What is the functional reasoning behind a swedge?

Good thread.
The Japanese have 5 different spines. I think some are to reduce drag. Yes?
rolf
 
Gaston444 said:
Swedges drop the point profile, offer an increased area of edge surface, and allow de-limbing without damage to the main edge. Limbs are flexible and can trap thin sharp main edges as they bend, and this sometime bends their apex, so damage while de-limbing is common and avoided with the blunter clip edge. It's a fine "Survival" feature...

I don't find batoning to be a good idea, since it tends to micro-roll thin sharp main edges: Eating into a baton is thus not a consideration at all...

The Bill Bagwell "back cut" strikes me as not very deadly... Cutting outward after tip insertion seems to me like it would be infinitely worse, and that is best done with a zero-edge dagger, or at least a slim pointy knife...

Gaston
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I've delimbed a lot with all sorts of steels and never had a problem like you describe, batoning as well. Of course I don't thin my edges down an unreasonable amount either.....

When people read your comments they need to know what you do to your knives (read ruined the edges). Many including mods, longtime members, and respected makers have been critical of doing what you do to a knife and have explained exactly why it is the reason you see the problems you do when you complain of such things. Any new folks should take what you say with a huge grain of salt.....
 
Gaston444 said:
.........
The Bill Bagwell "back cut" strikes me as not very deadly... Cutting outward after tip insertion seems to me like it would be infinitely worse, and that is best done with a zero-edge dagger, or at least a slim pointy knife...

Gaston
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I do wonder, though. On a reasonably large bowie, the swedge could be large enough that on a back cut it could act like a small hawkbill type blade. The back cut doesn't have to be "deadly", just sharp enough to sever tendon or nerve, "hypothetically speaking" to give it an advantage against an unsharperned swedge, maybe? I wouldn't know, TBH!

I think the smaller the knife gets, the less point it is to have the swedge razor sharp. And I think the point is clear when it comes to folders, they're an outright hazard then.

I'll tell you what though, I love me a swedge on clip point or drop point for knives in general.

It is just ... aesthetically pleasing.

Also, just me, but I think FFG's with clip points and swedges just don't look right, hahaha!
 
spykez said:
I do wonder, though. On a reasonably large bowie, the swedge could be large enough that on a back cut it could act like a small hawkbill type blade. The back cut doesn't have to be "deadly", just sharp enough to sever tendon or nerve, "hypothetically speaking" to give it an advantage against an unsharperned swedge, maybe? I wouldn't know, TBH!

I think the smaller the knife gets, the less point it is to have the swedge razor sharp. And I think the point is clear when it comes to folders, they're an outright hazard then.

I'll tell you what though, I love me a swedge on clip point or drop point for knives in general.

It is just ... aesthetically pleasing.

Also, just me, but I think FFG's with clip points and swedges just don't look right, hahaha!
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A backcut does a few things:
• It's very, very hard to see coming
• It's incredibly fast
• Done properly, and with a properly sharpened swedge, the cut can be a very serious one, but it specifically targets the face and neck, and is usually followed up with a more powerful strike.
 
They made firearms just so all this stuff doesn't need to be pondered.

I still crack up when I see that Indiana Jones where the guy comes out doing all this fancy sword work, and IJ just looks at him and pulls his gun and shoots him.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
They made firearms just so all this stuff doesn't need to be pondered.

I still crack up when I see that Indiana Jones where the guy comes out doing all this fancy sword work, and IJ just looks at him and pulls his gun and shoots him.
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I dont know if its true but i have heard that this scene had an extensive fight but it was put short (by shooting the guy) because the actor had to piss lol
 
kaozer said:
I dont know if its true but i have heard that this scene had an extensive fight but it was put short (by shooting the guy) because the actor had to piss lol
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I thought it was that Harrison Ford had the Flu.

Edit: just read the story for Ford's mouth. He had eaten the local food and it was making him very "ill".
 
Planterz said:
Swedges can narrow down the tip and make precision cutting easier. I'm not sure about being made unconscious for surgery though. Do scalpels have swedges?
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No, scalpels do NOT have swedges. In fact, scalpels are dispoasble blades; we throw them out when done.
 
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