Blade thickness

[Draven]

Howdy folks!
This is something I've been wondering about for a long while. I see a lot of thick knives going around (I consider thick 4mm or more, for the record) and I was wondering, first of all, why people like thick knives, and what the general consensus on knife thickness was!

Soooo, if you pick an option (sorry if this doesn't work right, my first poll ) I'd be very grateful for a short explanation as to why you prefer that blade thickness. I know some of us carry multiple knives so I'll say for your primary user, rather than fine carving knives and choppers/billhooks/machetes/parangs/goloks (need I go on?) you carry around.

Cheers folks!
Pete

 

[Draven]

And it worked

Anyhoo, I voted 2mm, as Moras come standard! Thin enough for wood carving and food preparation (without splitting the carrots ), lightweight and no issues at all batoning. Thickest knife is my Leuku at 3mm.

Pete

 

[steveme]

I snapped a 2mm Mora (using it for something it wasn't designed for....), so i got a knife with a 3mm blade - the extra 1mm of material feels a lot more substantial.

 

[Leonidas]

The blades I make are 4mm, why?
One knife does all things, peel veggie's, carve wood, baton, even splitting medium logs at a push.....also allows for a more accurate single bevel throughout the life of the blade...
Nothing wrong with 2 or 3mm blades at all, they are great, just prefer an all rounder.

 

[Tye Possum]

I use a 2mm I guess. It looks like 2mm to me but I couldn't find a ruler to check. It's the kellam wolverine. Although I just got it so I haven't actually used it yet but it will be my primary user once some of the snow melts.

 

[BigShot]

4mm for no reason other than that's the thickness of the knife the maker very kindly gave me (one of the few moments in life where I've been speechless).

It's a really very nice knife too.

http://www.eiromedia.com/

 

[sapper1]

4mm for me because I cant break it no matter how hard I abuse it.

 

[saddle_tramp]

I use 2mm moras mostly, tho got an older one thats more like 3mm. But i cant say i have ever needed to batton wood or split logs with a knife. If i did, then id want something thicker i guess.

 

[Jedadiah]

I went for 3mm although i have to say, it's dependant on the blade length for me. I had a Bison Bushcraft Forester which was 90mm-100mm long, blade wise and 4mm thick. It felt too thick and unweildy for me. It felt too thick to do intricate tasks. I have held 3mm knives of the same length and they have given me the confidence to tackle any task. Having said that, i had a Johan Staaf Utility/camp knife that had a 6" blade and was 6mm thick and i found that easier to use than a shorter, thicker blade. Go figure!

 

[Chris the Cat]

3.5!
is this aloud?!
C da C

 

[rcs]

I'm using a falkniven H1 at the moment(5mm) but up until about two months ago i was using a Mora clipper(2mm) and it was thick enough for anything i did with it (it didn't have mosaic pins though)

regards,
Rob

 

[Draven]

I kinda expected the 4mm to be higher in the polls tbh!

Jedadiah - I'm curious, what were the grinds? I've seen a lot of 4-5mm knives with what I thought were pretty narrow bevels (for their thickness) which I know I would find clumsy to use, but I'd like to give one a try that has a full flat grind...

Chris - Knock yourself out I was thinking of adding smaller integers but I thought it would overcomplicate matters...

rcs - What do you think about the transition from 2-5mm? Was it difficult, or natural?

BigShot - That fella does some lovely work! Very nice.

 

[BigShot]

Draven - he's a REALLY nice guy on top of that too.
He introduced me to the best pint of Guinness I've ever tasted too - it was like drinking silk.

 

[Draven]

Draven - he's a REALLY nice guy on top of that too.
He introduced me to the best pint of Guinness I've ever tasted too - it was like drinking silk.

Ahh I like a good pint of guinness m'self! SWMBO complains it's too "mealy" - personally, I like having a drink you can live off in a survival situation

 

[BigShot]

She might like it there...
...you know that sort of iron aftertaste? Gets sharper on the back of the tongue/throat the worse the pint gets?

Forget it.

In this pub (think it was called The Bridge Inn, in a town called Quin in Co. Clare) that aftertaste didn't come into it - just pure smoothness.

Better than any pint I got into me in Dublin, and I tried 3 or 4 different pubs there!

 

[Draven]

She might like it there...
...you know that sort of iron aftertaste? Gets sharper on the back of the tongue/throat the worse the pint gets?

Forget it.

In this pub (think it was called The Bridge Inn, in a town called Quin in Co. Clare) that aftertaste didn't come into it - just pure smoothness.

Better than any pint I got into me in Dublin, and I tried 3 or 4 different pubs there!

Can't really think of a way to describe it, but I know what you mean - good pint vs rubbish pint

 

[BigShot]

Right - well take that "good pint" bit and go a bit further to the point where you are surprised at how smooth it is

GOOOOD pint!

I'll be going back soon! Haha.

 

[Jedadiah]

Jedadiah - I'm curious, what were the grinds? I've seen a lot of 4-5mm knives with what I thought were pretty narrow bevels (for their thickness) which I know I would find clumsy to use, but I'd like to give one a try that has a full flat grind...

Crikey, um, scandi grind really. The Bison Forester, the AW Woodlore, a Stu Mitchell Bushcrafter, a Paul Baker Bushman and a Stewart Marsh, all were varying lengths but were 4mm thick scandi grinds. My first F1 was a standard thickness and, of course convex, as was the Johan Staaf utility camp knife (though quite a bit longer). I find the 'Standard' 110mm length a little cumbersome so, for a general purpose knife, i like it to be between 100mm and 75mm long, again, dependant on the thickness.

At the moment, all the knives i've got are 3mm thick or there abouts. I have a few MS Bird and Trout knives in my box waiting to be handled which are 2mm thick and tremendously robust feeling so i may again change my preferances, but to dance between to 2-3mm area is no bad thing. I'm just about to start using a Gene Ingram #11 knife which is my first full flat, lets see what i think about that!

One thing i have noticed is the weight difference. I've found 4mm and thicker quite heavy, infact, the Shinken F1 i'm currently using is heavy but not as heavy as a standard F1 and that's probably as Shinken has 'thinned' the blade quite a bit. If you get fatigued using a heavy knife and the length and breadth are just right, maybe a thinner blade should be considered.

 

[mick spain]

I prefer 3mm thick with a 25- 27 degree scandi grind

My own knife is from 1/8" just a fraction thicker than 3mm

 

[John Fenna]

I voted 3mm but most of the Mora blades I use are 2 - 2.5mm and are great
3+ tend to be a bit thick for my taste, though for a BIG knife it would be fitting I guess
Up to 4" long 2mm is fine, under 3.5" then over 2mm seems a bit thick.....