Why are people making knives so Thick?

[rodriguezryan14]

I agree with this as far as hunting knives are concerned, especially American made hunting knives. A thin blade makes a better slicer that’s easier to sharpen. Many US hunting knives are made with blades that are.17” or even thicker. My theory is that manufacturers use thicker blades for hunting knives because consumers insist on slamming those knives through thick pieces of hardwood (just like on YouTube! ) and the manufacturers get tired of warranty claims.

There’s a difference between a small dedicated caper, skinner or boning knife. Mine are thicker for a reason! I won’t make myself an actual hunting blade that thin. I don’t see the point! I’ve had 6 big animal kills this year. And my thick knives did perfectly fine. I don’t get the whole thin knife thing, unless I’m actually breaking down the meat into steaks! Even then, I’ve used thicker knives my whole life

 

[rodriguezryan14]

Companies make these knives thicker these days because customers are stupid and suffer from a lack of personal accountability, and so they have to compensate for that. That's it, that's the primary reason.

90% of the knife buying market had zero training in how to use a knife as children, and it shows. Ever notice how if you just use a knife as a knife, you never seem to have any issues? Yeah, a lot of people never learned that. So, that's why we have so many knives out there that are great designs, beautifully made, but are poor cutters. Make great batoning froes, though.

Well some of us use our knives for more than little cutting tasks! I know I do. I’m not packing in 5 or more different tools 15 miles into the wilderness! I make a nice solid all around blade for that purpose. And I usually hunt, camp and kill more animals than the average person on here by a long shot! I take a small saw, a small caper and a decent sized knife. The saw and caper stay in my pack. The saw is mostly used for bone, and some wood processing!

 

[The True North]

Which of the 20 posts in this thread are you agreeing with?

I didn’t quote anything, figured that was understood to mean I was replying to the OP. Sorry.

 

[Quiet]

Well some of us use our knives for more than little cutting tasks! I know I do. I’m not packing in 5 or more different tools 15 miles into the wilderness! I make a nice solid all around blade for that purpose. And I usually hunt, camp and kill more animals than the average person on here by a long shot! I take a small saw, a small caper and a decent sized knife. The saw and caper stay in my pack. The saw is mostly used for bone, and some wood processing!

Well, good for you. Most people aren't hunters who are going out and processing big game every weekend. Also, using a knife to process wood, I get the appeal, but it's still not what knives were designed to do. Problem is, people don't understand that, and do it anyway, so that's why most companies produce fixed blades these days that are so thick behind the edge. It's 100% an attempt at lessening the number of warranty claims they have after some idiot takes their knife and tries to baton it through frozen wood in the middle of winter.

 

[David Mary]

Farmer up my way carries a neck knife wharncliffe I made. It has an overall length of about 7", and a sub 4" blade of .06" 15N20, sharpened to about .010" behind the edge. He told me he used it to field dress a deer and it performed flawlessly for him. Checkered zebrawood handle.

 

[rodriguezryan14]

Well, good for you. Most people aren't hunters who are going out and processing big game every weekend. Also, using a knife to process wood, I get the appeal, but it's still not what knives were designed to do. Problem is, people don't understand that, and do it anyway, so that's why most companies produce fixed blades these days that are so thick behind the edge. It's 100% an attempt at lessening the number of warranty claims they have after some idiot takes their knife and tries to baton it through frozen wood in the middle of winter.

