Why so many thread asking for rec. for a really thick folder?

Overbuilt knifes are the in thing, so it seems. Overbuilt pivots, 1/4 thick, etc.
I think it has to do with preference or the peace of mind that you can abuse the crap out of it and not worry about breaking it.

Then again I could be completely wrong
 
Some will say that a knife with a thick blade begs to be used hard. A knife that shows the scratches and dings of hard use can be a symbol of status - or a badge, of sorts. It's no different from the carbon steel slipjoint with a dark patina, as far as symbols go. It doesn't matter if your patina comes from slicing fruit (I don't cut food with carbon steel because I don't like the flavor it imparts.), or if it was forced, or if it was earned through years and years of common cutting tasks. It doesn't matter if you actually need to do a job that will scratch and ding (or even break) your hard use folder, or not. Both are seen, by some, as making you worthy in the eyes of the majority of aficionados - people who are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about knives. Males of our species, in particular, are extremely oriented towards visual interpretations of worth, by nature. :eek:
Others, like me, only use knives for cutting things that really need cutting and maintain their knives in almost new and very sharp condition at all times. My knives will do their job very well, but their appearance won't get me accepted in either the hard use camp or the patina crowd.
And that's alright with me. :)
 
bronyblacksmith said:
I am making myself an 4 inch long .156 thick frame lock and think that it is thick enough to handle any task within reason. Right now I carry a 2.75 a friction that is only 3/32 thick, and have cut down dozens of saplings out of a field and have batoned with it through 2 inch thick logs and in doing most of the abuse I said to myself "I need a bigger thicker folder".
When I make the blade of the folder I will grind it down to .005 to .006 thick before I sharpen it. that is thinner behind the edge than some of the kitchen knives I have seen in the exchange.
just my .02.
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That knife sounds awesome!...I expect pics :)
 
DAVE_M said:
Well, I'm one of the ones asking about them, so here is my reasoning.

I work in an office 5 days a week, 40-50 hours a week. I typically carry my Benchmade Griptilian everyday and it does great. It's lightweight, has a thin blade, and I added a deep carry clip to be inconspicuous. However, on the weekends, I want something fun and obnoxious. That's why I bought a Boker S2 and a Kershaw Thermite (with custom scale on the way). I'm looking for a big beefy folder that is slightly obnoxious, yet still somewhat practical to outdoor tasks.
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That is the truth. We are knife people and we like all sorts of stuff even when it doesn't make sense all the time. Me, I know from life experience, that a SAK farmer will do just about anything I need to do. But...I really like my RaT 1 being larger and more stout than the SAK......oh...maybe my Finn bear would be good for a beach hike tomorrow....but I may want to take my.........
 
DAVE_M said:
Well, I'm one of the ones asking about them, so here is my reasoning.

I'm looking for a big beefy folder that is slightly obnoxious, yet still somewhat practical to outdoor tasks.
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Look no farther, Dave. I bought the knife on the top, the "Bad Blood Harbinger" as a work knife, and it is the heaviest, beefiest, and one of the best knives of its type I own. I am in construction and use my large work knives as beaters so I bought this one for that purpose.

I have been chuckling ever since.



This knife is a monster. I have all manner of larger folding knives, and there aren't any in my work group anything close to this one. It is shown here by one of my all time favorite work knives, the Kershaw Tremor. The BB weighs in at almost 1/2 a pound! The scales are solid G10, the liner lock is really substantial, the liners are solid (no hollowing out) and even the butt spacer is solid G10.

The Kershaw under the BB has a 1/8" thick blade with a DEEP hollow grind. This knife was a surprise, and with its hollow grind it is a mean slicing knife, the entire edge completely usable. Sturdy enough for all kinds of use, but still a great slicer. The hollow grind makes it easy to touch up, too.

The BB has a blade that is 3/16" thick, or .1875 of an inch! It has a reasonable 8cr14 blade on it which is fine for job site duty. But... what duty?

It took me forever to get this knife really sharp. For its thickness, was hoping for a least a bit of hollow grind, but not so. Saber grind the length of the knife making the edge really obtuse. I sharpened it to a "V" on my Lansky, and it wasn't that sharp and didn't cut that well when I finished. I took it to my slack belt sander and convexed the edge which helped a ton. (V grind seen in the photo.) But with that much meat still behind the edge, it cuts OK, but it doesn't slice well.

That being said, I am sure this knife would pry, chop, hack, stab, and even split small wood with no problem. Again, it is a beast and stopping short of hitting it with a sledge I don't know how you would hurt it. Clipped to my pocket though, I find it hard to use it during the day as it doesn't slice well enough to make me happy.

