What is the purpose of a thick bladed folder?

L

Lukers

Joined
Jul 17, 1999
Messages
571
I have had my Strider AR for about a week. It is really a spectacular knife!! It cuts very well for being so thick and lock and construction/design of the knife are very impressive. I got to play with a friend's Spyderco Military the other day(actually I used to own the knife but I sold it to him), and it seem so tiny and flimsy. I used to think the Military was the sturdiest folder I owned and carried everywhere. I began to wonder though, for what a folder is design for, why would anyone really need and 3/16 thick blade? Using a folder for prying would be a no-no, and it doesn't help the knife cut any better. Don't get me wrong, I think the AR is the most awesome folder I have seen and owned. I just think for a less hefty knife, a thin and light Spyderco Military might be better for fine slicing and such(especially now that they sell a carbonfiber delica...ohhhhh:D )
If anyone could enlighten me here, I would appreciate it!
Thanks
Luke
 
You heathen! You traitor! Oh, good question ... :cool:

I've got a Buck/Strider, the production version of the AR. If you go for a hike in the hills for a few days, you might want a small axe, a camp knife, a saw. If you go for a stroll through your local woods for a few hours, the B/S or AR is a good knife for digging into bark to check for beetles, chopping strangler vines off saplings along the trail, slashing thornbushes, fighting off cwazy wabbits ... :eek:

Some people even think these massive folders are actually appropriate for a certain level of prying. I do not baby mine. If it breaks, I'll just get another one :D You don't even need a knfe so large to get the same durability: check out the Greco folders.
 
If I remember correctly Cliff Stamp put the Buck Strider between two ciderblocks and jumped on it a few times.
He couldn't break it. :eek:
Which is quite amazing.
 
Having the blade thick makes a more forward blade balance possible so it is more powerful with a chopping type motion, makes a better assisted splitter, and a more effective prybar - of course it is rare to find a lock which can handle any of those for any length of time and so the previous aspects are rarely functional gains.

In regards to the Buck/Strider, I never jumped on it, however I could unlock it quite easily and broke a piece out of the liner prying in wood. I had the knife evaluated by Buck, who found it free of defects, it was offered to Strider but they declined to comment.

I sold the knife with the repaired liner as it wasn't functional for me. I had no use for a folder with that thick a blade that could be unlocked and even broken so easily.

-Cliff
 
Thicker blade mades for heavier blade, so it is more forward balanced, can be used as small hatchet on occasion: I did that to fall a 5 inch thick tree with a Fox 594 knife. It was subjected to 7 years of similar abuse, and it's like new.
Obviously, no prying!
 
So, what would you call "thick"?

A 3/16" thick blade seems to me as ridicolous thick. Opinels got blades, that i found a bit too thin. So everything, wich ranges around .12" thickness, with length between 3.5 to 4" apears to me as a good size. After that comes the grinding. I mean, my personal view is, that a "thick" blade should not get a hollow ground. Instead of this i could have taken a thiner blade with a flat or sabre ground.

Example: The Military is good related. The Cinook is not.

This all depends on a bladebroad around 1".

All together: Thickness around ,12", length around 4" broadness around 1" is a good relation for a blade with flat or sabre ground.

That´s my view. People like Cliff are going to get baldes and edges much thiner. Wich is a logical step forward looking on the better steel grades you are now getting. I´m a bit oldfashioned, meaning, i like superior steel grades on "old usual sizes".

What is the answer? I see no real reason. A folder will never replace a fixed blade considering lateral stress resistance. So if the knife cuts good, from hair to wood, and it is not too heavy, like the CRKT Kaspar Folder, it´s a matter of personal taste. Nothing else.

I´m curious, how thick and heavy the Busse Combat folder will be.
 
If you think 3/16" is ridiculously thick, look at Extrema Ratio's .250" folders. That is too thick to be practical for a folder. I don't see the point of anything so thick, unless handle/pivot/lock can back it up.
 
Phoul,

The ER is not a slicer, but the worst of them, the Nem, is a surprisingly good cutter.

It eats cardboard with the rest of them, and it punctures with the thin stabby tip a LOT better than a lot of other broad bladed folders out there.

The handle/pivot/lock on it is also pretty sturdy -- the lockback on it is definitely buff.

-j
 
I feel a little better when stabbing something if the blade is thicker.
You don't have to worry about the tip breaking.
And as far a prying goes, if you really have to, apply pressure from the pivot.
 
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