Thin bladed knives?

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Everyone knows that thinner blade knives will usually cut better. Are there any makers that offer a good combination of thin blade and strength? In a tactical style?
 
i like my BM spike designed by boguzewski, a thin, pointy, sharp, tactical blade imho, though, sadly, discontinued now - also liked the spyderco centofante, also discontinued, and the BM leopard has many of the same qualities too, though, also, discontinued

sifu
 
Spyderco Centofante, recently discontinued but there seem to be plenty still available.
 
At the far opposite end of the scale from custom blades are the legendary knives made in Mora, Sweden, by Frost and Ericksson. They are relatively thin, feature excellent steel (either carbon or stainless, probably Sandvik 12C27), are extremely tough and one of the best bargains in cutting edges to be found anywhere. If I was kicked out of the plane into a wilderness anywhere I wouldn't feel under-equipped with one of these blades. They're cheap (and look it), but great beaters. I've used mine for such ugly cutting tasks as slicing up dirty old carpet and for trimming back the thatch along the driveway... stuff I wouldn't use my "good" knives for. Check out ragweedforge.com to see some.
 
Thanks Ed.., someone mentioned those to me once.., but I never followed up and looked for them.., appreciate it...


"Hunters seek what they [WANT].., Seekers hunt what they [NEED]"
 
...great 'cutters', and where I'm going now...

They're super neat 'knives', but they make particularly poor sharpened 'pry bars'..lol ;)

Mel
 
I agree with marcangel. The Al Mar Eagle is one of the most efficient cutters I've seen. I got one in a trade and it cuts like no tomorrow.
 
I like thin blade knives, since I'm cheap i buy knives that are cheap but work good like the Russel Green River knives they are around 3/32" thick and slice very well. I use them mostly for notching wood ,cutting cord and butchering deer.

Frosts of Sweden are good too since they are cheap , easy to sharpen and slice well.
 
Good to see people recovering from the "must be thick enough to pry open windows or doors" school of knife design. Not that there aren't real missions for such knives, but most of us, thankfully, will not be involved in them.

The smaller Dozier knives (fixed blades anyway) are 1/8", I don't consider that really thin in a 4" or less blade. I've worked a lot with a 5" Mora2000 that is only 1/16" thick and it has performed well when it comes to really cutting. I don't try to chop or dig with it, but I've had no problem pounding it through 2" logs to split them down further for kindling.

Personally, I think 3/32" is the ideal compromise between thinness for cutting purposes, and some strength in a camp or utility knife, certainly at least up to 5" in blade length...
 
Whats up with the current trend of knives as pry bars? Is
it because the better steels are more brittle? I'd like
to have something that can slice well.

Originally posted by matthew rapaport
Good to see people recovering from the "must be thick enough to pry open windows or doors" ..snipage
 
I hope some knife makers will chime in, but I think there are two things involved...

1. Its psychological... You pick up two knives of relatively equal quality (fit & finish). The thicker one seems more substantial, and therefore the "better" or "more valuable" knife even if the thin one actually cuts better.

2. Fabrication... It may well be more difficult to do those full flat or hollow grinds from edge to spine on a thin knife. I would think this is especialy true of hollow grinds, but then if the stock is thinner, you don't need a hollow grind. One of the points of the hollow grind is to overcome the decreased shallow slicing ability of an otherwise thicker blade. Of course in exchange, you get even poorer deep cutting performance in binding materials.
 
Rinaldi TTKK. I've never heard anyone who has held one/used one ever say anything negative about them. Great knives, multiple uses.

Mark
 
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