But if I needed a small boat anchor, something to use to kill the hood of a car, open cans, chop small saplings, baton small firewood, do a small amount of digging, etc., etc., this knife would probably be a dandy. Since I always carry a traditional knife with me with really sharp slicing blades, I wouldn't hesitate to carry this knife as a woods knife along with it to do random camping/hunting chores.

Since it isn't a great slicer, I have actually have more fun with the novelty of this knife that using it as a knife as I usually do, as slicers. I like it, but wouldn't buy another one like this or any other folder with a really thick blade. All kidding aside, I did some reading on this knife and its designer after I got the knife and found that this knife fills a specific purpose and is no doubt quite good at its task.

If you want a real bad boy knife for all kinds of obscene use, this one should get it done for you.

Robert
 
It should be stated that boutique knife makers have lots of incentive to manufacture and promote thicker blades than thinner blades. It's a very easy way to add value (and raise price) of a knife because thicker blade stock demands more effort to grind down to a knife edge. And the result is a knife that gives the perception of increased durability.

Which is amusing enough in itself when you think about it. The durability of a thick blade is manifested in its lateral rigidity. Basically, it makes a knife better suited to prying. Of course, a thick blade that gives such an impression is more prone to be used to pry stuff, and will be prone to suffer damage as a result. And if one were to come to a place like bladeforums and complain that knife X broke under hard use while prying, that person would likely be scolded for using a knife as a prybar. Because, duh, it's a knife, not a prybar.

Still, there is an aesthetic appeal to thick blades, and knifemakers are there to sell wares designed to satisfy that demand. Of course, they are probably not really practical. That's why I have referred to knives as "man-baubles", chosen often to make a statement about oneself as much as to be a tool. It's a very personal tool that expresses one's identity as much as any practical consideration.
 
goodeyesniper said:
Because very few people actually do real, hard cutting chores any more. And they base 90% of the performance of their knife on how it "feels" sturdy and bomb proof. If they actually had to do a lot of cutting these thick bladed, tactical folders would not be what they reached for.
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I agree with this. There is a sweet spot for a thin knife. Making it wider edge to spine, yet thinner, makes for a strong knife that cuts well. Making it thicker...well then one starts to lose the point of a knife being an effecting cutting tool.
 
I have to admit, I am a confessed knife whore....... It's been 18 hours since my last purchase and yes it was one of those over built over the top folders.

But then again I have a pile of folders at home that cover the range from small, thin, they get lost in my pocket and yes I use them too. I like a variety, a selection to choose from and be able to just be a bit eccentric at times :cool: If I could only own 1 knife then it might not be a big a$$ mofo over built folder but for now I have them because I can.
 
Because some of us can't carry a fixed blade for various reasons. In my case, I only carry one knife on me. My pockets have other things i need in them, and there is not room for multiple knives. It needs to be a fast one hand opener. It needs to be stout and do everything. This includes cutting hay wrap and twine that may be deep in a large round or large square bale, cutting heavy rope in an emergency when a horse sets back and goes down, cutting a nylon lariat rope when a buddy got tangled and drug, and a whole lot and the weird cutting angles have lead to bent and broken blades in knives like a skyline. I am about to try out a 0561. If I could, I would carry a fixed blade instead. I can't do that at the clinic, and I can't get by with a sak for all my tasks either, so I compromise.
 
I make no excuses for my thick knives. I bought them because I liked them, and like the rest of my knives they're all useful while having their own strengths and weaknesses. But in the end they're all knives, are all sharp, and all can do whatever I want them to. Just like we can all "get by" with just a SAK or a (yuck) Opinel, we can all "get by" with just a sharpened prybar. The beauty of our world is that we can have both!

I have absolutely no need for my Ontario Falcon. It's not a folder, but it's way more absurd than any ZT. It has a 1/4" thick blade (and tang), weighs more than me, and has about a 90 degree edge on it. Sure, it cuts like crap compared to any other knife I own, but it still cuts. Plus I really like the feel of it in my hand despite the blocky handle, as well as the blade shape and small form of the whole package. It's my lil emergency cleaver/hatchet that I occasionally carry around in my pocket, and once I get around to doing a little customization and putting a more reasonable edge on it, it'll probably be a frequent EDC choice.
 
A overbuilt folder was not my bag until I came to the realization that IF I needed that extra strength in a folder, I'd have it.
Case closed. :D
 
Basicly the because the cutlery industry showed a brilliant genius in the 1980's.

At that time, the cutlery industry was failing. Sales were so-so, and the modern sunburn life in American was such that fewer and fewer people were even carrying a pocket knife. Chnaging times and society was hurting the knife trade. So, they invented the tactical knife craze, and they are still riding it today.