This whole thread was started about why people build thicker hunting knives. I just weighed in with my thoughts! But apparently it’s a weird sensitive subject, and probably the reason why I don’t respond to many threads these days! And yes, good for me! I make and use my knives for outdoor/hunting activities! And my blades are designed to hold up well, yet still cut really good! I skin and butcher all my own animals! So of course they have to cut well!! I use my knives more than most people on this forum! And i design them around wilderness hard use and hunting. Not all are really thick, but thick enough to baton hard wood in the winter!! Split a pelvic bone, take off a deer or elk leg, whatever I need out there!! And without failure!!!! apparently you don’t like it much!! Lol. Edited to add, this is the whole reason I got into knife making. I could never get exactly what I wanted! Junk steel, junk heat treat, thick edges that wouldn’t cut, etc. now I make a knife, spend a week in the wilderness, kill an animal and test the hell out of the knife, if something isn’t right, I come back home and tweak the design, change the steel, adjust the heat treat, or thin the cutting edge! It’s something I enjoy doing, and yes, I really like to test a blade to its limits, just to see what it can handle! And then adjust accordingly if it fails!

 

[Cobalt]

Well, good for you. Most people aren't hunters who are going out and processing big game every weekend. Also, using a knife to process wood, I get the appeal, but it's still not what knives were designed to do. Problem is, people don't understand that, and do it anyway, so that's why most companies produce fixed blades these days that are so thick behind the edge. It's 100% an attempt at lessening the number of warranty claims they have after some idiot takes their knife and tries to baton it through frozen wood in the middle of winter.

So you don't think a knife should be used for tasks that knives have been used for for hundreds of years? Good for you. I always love it when people think they can tell the rest of us what not to do with mans oldest tool that has been used for everything.

 

[Quiet]

This whole thread was started about why people build thicker hunting knives. I just weighed in with my thoughts! But apparently it’s a weird sensitive subject, and probably the reason why I don’t respond to many threads these days! And yes, good for me! I make and use my knives for outdoor/hunting activities! And my blades are designed to hold up well, yet still cut really good! I skin and butcher all my own animals! So of course they have to cut well!! I use my knives more than most people on this forum! And i design them around wilderness hard use and hunting. Not all are really thick, but thick enough to baton hard wood in the winter!! Split a pelvic bone, take off a deer or elk leg, whatever I need out there!! And without failure!!!! apparently you don’t like it much!! Lol. Edited to add, this is the whole reason I got into knife making. I could never get exactly what I wanted! Junk steel, junk heat treat, thick edges that wouldn’t cut, etc. now I make a knife, spend a week in the wilderness, kill an animal and test the hell out of the knife, if something isn’t right, I come back home and tweak the design, change the steel, adjust the heat treat, or thin the cutting edge! It’s something I enjoy doing, and yes, I really like to test a blade to its limits, just to see what it can handle! And then adjust accordingly if it fails!

You also seem to really enjoy using exclamation points!

So you don't think a knife should be used for tasks that knives have been used for for hundreds of years? Good for you. I always love it when people think they can tell the rest of us what not to do with mans oldest tool that has been used for everything.

Your attempt at taking personal offense at my comments is a you problem, nothing to do with me.

I just find it odd how people managed to do all these tasks for hundreds of years with thin knives made in (what today be considered) inferior steels. Just so weird.

 

[jeepin]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

View attachment 2406427

Don’t forget his brother.

 

[fullswing]

I think the simple answer to the OP's question is because it's popular. Consumers demand a thicker knife because they believe it to be superior to thinner. This could be based on the perception that thicker means more durable and they demand the most durable product possible. Is it actually better? Not necessarily, it depends on the use case, see David's answer on the first page.

But simply put, it's all about demand. Why the demand is the way it is most likely is due to marketing and YouTube reviews rather than what is best for the consumer's purpose and thorough personal research.

 

[Cobalt]

You also seem to really enjoy using exclamation points!

Your attempt at taking personal offense at my comments is a you problem, nothing to do with me.

I just find it odd how people managed to do all these tasks for hundreds of years with thin knives made in (what today be considered) inferior steels. Just so weird.

I'm not offended, just find your comments funny and completely wrong. But that's my opinion. You and op agree. Then you do you and the rest of us will do us. The difference is the rest of us aren't going out and pontificating on what the you should do. I believe, you should do what you feel is necessary with a knife.

