Typical Blade thickness on forged hunter/utility?

[Geode]

I am new to the forged fixed blade scene. For a hunter / utility knife with a blade in the 4" range, what spine thickness (at the thickest part) seems to be typical?

My initial observations are that the forged knives seem to be have significantly thicker spines than the stock removal knives I have owned for blades of the same length. About 0.15" for the stock removal blades, and 0.25" for the forged. Is it inadvisable to forge a knife with a spine 0.15", or are there other advantages to a spine 0.25"?

Thanks on any thoughts you care to share.

 

[NickWheeler]

Hi Jeff-

This is a good question...it's all part of the edge geometry.

Many guys start their knives with 0.250" thick steel at the forge. From the mill, it's actually a little oversize. So if you don't bang up your riccasso much, by the time it's all ground and finished it's not far from 0.250" thick at the ricasso.

The reason many pounders can get away with this is by putting in a good strong distal taper and a nice, thin edge (either fully flat to spine or with some convex).

Thin bar-stock is hard to forge as it has a tendency to fold over rather than draw out when you hit it up on edge. But in hunter sized blades it's not so bad, so I keep a large quantity of 5/32" and 3/16" thick stock on hand for them. If it's starting off as 1/8" stock I just grind it out.

There are a few folks that will make a blade that's 0.250" thick at the spine and only about 1/2-5/8" wide (like a caping knife). To me, you cannot grind that narrow blade thin enough to set up a good geometry.

Of course this is all just what works for me and has proven to work well with my customers.

We both know you're also familiar with the Scandi edge, which can turn all of this on its ear. Most of the OSF's I forged came out at 5/32".

I'm interested to see how other makers feel about this.

Thanks Jeff,
Nick

 

[Ed Caffrey]

When your dealing with forged blades, more times than not they will incorporate distal tapers. Generally speaking, most hunters of the length you mentioned will be 3/16" to 1/4" thick at the guard/blade juncture, with the blade tapering to the tip. I think you'll find that compared to a blade that is an equal thickness through out, the weight of the forged blade will be lighter, and the balance will be much better. There are those who will argue with me, but by including distal tapers the overall strength of the blade is improved too. The majority of Bladesmiths also tend to round off sharp corners which creates a smoother profile which is much friendlier to the hand.

I think that if you were to test some of the stock removal and forged blades head to head, you would immediatley see and feel a difference.

One of the reasons you see forged blades being a bit thicker is that a very thin blade has a tendency to warp badly when heat treated via the methods most Bladesmith use. The thickness of a finished forged blade can also be an indicator that your dealing with someone fairly new to Bladesmithing. As time goes by, and the Bladesmith gains more experience and confidence, his/her blades will tend to thin somewhat. Of course this is a general statement, and does not take into consideration individual Bladesmith's styles. Some Bladesmiths build thick, heavy knives their whole careers, but you can bet they have worked out the other variables that will make that thick blade cut like a much thinner one.

I've rambled enough, but hopefully it's been helpful.

 

[Jason Cutter]

I do both forging and stock removal from the same materials. I find that from a functional point of view, the blades with a decent thickness at the ricasso (3/16th inch), but are full height flat ground with a distal taper and a thin edge, really feel sweet in the hand and cut and slice well. The extra thickness at the spine combined with a dramatic distal taper will command confidence, yet improve your dexterity with the blade with the improved balance.

Frankly, it doesn't make a difference whether that is achieved by forging or stock removal. However, many of these desirable features happen intuitively when forging, or at least, are associated with bladesmithing teachings. What I am finding more and more is that I am grinding my stock removal blades to forged-blade styling and dimensions because I prefer how those features feel.