor knife as a chopping blade to keep a more fine main edge from being abused. It would only work ergonomically with a very straight handle.

John Katt said:
Swedges come in two flavors, single and double, a sword would have a double swedge
Click to expand...

John, can you elaborate on a double swedge? I don't know what that would look like.
 
These are hollow ground on the primary edge with a single and double swedge, when LAHST Handmade knives said a sword would act as a foil with a swedge, a single is what I imagined he meant

swedge_zps56836227.jpg
 
Capt. Spaulding said:
I was under the impression that a swedge like on the Spyderco Native 1 was mainly for weight reduction.
Click to expand...

If you think taking off a gram of steel right at the tip on a knife that size makes a serious difference in overall weight or balance... :rolleyes:

On a fighter or bowie or camp knife that's 8+ inches long and plenty more than an inch wide and more than 3/16" thick... heck yeah, swedges can dramatically affect weight and balance. Of course, so can a full-distal taper. And a tapered tang. And whether the handle is made of G10 or unstabilized maple...

It's all about percentages.
 
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