During my time as a hobbyist knife maker I have noticed a lot of misleading as to what’s what when it comes to knives.
I think it is understandable as a lot of what is written in books and on the web is based on the writers’ preference rather than the truth about the type of tool. And sometimes it is a hypothetical basis that when put to the test does not hold up. Some of it is even bad experience of a poorly manufactured tool that puts people of that kind of tool for good.
I will attempt to use quotes from well respected knife makers where I find it necessary.
First up is using knives to make sparks from fire steels. Two things go wrong here. Firstly people refer to ferrocium rods as fire steels.
A fire steelis a piece of hard carbon steel that you strike flint against to produce sparks. if you have a carbon steel knife then your knife can be used instead of the steel to produce sparks with flint. This does not work with stainless knives.
Ferrocium or "Ferro" rods are alloyed metals which when scraped with something hard and sharp produce sparks. It does not matter what you use as long as it is hard with a square edge capable of shaving the rod. If you use your knife it does not matter if it is stainless or carbon. (the spine just needs for be hard and square)
Second misconception = tangs.
I often hear that a knife must be full tang to be strong.
I think this misconception comes from bad experience of poorly made partial tangs and an imagined "it must be stronger because there is more metal"
As a hobbyist knife maker I have to say I have seen more well made full tangs fail than well made partial tangs, why?
On a full tang there is more exposed metal where the handle slabs meet the tang. If that area gets damaged or wet for a long period of time then moisture can get in. What’s more if you do get a slight lifting the glue seal tends to be ruined.
Any flex in a full tang handle will result in the scale lifting, after a period of time.
So to counteract this the steel tends to be thicker to limit the amount of flex in the tang, they also don't tend to have the tang spring tempered (which makes it less likely to snap under force) because more movement as said above helps the scale to lift.
So to summarize weakness in full tang is the scale lifting, Solution is thicker steel and harder less flexible tang.
Stick tang's tend to fail mostly if they are made poorly. If bolster has a poor fit. but we can ignore this because that is common to both full tang and stick tang. we are talking about well made tools.
Second area a stick tang tends to fail is the transition between the blade and tang snapping. I have never seen this unless the steel had a large grain structure, the tang was too hard, the tang was too thin, or the transition of the tang to blade was too square. Again all these things are due to poorly thought out and made tools.
A third area I’ve seen is tang coming through the handle during heavy use, again this is either due to poor handle to tang fit, or weak handle material.
So to summarize great tang debate, In my opinion well made partial tangs are superior to well made full tangs. Because a full tang has to compensate for its weaknesses by being overly thick. Whereas a partial tangs only weakness is if its poorly made.
I have found these quote's for master smith Wayne Goddard’s book $50 knife shop.
" another factor to consider is the fact that the narrow-tang knife is a sealed unit compared to the slab handles affixed to a full tang"
"there is no doubt in my mind that there are fewer things that can go wrong with a properly constructed narrow tang knife"
"over the years I have had less trouble with narrow tang handles than with full tang versions. That’s why it's my opinion that when properly constructed the narrow tang is the strongest and most foolproof handle. it must be done right or it may not be any better than a full tang model. My opinion is also based on the most severe test of tang strength that I have been able to devise. I drove the point of a knife through a 2x4 board by pounding the pommel cap with a 4 pound hammer. The knife had a wire Damascus blade, micarta handle with a steel guard and pommel cap. The properly constructed narrow tang will withstand this type of abuse. I’d never try it with a slab handle full tang knife" Wayne Goddard $50 knife shop
I think it is understandable as a lot of what is written in books and on the web is based on the writers’ preference rather than the truth about the type of tool. And sometimes it is a hypothetical basis that when put to the test does not hold up. Some of it is even bad experience of a poorly manufactured tool that puts people of that kind of tool for good.
I will attempt to use quotes from well respected knife makers where I find it necessary.
First up is using knives to make sparks from fire steels. Two things go wrong here. Firstly people refer to ferrocium rods as fire steels.
A fire steelis a piece of hard carbon steel that you strike flint against to produce sparks. if you have a carbon steel knife then your knife can be used instead of the steel to produce sparks with flint. This does not work with stainless knives.
Ferrocium or "Ferro" rods are alloyed metals which when scraped with something hard and sharp produce sparks. It does not matter what you use as long as it is hard with a square edge capable of shaving the rod. If you use your knife it does not matter if it is stainless or carbon. (the spine just needs for be hard and square)
Second misconception = tangs.
I often hear that a knife must be full tang to be strong.
I think this misconception comes from bad experience of poorly made partial tangs and an imagined "it must be stronger because there is more metal"
As a hobbyist knife maker I have to say I have seen more well made full tangs fail than well made partial tangs, why?
On a full tang there is more exposed metal where the handle slabs meet the tang. If that area gets damaged or wet for a long period of time then moisture can get in. What’s more if you do get a slight lifting the glue seal tends to be ruined.
Any flex in a full tang handle will result in the scale lifting, after a period of time.
So to counteract this the steel tends to be thicker to limit the amount of flex in the tang, they also don't tend to have the tang spring tempered (which makes it less likely to snap under force) because more movement as said above helps the scale to lift.
So to summarize weakness in full tang is the scale lifting, Solution is thicker steel and harder less flexible tang.
Stick tang's tend to fail mostly if they are made poorly. If bolster has a poor fit. but we can ignore this because that is common to both full tang and stick tang. we are talking about well made tools.
Second area a stick tang tends to fail is the transition between the blade and tang snapping. I have never seen this unless the steel had a large grain structure, the tang was too hard, the tang was too thin, or the transition of the tang to blade was too square. Again all these things are due to poorly thought out and made tools.
A third area I’ve seen is tang coming through the handle during heavy use, again this is either due to poor handle to tang fit, or weak handle material.
So to summarize great tang debate, In my opinion well made partial tangs are superior to well made full tangs. Because a full tang has to compensate for its weaknesses by being overly thick. Whereas a partial tangs only weakness is if its poorly made.
I have found these quote's for master smith Wayne Goddard’s book $50 knife shop.
" another factor to consider is the fact that the narrow-tang knife is a sealed unit compared to the slab handles affixed to a full tang"
"there is no doubt in my mind that there are fewer things that can go wrong with a properly constructed narrow tang knife"
"over the years I have had less trouble with narrow tang handles than with full tang versions. That’s why it's my opinion that when properly constructed the narrow tang is the strongest and most foolproof handle. it must be done right or it may not be any better than a full tang model. My opinion is also based on the most severe test of tang strength that I have been able to devise. I drove the point of a knife through a 2x4 board by pounding the pommel cap with a 4 pound hammer. The knife had a wire Damascus blade, micarta handle with a steel guard and pommel cap. The properly constructed narrow tang will withstand this type of abuse. I’d never try it with a slab handle full tang knife" Wayne Goddard $50 knife shop
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As for the firesteel problem, you can blame Light My Fire for that as they brand theirs as such. I remember when we all used to call them Fireflashes.
