What is the best balance point for bushcraft knife?

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ukknifer

Joined
Jan 30, 2010
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424
Hi
Should the balance be at the first finger or should a bush craft knife be butt-heavy?

I found most of my bark-river knives butt heavy. Are they off balance? or is it a good thing?
 
IMO, the best balance point for a Bushcraft knife is the one that works for you.

Personally I like a knife to balance on the index finger, but that's just my preference.

I have no doubt that others will have perfectly valid differences in preferences :thumbup:




Kind regards
Mick
 
I prefer knives that have point of balance at the plunge line. In general blade heavy knives in all size and utility classes seem to work best like this.

It gives me best control over blade, works well when using the edge nearest the handle for cutting requiring precision and force. It puts control and force better over the blade edge portion of the knife. It also gives smaller knives better that are not really great at chopping, an adequate chopping performance if needed.
 
I prefer a larger bushcraft style knife to be a bit heavy forward. I find that this helps with batoning and chopping.
 
I was going to post the same question.:D My Koster balances at the middle finger.
 
I find the more forward that the balance point is on a belt knife, the more likely I am to drop it if I loosen my grip.
 
It really depends on the knife and personal preference of the user.

On a dedicated bushcrafter I like it around the first finger.

Farther back will offer more tip control (think scalpel), but a knife that's too handle heavy feels dead to me.

On a bigger knife a bit farthed forward is my preference.

Of course if chopping is your idea of bushcraft you'll want it out in front of the ricasso.


YMMV.



Big Mike
 
Ukknifer, you are thinking about all of this WAY too hard. "Toothy or polished?, "What is the best balance point?", etc... Pick up a knife and use it. If it works, you are done. If not, figure out what you don't like about it and change it or buy one that remedies the perceived deficiencies of the first. Repeat as necessary.

"I found most of my bark-river knives butt heavy. Are they off balance? or is it a good thing?"
Have you used them? What are your thoughts?
 
hlee said:
Ukknifer, you are thinking about all of this WAY too hard. "Toothy or polished?, "What is the best balance point?", etc... Pick up a knife and use it. If it works, you are done. If not, figure out what you don't like about it and change it or buy one that remedies the perceived deficiencies of the first. Repeat as necessary.

"I found most of my bark-river knives butt heavy. Are they off balance? or is it a good thing?"
Have you used them? What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

Yes I have used them and they are fine. I saw a video on yt where the poster was discussing this point and he was praising knives with balance at the index finger. I wanted to see what people here think because they are more knowledgeable than me.

Thanks
 
I wanted to see what people here think because they are more knowledgeable than me.


Not always. :)


Be safe.
 
hlee said:
Pick up a knife and use it. If it works, you are done. If not, figure out what you don't like about it and change it or buy one that remedies the perceived deficiencies of the first. Repeat as necessary.
Click to expand...

That pretty much sums it up there.
 
Neutral, or index finger balance point is ideal for fighting knives, as it offers the best balance of maneuverability and stability.

For woods knives, assuming we're talking small ones, I prefer the balance to be on the middle finger, although the range of "between the ring and middle finger" and "between the index and middle finger" to be acceptable. It gives the most control over the blade, IMO, which is best for woodscrafting, skinning, etc.
 
It depends on you, really. Not everyone will prefer the same. I would say I prefer around the index finger, however I also like most blades that have a blade heavy design. That doesn't necessarily mean everyone will like it, though. Just that I do.

The only real way to find out what you like best is for you to test the knives out and decide.
 
I don't like super handle heavy balances - something small full tang blades suffer all too commonly. Even the spyderco bushcraft, with the huge holes cut in the tang, is just a touch more handle heavy than I prefer. It's pretty dang close to well balanced, but I wouldn't mind the balance being pushed a half inch or inch more towards the tip. Of course, with the large amount of metal already removed with the skeletonization, that would be hard to accomplish.

I've had some very thick, beefy EDC sized blades with complete full tangs that just gave them an awful, awful balance. Most of those have been sold and moved on.
 
It depends on the knife reaally.

What I consider a bushcraft knife has between a 4-5 inch blade. Since I don't consider chopper with a blade this size to be productive. I prefer a balance point of at the most the index finger. Preferably handle heavy. This give better fine control for detailed tasks.
 
I don't know. I don't typically give it a lot of thought, and to be honest, I couldn't tell you the balance point of any of my knives. Some day I might reach the point where I notice such things, but I feel like right now, I am the limiting factor in any knife's performance.
 
I'm with Snow on this one. The balance point is critical on a mid-sized and large knife because it greatly impacts what its optimum use is. Neutral balanced large knives are more 'lively' or 'fast' in the hand and you can maneuver them for detail control very well. However, they chop poorly compared to knives that are blade heavy. I don't know of anybody who likes a handle heavy large knife. As an example, my RD9 is a poor chopper compared to my scrapyard SOD even the RD-9 is longer and heavier. This is because the RD-9 is more neutrally balanced. Likewise, I can actually use the tip for fine detailed work easier with the RD-9 compared to the SOD even though the RD-9 is longer.

For a smaller blade, the light weight of it means that you compensate for its balance without really noticing it. On a large blade, compensating all the time leads to hand fatigue. The issue is pretty much trivial for a small bladed knife. I think if I were a maker, I'd shoot for a neutrally balanced blade for bushcraft purposes, but I wouldn't go all crazy on the tang holes, pin types and handle materials trying to tweak it. The aesthetics of blade handle and pin type is more important on those smaller knives IMO.
 
I like a smaller knife to be handle heavy.
This way it will sit in my hand if I want to use my thumb and index finger without putting the knife down.
Chopping with a 4-5" blade is a non-issue so handle heavy works for me.
 
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