 

[Quiet]

I'm not offended, just find your comments funny and completely wrong. But that's my opinion. You and op agree. Then you do you and the rest of us will do us. The difference is the rest of us aren't going out and pontificating on what the you should do. I believe, you should do what you feel is necessary with a knife.

Well, what you find amusing and "completely wrong" stems from your anecdotal nonsense opinion, so feel free to do you, boo.

"We aren't pontificating", but yet, here you are, attempting to browbeat me into accepting your nonfactual opinion as fact, and that my opinion (backed by centuries of knife design) is "completely wrong". Ok, then.

Oh hey, so any ideas? Any idea on why our grandfathers did all the things that knifemaker talks about, but did it with old, thin-bladed small fixed blades, or even slipjoints? Huh, almost like people have been using knives for thousands of years before sharpened prybars became a thing thanks to marketing and idiot Youboob destruction videos. So crazy, amirite?

 

[rodriguezryan14]

You also seem to really enjoy using exclamation points!

Your attempt at taking personal offense at my comments is a you problem, nothing to do with me.

I just find it odd how people managed to do all these tasks for hundreds of years with thin knives made in (what today be considered) inferior steels. Just so weird.

Yes I do!! And those knives in those days, were simple carbon steels with an average rc of around 45 if even. So they were quite tough for what they were. Didn’t hold an edge well, but held up to wilderness tasks just fine. Now we have knives with rc numbers around 60 plus. More brittle steels that hold a much longer working edge. To offset the brittleness, they made the knives thicker! Most of my knives are around 58-60, and I prefer tougher steels! .180 is not very thick, but still thick enough to be durable with most outdoor tasks.

 

[mrknife]

Don’t forget his brother.



View attachment 2407187

could probably chop a tree down with that

 

[Cobalt]

Well, what you find amusing and "completely wrong" stems from your anecdotal nonsense opinion, so feel free to do you, boo.

"We aren't pontificating", but yet, here you are, attempting to browbeat me into accepting your nonfactual opinion as fact, and that my opinion (backed by centuries of knife design) is "completely wrong". Ok, then.

Oh hey, so any ideas? Any idea on why our grandfathers did all the things that knifemaker talks about, but did it with old, thin-bladed small fixed blades, or even slipjoints? Huh, almost like people have been using knives for thousands of years before sharpened prybars became a thing thanks to marketing and idiot Youboob destruction videos. So crazy, amirite?

I remember plenty of knives being thicker and being used for hard tasks back in the day. Thin knives as well. Remember a guy by the name of Richtig? He use to perform extremely abusive acts on his knives to sell them. So the whole destruction thing has been done over and over long before our time. I remember a black and white video from the 50's teaching how to properly baton a knife into wood. So anyone claiming that that wasn't done in the past is just plain wrong.

 

[rodriguezryan14]

Because they usually carried multiple tools, and were better equipped mentally to handle different extremes! I prefer not to carry a heavy axe, and instead carry a heavier knife! Or I could carry an axe, a couple small knives, a saw and a slip joint. But weight is a factor, and I prefer a do it all tool! Only because I can make what I want, when I want! Makes a big difference for me! This year, when we killed an elk in a rough place late in the evening, the saw was in my saddle bags on my horse miles away. I used my big knife to cut through the neck vertebrae, when I wasn’t able to pop the joint right. But that knife is on my hip the whole hunt! I chopped right through the bone with no issues. It was dark, and we were in a hurry to get back to the horses. Just depends on the person, and what his uses are!

Well, what you find amusing and "completely wrong" stems from your anecdotal nonsense opinion, so feel free to do you, boo.

"We aren't pontificating", but yet, here you are, attempting to browbeat me into accepting your nonfactual opinion as fact, and that my opinion (backed by centuries of knife design) is "completely wrong". Ok, then.

Oh hey, so any ideas? Any idea on why our grandfathers did all the things that knifemaker talks about, but did it with old, thin-bladed small fixed blades, or even slipjoints? Huh, almost like people have been using knives for thousands of years before sharpened prybars became a thing thanks to marketing and idiot Youboob destruction videos. So crazy, amirite?

