So what are the advantages and disadvantages of Stick tangs and Full tangs? Which is your Favorite? What do you think?
Stick tangs and Full tangs. Advantages and Disadvantages
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Ive seen a review of a Helle stick tang break after hitting with a batton one (but it must have been a duff knife).
Saying that my personal experience with a mora clipper which has a very short stick tang is it has stood up to a lot of abuse. My full tang knife feels more robust and I know in a survival situation I would prefer it for that.
Karesuando knives are stick tang and give a lifetime warranty aginst failure which is reassuring. Also for winter use a stick tang is a lot nicer to handle as you dont have skin on freezing metal - which is why most Scandinavian knives are of this design.
I suppose as with absolutely any tool, it depends on its intended purpose. My current wish list of knives has several of each (stick and full tang)
Saying that my personal experience with a mora clipper which has a very short stick tang is it has stood up to a lot of abuse. My full tang knife feels more robust and I know in a survival situation I would prefer it for that.
Karesuando knives are stick tang and give a lifetime warranty aginst failure which is reassuring. Also for winter use a stick tang is a lot nicer to handle as you dont have skin on freezing metal - which is why most Scandinavian knives are of this design.
I suppose as with absolutely any tool, it depends on its intended purpose. My current wish list of knives has several of each (stick and full tang)
I'm with Shinken.
From a using point of view I prefer sticks, lighter, strong enough, more confortable in the hand (no copld/sharp metal bits) and especially more comfortable for heavy chopping tools like billhooks, etc. I wouldn't choose a full tang for any reason other than an aesthetic choice. They are generally heavier, have issues with scales moving, pins and tangs coming pround, etc.
from a makers pov, they are generally easier to fit together, especially if it is to a simple wooden handle (you need to drill one hjole instead of a number of them and getting things flat, straight and at the correct angles is not an issue!). Unless a customer specifically requests one style or the other, I chose which way to handle a blade based on cosmetics. Full tangs lend themselves to mosaic pins, decorative file work on tangs and of course handle marterials such as jigged bone and micarta. Equally stick tangs are better for nice guards and stacked multiple handle materials.
If sticks were inferior in any way to full tangs then the vast majority of knives (and other bladed tools/weapons) through history around the world would not be made that way!
From a using point of view I prefer sticks, lighter, strong enough, more confortable in the hand (no copld/sharp metal bits) and especially more comfortable for heavy chopping tools like billhooks, etc. I wouldn't choose a full tang for any reason other than an aesthetic choice. They are generally heavier, have issues with scales moving, pins and tangs coming pround, etc.
from a makers pov, they are generally easier to fit together, especially if it is to a simple wooden handle (you need to drill one hjole instead of a number of them and getting things flat, straight and at the correct angles is not an issue!). Unless a customer specifically requests one style or the other, I chose which way to handle a blade based on cosmetics. Full tangs lend themselves to mosaic pins, decorative file work on tangs and of course handle marterials such as jigged bone and micarta. Equally stick tangs are better for nice guards and stacked multiple handle materials.
If sticks were inferior in any way to full tangs then the vast majority of knives (and other bladed tools/weapons) through history around the world would not be made that way!
I always wonder why folks think they will need the additional strength of a full tang knife in a survival knife/situation (always assuming they had the luxury of choice when the poop hits the fan 
)
What do they plan on doing that requires full tang over hidden tang construction, I wonder ?
Hidden tang for me every time, given the choice. I only own two full tang custom knives that I commissioned, and I would have had both in hidden tang if their respective makers had offered this as an option. Other than my Helle Temagami, just about every other knife I have bought or made is hidden tang.
I can normally easily persuade folks who think they need a full tang to take a hidden tang knife on, once they actually use one.
There is a ton of misinformation that, if repeated often enough, becomes internet "fact"
like which steel is the best, which steel chips and why (usually down to someone doing something stupid with it, not that operator error ever enters the equation ), hidden tang over full tang construction, which grind (one of my own personal bugbears) and so on and so forth. Interestingly most of this "fact" is noised about by folks who have probably never made a knife, who have little or no understanding of metallurgy and heat treating, and who may never have used a hidden tang knife at all or, at least, not a good one.
Now that I have that off my chest ...
... full tang knives are quicker and easier to make, especially if you don't taper the tang, which I guess is an advantage if you plan on maximising your profits since you can churn them out very quickly.