A century and a half ago, men who rally did work in the outdoors at "Hard Work" used knives like stockman, and barrows, and other patterns of jacks. These men did more work, hard work, in a day than some on this forum do in a year. The premium stockman came from the cattle knife. Farmers back then didn't have the benefit of power equipment, yet did the work with a sharp barlow in a pocket.

After WW2 there was a great migration to the city from the farms. The soldiers and sailors came home and didn't want to go back to the farm so the city and all the new jobs drew them. The office cubicle was the new work place. Add in computers, and the office machines that preceded them and you have an environment where a pocket knife is not really needed, and it gradually fell out of favor as a edc item. By the 1970's and 80's very few boys were even interested in getting a pocket knife. The industry was seeing a horizon. Then they had to invent an artificial need for something. This is were the modern thick bladed tactical knife comes into the scene. Never mind that all during WW2, men went through a hellacious war with mundane knives like the TL-29, the issue all steel MK-L knife that was for all intents just a boy scout knife.

My own war experience was in Vietnam. Somehow I made it through my tour with a Buck stockman in my pocket, and a SAK in my field pack. A lot of guys just carried the Buck 110 through the tour, and did well. In truth, in spite of what Hollyweird shows in Rambo movies, there's not much real need for a large knife in the service. Cutting open the cardboard C-rats pack was a common use, and the thin bladed Buck did well at that. I didn't starve to death. If worse came to worse and I had to stab something, the government gave me a bayonet that fit on the end of my m16.

I remember when Lynn Thompson advertised his knife by stabbing car hoods and doors. The knife that would stand up to anything, even a rabid Chevy or rogue Ford. I don't know about Dodge's. Then Pacific Cutlery jumped on the bandwagon, and the ball was rolling, and new knife craze was on the road. Just like the Harley craze, it was an engineered demand to feed a market that had no base in reality. And it's still going strong. Now there's a whole generation of young knife knuts who think a thick bladed knife with a lock that can hold the weight of a Brinks armored car is a needed item. The age of Walter Mitty is on us, and the market place reflects it. Like the jacked up 4X4 trucks that never go off road, or the SUV's that are pampered suburban status symbols, the over built knife is badge of something to feed the ego.
 
jackknife said:
... the over built knife is badge of something to feed the ego.
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Wow. I see you have a very strong opinion of modern knives, but I feel you're being a little inflammatory and presumptuous. It seems you're lumping every knife design to evolve since the 80's into one giant garbage category, and I'm really trying hard to give you the benefit of the doubt that maybe you don't mean that, and you aren't as bitter as that post suggests to me, at least.

Again, we could all "get by" with the most basic of knives and automobiles, and we all know that. We could all survive without running shoes, twin tipped skis, craft beers, or god forbid...the internet. It's 2014 and technology has evolved. Over-built and "tactical" knives, however you define them, are part of that evolution and have places in our lives and in our pockets. Embrace them. Change is good.
 
My reasons for carrying what I do are similar to redmans. I will carry a fixed blade when I can, but with a pistol and flashlight sometimes there isn't enough belt space. I say carry what you want. I don't subscribe to the "don't like them or don't have one, so they suck" crowd. After all, how many 9 to 5 office workers wear steel toe boots to work. I'd rather not base my choices on what others think is best for me.
 
PayneTrain said:
Wow. I see you have a very strong opinion of modern knives, but I feel you're being a little inflammatory and presumptuous. It seems you're lumping every knife design to evolve since the 80's into one giant garbage category, and I'm really trying hard to give you the benefit of the doubt that maybe you don't mean that, and you aren't as bitter as that post suggests to me, at least.

Again, we could all "get by" with the most basic of knives and automobiles, and we all know that. We could all survive without running shoes, twin tipped skis, craft beers, or god forbid...the internet. It's 2014 and technology has evolved. Over-built and "tactical" knives, however you define them, are part of that evolution and have places in our lives and in our pockets. Embrace them. Change is good.
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He's not lumping every knife design into one giant category. Maybe it's your reading comprehension that needs a little evolution :D
 
I think it's usually driven by a lack of experience with how tough a "thin" blade can be. There are some circumstances that genuinely call for a thick blade, but most of those circumstances are also best served by a fixed blade rather than folder. There are some circumstances where a thick folder might be ideal, but those circumstances are very very few in number compared to ones better served by thinner geometry. Generally I think a fear or insecurity about the durability of the knife is what drives the purchase of very thick bladed knives in general. Yes, a lot of people like them, and that's fine. It's also true that it's better to have a tool that is overbuilt rather than underbuilt. However, I prefer a tool that is built "just right"--neither under- nor overbuilt.
 
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