What’s the point?
- Thread starter Pattree
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I’d say that two of those are pointy, though? Perhaps we need to define ‘point’?
I just checked with my Old Timer Stockman’s Spey blade, and it can clean nails.
Not good for those hang nails though.
Not adversarial either.
The middle and right have points. Only the left could be said not to have a point, and poking a hole in the hide of anything with that is gonna be harder than it would with a point. Nor could you do some wood carving cuts. It would spread peanut butter very well though! The two with points would be fine making initial incisions for skinning, but would not be so effective for aiding in skinning because they lack belly.
I recall reading about some North American hunters skinning either a bison or a big bear with the little blade of a SAK because the better knife had been forgotten in camp. I even remember reading about a skinning job performed with a brass cartridge bashed flat on a rock.
What one can manage with happily is a poor yardstick for understanding why someone else uses something else. This is not significantly different from discussion of Mora vs handmade, farm supply store clothes vs premium outdoor brand vs army surplus. Preference, cutting job type and frequency, patience, sense of style, disposable income, etc ad nauseam . I loathe hip hop (blues, jazz, county) music, no amount of discussion will make me like it, or understand the appeal for those that do, but I do recognise that some people do like it.
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I have a few blunt nose knives, an opinel child knife, a gerber rescue and a mora rope knife.
I have also rounded the tip of an opinel after the tip was snapped off and converted a petzl spatha to make it more rescue friendly.
You can still cut a net or bag but it’s more of a slicing motion.
I have also rounded the tip of an opinel after the tip was snapped off and converted a petzl spatha to make it more rescue friendly.
You can still cut a net or bag but it’s more of a slicing motion.
It's been said before but a sheepsfoot or wharncliffe is ideal for a slipjoint because piercing with the tip naturally forces the blade open whereas a drop point could easily shut the knife on your finger. They are also great for scoring sheet materials (let's say birch bark for a bushcraft example). I think the really rounded 'rookie' or 'cotton sampler' style blades would be a bridge too far for me.
Hang on hang on!
Who said that ^^^^^^^^?
I’ve not used a protractor but I bet they won’t be far off
I’ll stick y the statement if you only want me to use my sailor knife!
I have some knives that are pointy and some with more rounded ends. I tend to use the right one for the job. Chopping veg I tend to use a rounded end knife as I don't need a point but for cutting out bits I'll use a pointed paring knife.
Well I for various reasons find it easier to use the point, I seem to be at less risk of injuring myself that way as I have more control, every day knives have been made with a point since the Romans at least and you will not see a set of Sabatier knives that are not pointed and these are used by the professionals.
I also believe in evolution by natural selection over the last 3000 years or so - most people find it works best with a point therefor they are sold (predominantly) with a point.
I think that most of us can agree that it is easier to do any given task when using the correct tools.
Knives are no exception. Filleting a fish with a meat cleaver is possible, but not advisable, as a sharp point and a flexible blade are an advantage.
If one could afford , and find room for, the correct knife for every task, it would probably make any task easier and more efficient.
If one could only afford one knife, however, it needs to have as much versatility as possible.
For me that would include a sharp point.
I can almost understand the round-ended knives for kids, but really we’d be better teaching them about knife safety with a standard knife from the beginning.
The only knives I have with no point are Asian-style vegetable slicing blades in the kitchen.
I still need to combine these with a pointed paring knife to remove any bad bits which may appear. The small pointy blade keeps waste to a minimum and the broad flat blade does a great job of slicing and dicing.
Horses for courses I guess.
Knives are no exception. Filleting a fish with a meat cleaver is possible, but not advisable, as a sharp point and a flexible blade are an advantage.
If one could afford , and find room for, the correct knife for every task, it would probably make any task easier and more efficient.
If one could only afford one knife, however, it needs to have as much versatility as possible.
For me that would include a sharp point.
I can almost understand the round-ended knives for kids, but really we’d be better teaching them about knife safety with a standard knife from the beginning.
The only knives I have with no point are Asian-style vegetable slicing blades in the kitchen.
I still need to combine these with a pointed paring knife to remove any bad bits which may appear. The small pointy blade keeps waste to a minimum and the broad flat blade does a great job of slicing and dicing.
Horses for courses I guess.
