What are wharncliff blades for?

[Fisher of Men]

Hello,

I just wondered what the wharncliff style blade is mostly for? I don't care too much for how it looks but I imagine that it's made for something. What, if any, are the advantages of this style of blade?

Also, if anyone can supply a good link, I'd love to know about the different blade styles (like Tanto, Drop Point, Wharncliff, etc) and what they are each good for.

Thanks for reading!
-David

 

[kylekim]

After reading your post, I wanted to find out more about blade styles so I googled away. Came across this link ...

http://knifeoutlet.com/features.htm

But I'm sure someone here will expand on the explanations in that link.

 

[Bobwhite]

I don't know it's history or anything. I can tell you it works great for whittling and woodcarving or anytime you need detail cuts in wood. Leather workers seem to like it too, for similar reasons.

 

[altidude]

I just wondered what the wharncliff style blade is mostly for? I don't care too much for how it looks but I imagine that it's made for something.

It's used mostly for cutting stuff. Looks good for scoring if you have something that needs to be scored.

 

[STR]

It was first made by Rodgers and Sons for a Lord Wharncliff who designed it.

It is a take off of the Sheeps foot blade from sailers and other marine usage type of cutlery. When out at sea on a boat rocking on some rough seas the last thing one wanted was a pointed knife so they had ones with blunt tips so they didn't accidentally stab themselves or their comrades.

Once these guys settled down and became "inlanders" per say, they found a point was needed and many times and old sheeps foot was simply reprofiled to a nice splinter picker point for land dwellers. This new style of blade was also found to be particularly good for making strong utility type cuts where tip strength was needed as well as a good 'reach'.

Lord Wharncliff apparently saw this need and decided that it would be a good idea to simply make one of these modified sheeps foot blades from the ground up and that supposedly started it all when he contracted with Rodgers and Sons to make one for himself of his own design.

 

[Jeff Clark]

An edge that is straight right up to the tip is good for making arbitrary straight or curved cuts. Think of the triangular Xacto knife blades or box cutter blades. If you lay down a piece of cardboard your straight edge and narrow point allows you to cut the cardboard straight or curved without the blade tracking existing contours or structures in the material, it will happily cut across things. The narrower the tip (like a triangular Xacto knife blade or a Warncliff blade) the tighter a curve you can cut as you go. If you are whittling these blades let you carve small holes and notches in your wood without the tip trying to ride out of the hole.

If you are skinning game you often want the opposite type of tip because you don't want to cut right across your material. With a hunting knife you are often trying to seperate tissues along their natural boundaries. You don't want to slice your hide into strips, you want to take it off nearly whole. You don't want to accidently cut through an intestine when you are trying to open an abdominal cavity. For a hunting knife you often want a sort of rounded tip that tracks the boundary between tissues.