|quoted:

Quote above is from Kevin Cashen

I absolutely agree with your estimation on this matter Kevin. When taking a shallow view of the construction, some will erroneously say that full tang is stronger. But when considering the multitudes of examples of remaining(intact) knives and swords, there's no basis for that belief. Economy and price is a driving factor in industry of mass production especially since the late 1800's. As "do it your selfers" decide to give it a shot, they naturally gravitate to the simpler construction and, in turn, justify that choice by saying it is stronger. On the list of qualities that are desirable in a knife, strength is just one and should be kept intentionally on par with the other qualities lest the knife become heavy and unwieldy. I see cases where it's obvious that a maker over emphasizes strength and it actually detracts from the knife's usefulness toward it intended purpose. Sufficiency is a very good guide when designing knives and humans. Humans and knives can become muscle bound.

To just add to what Lin said, I think there is a miss understanding in what it means to "break" a knife out there. kitchen knives for instance are commonly made full tang.. I have never seen a full tang kitchen knife with wood handles that the handle has not separated from the tang . That the handle has not "failed" the scales cracking or separating to my mind is failing. In a hard use knife most of the time that will happen far sooner in a full tang than in well designed and made hidden tang. of course than you are left with a tang the shape of the handle you can still kind of use so people feel it is stronger?

MP

I had a comment on my Kukri YouTube video that said that the knife should have been a full tang... on a traditional Khukuri! My simple reply was "not on this one", and when I was pressed for an explanation, I declined to continue the conversation as I knew where it was going, it just wasn't worth my time. The whole hidden tang is weaker argument comes from weekend warriors with limited knowledge and experience in realistic blade use.

In an odd coincidence, just this morning I received a question about another takedown that I had forgotten about:

This was made for a cutting demonstration that I did at one of the first Mid America Hammer-ins, once again I chose to make it a takedown so that I could demonstrate a number of extreme cutting applications, including heavy 2x4 chopping, and then show that it disassembled as well, to illustrate not only the strength that can be had with a precision takedown, but also to show the strength of a well made hidden tang overall. I assume the original buyer got their use from it, and, after all these years it has resurfaced, on the other side of the world, in China.