Blade design

Although this subject has been hashed out a thousand times on BladeForums, I'm interested in the outdoors crowd input on blade design. Particularly, thick vs. thin, length, and point design for each of the following chores:

1)field dressing and skinning
2)survival camp construction
3)hard chopping

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Randall's Adventure & Training
jeff@jungletraining.com

 
for skinning i prefer a short well curved blade, survival and basic camp constuction i prefer a long wide blade like the RTAK or BM, for hard chopping i prefer a large curved knife like a khukri. just my opinions.
 
Jeff,
Here are my thoughts:

skinning/field dressing - Very thin, very sharp, small (4" & under) drop point blade.

survival/camp construction - Spear point blade (around 6"-8"). Thin but not too thin and easy to sharpen. Flat ground.

heavy chopping - Large blade (9" and up). Bolo pattern works best for me. Thicker flat ground blade. Heat treated for toughness.

BTW, my bolo pattern has a 15" blade and will zip thru a 8" diameter tree in no time. It also serves as a draw knife.

[This message has been edited by BARRY JONES (edited 05 December 1999).]
 
1- Drop Point w/ some belly, flat or hollow ground, not too thick, 3-5 inches.

2- Drop Point or Clip Point, flat or convex ground, 3/16 - 1/4" thick, 5-10 inches

3- Quality Axe, Hatchet, Kukri or Machete.
 
My personal preferences run to flat ground blades, no covex grinds. Blade hard enough to hold an edge decently, not to hard though because I want to be able to put an edge on a knife with what I have, be it diamond rod, file, or river rock.

For skinning I like a drop point full bellied blade in the 2.5 to 4 inch range. Thin blades are good, you do not need 1/4 inch thick small blades, besides after long usage and many sharpening a thick blade will eventually have a terrible edge geometry unless you reprofile the entire blade.

I like a large knife say 7 to 10 inches. Depending upon if I am carrying a small belt ax. The Marbles Trailmaker knives are very much what I look for in a large style blade.

I like natural wood and leather washer handles on knives. Leather sheaths are my preference, but it is hard to not recognize the advantages of kydex. Same goes for blade steel, I prefer plain carbon steels, but for a lot of people stainless is best.

Hope this was what you were asking.
 
[*] field dressing and skinning -- thin, hollow or flat ground drop point < 5"
[*] survival camp construction & hard chopping -- quality khukuri


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Cheers,

--+Brian+--

I may be goin' to hell in a bucket, Babe, but at least I'm enjoyin' the ride.




[This message has been edited by bcaffrey (edited 08 December 1999).]
 
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