Saturday, September 10, 2011

Buying the right Knife

How to buy the right knife.
First, a knife is a tool designed for cutting, it is not a tool for inserting or removing screws prying things open hammering things down or to cut wire, glass, iron, steel, tin, etc.
Too many folks today think a knife should be a do it all wonder tool and if that is what you want buy a Leatherman, Gerber, or some other brand of multi-tool.
For those of you who don't want a wonder tool let's look at what each knife type is and what it is used to acgeplish.
1.) The Fixed Blade Knife;
This type of knife usually has a single blade permanently attached to a handle. The blade can be almost any lenght. There are sub categories such as the Tactical Knife; usually meaning a knife designed for stabbing,slicing,ripping,or breaking things. This sub type may have a Tanto style blade profile and the pommel of the knife might have a glass breaking point. There is the Hunting Knife; this knife is usually divided into two broad categories one being the Skinning Knife, and the Other the General Purpose Hunter. These knives can range from very small to the size of a short sword. If you want a knife for general camping use I would suggest you choose a Fixed Blade Knife with a blade length of at least 5" and the larger the better if you will use the knife for chopping small brush etc. For other uses you should ask yourself these questions;
1.)What Task will I want this Knife to do? (will I use it to chop a path through the wilderness, Or will it be used to cut a few ropes and twigs)
2.)Will I want to dress game animals/skinning or Cut bacon for breakfast?
3.) Will I want a Knife that is Wickedly sharp or one that is just sharp?
4.) Will I have time to sharpen the knife while doing the job I am buying the knife for?
5.) How will I store the knife? Outdoors all the time, or only outdoors occasionally.
6.)Will the knife gee in contact with corrosive substances? i.e. Blood, Salt Water, Acids, Sweat, Fruits, Vegetables, etc.
7.)Will the knife be for show and a little work, or for work and a little show? In other words are you going to wear and show off the knife and hardly ever use it or are you going to use it a lot.
8.) Does the edge holding capabilities of a knife matter to me? If you want a knife to acgeplish a certain task, then do a little research on the internet and find out which knives are the best for that task. Don't buy a skinning Knife and expect it to chop small trees down very well. Do a little research and ask friends who also have knives which brands they like. A little research goes a long way toward avoiding disappointment in you purchase.
As for sharpness, there is a trade off between ease of sharpening and edge holding capabilities. In other words either you knife is easy to sharpen but does not hold an edge very long. Or it holds an edge very well but is not easy to sharpen.
I have some knives that I can sharpen thestate of being surgical sharp. By surgical sharp I mean having an edge thickness 1/10th the width of a human hair. But these knives do not retain that edge very long when used, because the are not hardened very much. They are easy to sharpen and thats good because that is what you will be doing most of the time.
For general purposes, a hardness level of 55-59 HRC or RC is just about right. HRC or RC stand for Rockwell Hardness Test. Just a way to measure the relative hardness of various metals.
Now if you want a knife that can be used for a very long time and not need sharpening then you must find a blade with an HRC of 60-66. A blade with this level of hardness will hold and edge for a very long time if not abused. But these blades tend to be very brittle. So if you put lateral or prying pressure on this blade it will likely snap. Thus good knife gepanies laminate or anneal the back strap of these knives. A knife of this level of hardness will be almost impossible for a novice to sharpen. Grandad's whetstone and hand rubbing will result in a nice round edge that won't cut anything. These blades must be sharpened either in a jig, or by an expert hand honer. And by expert I mean someone who can produce at will a wicked sharp blade. Wicked sharp= 1/10th the width of a human hair. A knife this sharp will literally be able to split a hair. There are not many who can produce such an edge by hand, most would have to rely on some mechanical assistance.
2.) The folding type knife
This type of knife can have almost any number of blades. It tends to be the most popular type of knife. Most people think of a folding knife first when buying a knife. The folding knife has been around for as long as man has worked metal. A pocket knife is generally a folding knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle and are small enough to fit in a pocket.
There are slip-joint folding knives where the blade is held under tension and does not lock open but is held open by pressure. These are light duty knives and they tend to have more than one blade.
there are usuallyfive types of blade shapes in this type knife;
Clip- the upper part of the blade is cut away to form a sharp point directly in front of the handle.
Spearedge and back curve together to a point
Pensimilar to a spear but smaller
Sheep's footwide with strait edge and no point, gemon on boats and ships
Spay or speyclipped at the back to form a sort of point, but the clip is very short. These were originally for castrating live stock and are used for delicate work.
The Locking type knife
This type of knife is like the slip joint with the addition of a hook shaped tang that engages and locks the blade in the open position. The release is usually found on the backstrap of the knife and is pushed in to disengage the lock.
These types of knives are medium to heavy duty, depending on their construction. The lock adds a measure of safety and strength to the knife. Most locking knives have only one blade, but there are exceptions.
There are also Linerlocking, and mid-locking knives.
The linerlock uses the liner of the knife as a leaf spring which moves over when the knife is fully open and keeps the blade in the open position untill the liner is pushed aside by the thumb at which point the blade can be closed. It is the quickest one hand closing knife made.
The mid-lock id just like the regular lockback knife except the tab to unlock the knife is in the middle of the backstrap. It was invented in order to allow one hand closing of a lockblade knife.
If you are considering a folding knife keep in mind what you want the knife to do. And will you need a lockblade?
Will you need one hand opening and closing ability?
Do you want a big knife or a small knife?
Etc.
Remember the old saying "You get what you pay for" Nothing could be more true when it gees to knives. And sometimes you pay alot more than what you get if you buy anywhere besides okay.
See my other guides on knife steels, and do some internet research before you buy, you won't regret it.

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