Not the little ones...the BIG ones!!! The big, bad, 12 inch bladed bowie knives!!! X-)
I made 2 good blades...one, 'the Raider' , and the 'Kyote.' Both were 12" blades, but one was 1/4" thick, and the other 5/16" thick. I gave both flat grinds, convex edges..about 1/4" into the edge is about 1/8" thick. The thinner bladed one not only sliced better, but chopped better! I don't understand...I thought that thicker blades chopped better... maybe my edges are too thick?
So, what's your perfect combo? How thick, and what kind of edge would you give, and what kind of grind and thickness of the spine?
Thanks for the responses!!
Hello Joseph. Usually a thinner blade will slice better because there is less blade cross section. In other words there is less material to have to go into what you are slicing or chopping. A lot depends on your edge geometry too. I usually do a flat grind and take the edge down to about .025, or twenty five thousandths, for a big knife. This is after heat treating. Then I will convex the edge and test it out. Hunting knives go down to .015 to .020 before convexing.
For my larger knives such as choppers I usually go with .262 thickness steel which gets down to around 1/4". However I also use some 5/16" stock for some. These blades have a pretty good distal taper so it will be slightly under 5/16 at the ricasso but taper to the point. A thinner blade will have more speed. I should say a lot depends on handle design too.
Brion
Brion Tomberlin
Anvil Top Custom Knives
ABS Mastersmith