 

[Quiet]

I remember plenty of knives being thicker and being used for hard tasks back in the day. Thin knives as well. Remember a guy by the name of Richtig? He use to perform extremely abusive acts on his knives to sell them. So the whole destruction thing has been done over and over long before our time. I remember a black and white video from the 50's teaching how to properly baton a knife into wood. So anyone claiming that that wasn't done in the past is just plain wrong.

Sure, but again, as I've stated. The reason why most knives are thicker than they need to be is almost entirely due to marketing, and customers who use knives as non-knife tools. The issue is that when these knives break, these idiot customers then try to blame the maker/manufacturer, not themselves for abusing a tool by using it as something it wasn't meant to be. If this wasn't the case, then that means that 90% of all knifemakers and manufacturers have slipped and hit their heads in the shower and made the collective decision to all start producing knives that make better wood-splitting implements than knives. Mass psychosis is no joke.

Secondly, I don't buy the posited theory from rodriguezryan14 whatsoever. So wait, let me see if I have this right. Modern supersteels are harder, tougher, and stronger than old steels....but we need to run 'em thicker because they're chippier? What? LOL Sounds to me like a heat-treat issue. In fact, a common refrain around here is that we wish these companies using these modern steels would take advantage of those advantages and run 'em thinner because the steels can take it.

Criminy. It's ok to want and enjoy thick knives, no one is telling anyone they aren't allowed to enjoy things. But it's a trend that is irritating for those of us who want a knife that actually cuts well. Incidentally, it should be noted that I've defended Medfords in the past, as they had a nice very slicey hollow-grind on their Praetorians, so even though it was a giant slab of D2, it still sliced very well. Any outdoors cutting tasks I do, I do with thinner knives, and have never had an issue, so the idea that we need thick blades is more or less absurd. My Dad was a deer hunter for something like 20 years, and broke down plenty of animals with his Buck 110. Odd, considering that we have a knifemaker here telling us we need thick knives in order to break down animals, when through my own direct observation, that's false.

But for YouBoob batoning and coked-out chipmunks like those two Dutch guys or JoeX, I could see how thick knives are preferred. They make better videos*.



* Also not a knife task.

 

[Quiet]

Because they usually carried multiple tools, and were better equipped mentally to handle different extremes! I prefer not to carry a heavy axe, and instead carry a heavier knife! Or I could carry an axe, a couple small knives, a saw and a slip joint. But weight is a factor, and I prefer a do it all tool! Only because I can make what I want, when I want! Makes a big difference for me! This year, when we killed an elk in a rough place late in the evening, the saw was in my saddle bags on my horse miles away. I used my big knife to cut through the neck vertebrae, when I wasn’t able to pop the joint right. But that knife is on my hip the whole hunt! I chopped right through the bone with no issues. It was dark, and we were in a hurry to get back to the horses. Just depends on the person, and what his uses are!

Uhhh....ok? I've gone along on my share of hunts and seen animals broken down with smaller, thin knives. A folding knife in a couple cases. Either your skills are poor, or you just like carrying a large thick knife. It's ok if that's the case. But this idea that a sharpened prybar is what's needed for outdoors activities is just false. You aren't the only one who's been using knives for many, many years, friend.

 

[Danke42]

Them old timey knives were a lot tougher than the current pocket queens.

 

[Cobalt]

Uhhh....ok? I've gone along on my share of hunts and seen animals broken down with smaller, thin knives. A folding knife in a couple cases. Either your skills are poor, or you just like carrying a large thick knife. It's ok if that's the case. But this idea that a sharpened prybar is what's needed for outdoors activities is just false. You aren't the only one who's been using knives for many, many years, friend.

Can you give me an example of the type of thin flat ground knife you speak of? Unless you are only speaking of hollow ground knives. Hollow ground knives end up having a thin profile regardless of spine thickness.