Thickness behind the edge thickness and use.

oic0

oic0

Joined
Jun 16, 2012
Messages
368
I haven't made anything in a while. Transitioning into a new job has had all of my attention taken up. About to start the fun and learning back up now that I am a bit settled.

Anyhow... I have found I really like knives that are very thin behind the edge. Excellent performance coupled with the ability to still cut half decently even when dull or sharpened at a wider angle. Also very quick to sharpen. I expected the knives I've made like that to be fragile but that really hasn't been the case. I wouldn't use em for chopping or batoning hard wood but you shouldn't be using most knives for that anyway.
I do see some knives made thinner, but why does thick and beefy seem to be the norm for most of the world? Especially in commercially produced knives. At least all the ones I own. Is it to add versatility? To compensate for potential user abuse? Am I just not hard enough on my knives?
 
I have found that in use, thinner edge grinds perform MUCH better at nearly all cutting tasks, chopping included. The next one I make (most likely a small bushcraft type), I'm planning to take the edge down to around 0.010''.

Regarding the commercially produced blades, some could be because of potential warranty issues - but more likely it accommodates sloppier manufacturing tolerances. Even on (relatively) decent quality manufactured knives, like a becker or kershaw, ±0.015'' either way on a bevel grind probably wouldn't matter much. If you look at the grind on a CRK, 0.010'' under would ruin it - but they have to work very hard (and charge appropriately) to consistently maintain those tolerances.
 
You've asked the $64000 question. I have a large chopper that I reground to a very thin edge, maybe 0.015" behind the edge, with a 17ish degree bevel. No damage to the grind despite doing some rough work: root cutting, kindling splitting/chopping, digging, etc. The steel is very tough, so that helps, but it's a little ridiculous to see folders with edges and edge angles considerably larger than I run on a large (12" blade, 2.5" wide, 3/32" thick) chopping blade that sees rough use. BTW, my opinion may be skewed. My current EDC has a 0.015" thick edge at the top of the sharpened bevel, but the bevel is 8 degrees per side.
 
Yep my folders especially. My tiny Kershaw pocket knife is thick enough you could take the edge off and use it as a #2 screw driver.
 
I got a really bad opinion about Buck after buying my dream knife (when I was eighteen, a new Buck folder) and NEVER being able to get it sharp to my satisfaction.
Now I know that it was just geometry: it was a hollow grind, like the one I loved and lost, but they left about an inch of steel on the cutting edge and ground the bevel to about 25deg per side. FAIL
Now of course I'd just regrind it, but that was one seriously clunky knife- and a big investment for me at the time.
Now I carry a med./large slipjoint I made from 3/32 15n20 with a nice, keen slightly convex grind, and use it for everything.
 
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