Thick or Thin?

A

Anrkst6973

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May 15, 2008
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This is an opinion thread: Do you prefer thick blades or thin spined knives for your outdoor work? I tend to carry a "set" of tools when I go outside that covers both spectrums but I find that thin tend to cut better and I use them more often. Even my biggest blade(CS Kukri) is one of the older 1/8 spine versions and I would (and have) bet my life on its cutting abilty. Best to all Anrkst6973
 
Realistically, I can get most of my outdoors work done with a thin bladed Mora. This doesn't prevent me from liking thick blades though.
 
Must be somebody elses day off besides mine! I see a lot of quality knives that run 3/16's to 3/8's thick but realistically I have spent many days and a few unplanned nights in the outdoors with a 3 blade "stockman" and a 12 inch machete and been completely happy with the results. My current go-bag has a machete,a 3 blade OT stockman, and my wee Ranger RD and isnt to much to carry plus it does'nt seem to draw "negative attention" when taken fishing and such.
 
I like working with thin knives, I consider thin to be about 1/8 inch or thinner.......but I love the security of my thicker knives, 3/16 or better, and as a result, seldom head to the woods without one.
 
To play with I prefer thick blades purely for the "oomph" factor, everytime I go hiking I use one of my mora's (most of the time its the 740) and my epoxied no. 8 Opinel.

So I guess my answer is- for what purpose? I prefer the delicacy of thin blades but love the raw power of using .25 steel!

Each have a place in my life. :)
 
I tend to grind thinner blades, I had a discussion with another knifemaker and the general feeling was thinner is good for a knife unless you plan to use as a prybar. I have tried to break a 1/8 thick O1 blade and you need a pipe or other mechanical advantage to bend yet alone break one these. I broke a very thin A2 blade this weekend, was ground too thin to use. The cross section was about 1/16" and it was still tough to break, it bent to about 90 degrees before it broke and took quite alot of pressure.
 
All my knives are thin, 1/8 or less. Mora's, opinels, sak's, assorted 12 inch machete's. My Ontario 12 incher has done all the heavy work, and it's only 1/8. My 12 inch Tramontina is a bit less, still works good.

I like thick in a steak, not my knife.

The old mountain men got pretty far with a Russells Green River knife, basicly a large butch knife with a 3/32 blade.
 
The whole reason I made my first folders with 1095 3/32 thin bar stock or sometimes thinner and then ground flat and thin was to try to duplicate that same performance from slip joints I had growing up. If you ever get the chance to grab an old Remington folding jack flat grind like the little R1075 or R155 or one of the bigger models with the flat grind you'll see what I mean.

These were high quality high performance little folders even if they did have PyREMite handle scales most of the time. They did and still do one thing well if you find one in great shape though. Cut! As the old saying goes a sharp edge doesn't cut. Edge and blade geometry does and to me that was what those were all about. I had to get a Schrade or Case knife reground and sharp as all get out to even compare to those old Remingtons and Robesons my grandfather turned me onto. The grind on them was so precise and so well done most always that they just cut well after they should have stopped cutting but being that thin they were the first energizer bunnies in knives that I came across. How could they not cut when thin enough to force through stuff like that? Come to think of it I never did break one but I did have to replace a couple of pivot pins a time or three now that I think of it so the blades were plenty strong. I still carry in my left pocket a 1930s Remington from time to time just to never forget yesteryear.

So, obviously my answer is I like thinner flat grind knives best. Those to me seem to work the best. Thinner 'high' hollow grinds would be next in line I think.

STR
 
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I vote for thin. Unless you are really prying or twisting a knife a thin blade will always cut better.
RKH
 
Thin, but the market is packed with thick sharpened prybars. I haven't done much buying lately because of that.
 
A sharpened prybar so I can pound the back with a handy rock if I encounter resistance.
(I break a lot of knives this way.)
 
I prefer to use my knife for a knife and not a forest clearing device so I prefer 3/16 or thinner for my knife and I always have a machete or a hawk on hand.
 
Thin is hard to beat for general cutting. I love the way may sodbusters cut. They get the job done and don't play around.
 
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