It is quite ironic that makers will produce a full tang knife and then taper it for visual appeal and to reduce weight (how heavy can a 4" blade hunter be to warrant shaving a little off the tang for heaven's sakes ?) and then perhaps also cut out various voids in the tang or drill a series of lightening holes to further reduce weight. Not much of this makes sense in the whole full/hidden strength and durability debate, does it ?
Unless you plan on decorating the tang with file-work I see no benefit in having it visible - far more appealing to have a beautiful piece of handle material flow uninterrupted around the tang.
Basically, unless your knife is ever going to be an anchor point to abseil off, how strong does it have to be under normal conditions ?
Full or hidden can both be made and used well or badly and either the manufacture (including design and build) or end user can be responsible for failure.
Failure is normally the result of the user exceeding the inherent capabilities of a knife - materials fail relatively rarely under normal circumstances and, all thing being equal, a well made hidden tang knife should easily outlast its user under normal circumstances, as should a full tang so, basically, it all falls down to personal preference.
Me ?
Hidden tang, whenever possible.
)What do they plan on doing that requires full tang over hidden tang construction, I wonder ?
Hidden tang for me every time, given the choice. I only own two full tang custom knives that I commissioned, and I would have had both in hidden tang if their respective makers had offered this as an option. Other than my Helle Temagami, just about every other knife I have bought or made is hidden tang.
I can normally easily persuade folks who think they need a full tang to take a hidden tang knife on, once they actually use one.
There is a ton of misinformation that, if repeated often enough, becomes internet "fact"
like which steel is the best, which steel chips and why (usually down to someone doing something stupid with it, not that operator error ever enters the equation ), hidden tang over full tang construction, which grind (one of my own personal bugbears) and so on and so forth. Interestingly most of this "fact" is noised about by folks who have probably never made a knife, who have little or no understanding of metallurgy and heat treating, and who may never have used a hidden tang knife at all or, at least, not a good one.Now that I have that off my chest ...
... full tang knives are quicker and easier to make, especially if you don't taper the tang, which I guess is an advantage if you plan on maximising your profits since you can churn them out very quickly.
It is quite ironic that makers will produce a full tang knife and then taper it for visual appeal and to reduce weight (how heavy can a 4" blade hunter be to warrant shaving a little off the tang for heaven's sakes ?) and then perhaps also cut out various voids in the tang or drill a series of lightening holes to further reduce weight. Not much of this makes sense in the whole full/hidden strength and durability debate, does it ?
Unless you plan on decorating the tang with file-work I see no benefit in having it visible - far more appealing to have a beautiful piece of handle material flow uninterrupted around the tang.
Basically, unless your knife is ever going to be an anchor point to abseil off, how strong does it have to be under normal conditions ?
Full or hidden can both be made and used well or badly and either the manufacture (including design and build) or end user can be responsible for failure.
Failure is normally the result of the user exceeding the inherent capabilities of a knife - materials fail relatively rarely under normal circumstances and, all thing being equal, a well made hidden tang knife should easily outlast its user under normal circumstances, as should a full tang so, basically, it all falls down to personal preference.
Me ?
Hidden tang, whenever possible.
I have actually abseiled off a Snack Size Snickers bar (frozen and used as a buried anchor in snow as you would in a buried ice axe anchor) up in the Cairngorms.... I think my hidden tang knives are stronger than that so...thhey should even be up for that usage!
Most of my knives are hidden tang - including my big ol' Bill Hook - muchly strong!
Judging by your latest string of posts around here you are feeling a little disillusioned with the world, is there anything you would like to tell the group?
no. if i dont cause offence its just not the same.
cmon man... lets lighten up here...
I was younger and slimmer then!
Photos taken at the time - during the set up not the ab down onto the ski slopes from the fiacel (sp)
scans of prints - before digital was invented!
Youth of today
Wont give a fellow credit for telling the truth - even if the fellow never tells lies!
Not a cliff - just a very steep neve slope (steeper than it looks)
It came after a day experimenting with various anchors such as ice bollards - I could have claimed to have abbed off nowt but water!
Photos taken at the time - during the set up not the ab down onto the ski slopes from the fiacel (sp)
scans of prints - before digital was invented!
Youth of today
Wont give a fellow credit for telling the truth - even if the fellow never tells lies!
Not a cliff - just a very steep neve slope (steeper than it looks)
It came after a day experimenting with various anchors such as ice bollards - I could have claimed to have abbed off nowt but water!
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