I agree about the rounded end knives; there are very few accidents with the point, most are from slicing, and I wonder if the round end of a training knife gives unwarranted confidence. I have never introduced kids to knife skills using one of the 'training' knives.
Generally a knife without a point is pointless (pun intended), although that point may not be acute or be on the same axis of the blade direction.
The ability to pierce, score, bore and scrape are all part of knife skills that are substantially more difficult to do without a point.
The only knives that you can really get away without a point are serrated kitchen knives for example where slicing is their sole purpose (victorinox bread knife, tomato knife etc) and sliciness is more important than having a point and you generally also have pointed knifes to hand anyway.
As an afterthought, are the scalloped serrations not just multiple obtuse points, so instead of repeatedly scoring something multiple times with point of a plain pointed knife, you have multiple points on one knife?
I regularly use the pointy tip of the small pen blade on a SAK to pierce packing tape when opening a cardboard box. Sometimes I use the blade tip to help start the cut on packing tape when when sealing up a cardboard box or package for ebay.
Other than that it is actually quite rare that I use the point of a knife for anything. Occasionally I have used the tip of a Mora to stab a hole in a sack of horse feed or compost before opening it but that is maybe once or twice a year at most. A few times I have used the tip of a SAK blade to cut an intricate shape out of a sheet of paper but that if probably only about half a dozen times in my life.
Maybe I use the pointy tip more often than I realise but it happens so instinctively without thought that I don’t even consciously notice that I have used it? Just my two pence worth.
Other than that it is actually quite rare that I use the point of a knife for anything. Occasionally I have used the tip of a Mora to stab a hole in a sack of horse feed or compost before opening it but that is maybe once or twice a year at most. A few times I have used the tip of a SAK blade to cut an intricate shape out of a sheet of paper but that if probably only about half a dozen times in my life.
Maybe I use the pointy tip more often than I realise but it happens so instinctively without thought that I don’t even consciously notice that I have used it? Just my two pence worth.
I spent the morning skinning & jointing a Muntjac. I can't see how the loin or tenderloin could be removed along the spine without a point. Skinning would be a royal pain with a flat blade. I don't need a lot of knife until it comes to cutting steaks but does want to be pointy, curved and sharp.You'd have a job piercing the belly skin of any game that you needed to gut without a point. Yes, it can be done with a very sharp blade but there is much more risk of cutting into the entrails. A pointed blade is used, edge up, to slice up to the chest cavity. A blade without a point would be much harder to use for that task. I wouldn't even consider trying to gut a slippery trout without a knife with a point
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I’ve dug a few splinters out with Spyderco’s lovely fine pointed blades. Delica, Endura, UKPK, they’d be nothing with it.
Second worst cut I ever got was while trying to pierce plastic with a Swiss Army knife and that has at least a bit of a point, I have absolutely no use for a rounded tip at all. Watched a vid of a guy reviewing the Opi Neo the other day and the last third of the review was him grinding a decent point onto the useless thing. Pretty much all knives have pointed blades, there’s good reason for it.
i'd say if pointy knife tips would be of not much use they would be less common on blades all over the world (=there's a reason they "evolved" on knives over centuries); i use the tip of my blades f.i. to dig up splinters and 'drill' holes into boards for bowdrill, likewise i find them useful for gutting fish
I’ve an old British army clasp knife - all stainless dated 1953 with “oil the joints” on it .. it was my dads … but not from new … it has a sheep’s foot blade and I love that shape … it must suit my usage perfectly … whenever I needed a point I used the awl on Swiss Army knives or a leatherman … horses for courses I guess .. I like the simple utilitarian aesthetic of the knife …
Plus it’s pretty much banged to hell - no idea what former owners used the blade for but it certainly wasn’t a gentle job!!!
Plus it’s pretty much banged to hell - no idea what former owners used the blade for but it certainly wasn’t a gentle job!!!
#21 above includes the 1943 version of your knife. It’s a beautifully rugged working tool. Every boy I knew had one, usually from their dad.
Never mind a point, I very rarely use a knife other than culinary ones. Scissors and secateurs work best for me.
As to whether It not that tip is a point - it’s pretty useless for stabbing, great for cutting - it’s a knife!
Never mind a point, I very rarely use a knife other than culinary ones. Scissors and secateurs work best for me.
As to whether It not that tip is a point - it’s pretty useless for stabbing, great for cutting - it’s a knife!
