Ideal thickness for a Bushcraft blade

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What is your ideal thickness for a Bushcraft blade?

Between my Mora 511 (~2.4mm) and my Lauri 105H (3mm) I feel a difference doing fine carving. I was making hooks in a stick and I found the Mora easier to work with. I know a thicker blade is preferred for heavier tasks like batoning, but I'm leaning towards thinner blades because most of the time you have a larger tool for wood processing.
 
My thoughts as well. Thin with a tough temper to it so it can take some hard knocks. Preferably with a chopper.
 
I'll basically throw my vote in with 42B. I've been moving away from the overbuilt knives to more of a scheme of carrying a proper chopping tool and a proper knife. Some days I think ol' G.W. Sears knew what he was talking about... go figure!


God bless,
Adam
 
for me , the ideal thickness varies a bit depending on the steel used .
For a regular production knife , I like my mora , but would not be upset if it were a touch thicker ...
for a self made job , I went thiner because that was what I had , but I believe it was not a problem , even when it came to batoning


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FortyTwoBlades said:
I like my choppers thin too--just make 'em wide.
Click to expand...

Howabout a role of tinfoil then. :D You couldn't get much thinner than that, and if you unroll the whole thing it's quite wide! I agree though. Choppers need to be properly (not absurdly as in my tinfoil offer) thin and wide to do their job well. Otherwise you wind up with a splitting maul. Let's be honest splitting mauls make pathetic choppers (Just ask Nuttin Fancy.)


God Bless,
Adam
 
One thing to note, though is that in the case of full flat grinds the width of the blade will affect what a suitable thickness will be. Generally the wider it is the thicker it can afford to be at the spine as a result of the widening distance between the rays of the angle.

And yeah, with Nutnfancy he tried using a Gerber splitting axe to chop didn't he? Believe it or not it chops pretty well for a splitting axe thanks to the concave face. Just gotta' watch out for those cheeks! I've used mine to section tree trunks on a few occasions when I didn't have my 1890's Plumb handy.
 
For scandis, I like a thin blade like the 3/32" Pit Mora or Brian Andrews' Lode Star.

For convex, I like a thicker blade, say 1/8 - 5/32".
 
I prefer 1/8 in a blade that is under 5-6 inches. Over that, I get thicker. (Unless it is a machete)
 
I think I'm in the minority here but 3/16ths works great for me. Its thin enough so slice well but extremely tough. I like to baton and pry a little bit so thicker works best for me. I never go thinner than 1/8th.
 
I generally prefer 3/32" for knives 4" and under, and I baton them without worry on North American hardwoods. I have a few in 1/8" and they feel clumsy whereas the thinner knives feel precise...dare I say surgical?

I think 7/64" is a good compromise, and wish more steel came in that thickness.
 
first , and last nutnfancy I watched was him demonstrating how axes suck compared to knives for chopping random trees into pieces ... just see how hard it is to chop with a wood splitter ...

I like a thinner blade for bushwork , it got to have a little flex to it as well , digging meat out of coconuts , sliding under some of the bigger shellfish .. that bit of flex is just very handy to have . Its why I mess with thinner hss blades , that having serious edge retention , an rc of about 63 and still a flexible blade is kinda awesome . For me tho bushwork , as in the work of gathering and preparing food , medicines etc for living is different to bush craft I like to pair it with a machete tho .

for bush craft .. one or two day trips into the bush , carving a spoon or a trap , general " woods bumming" a little thicker blade that is kinda rigid would be better , since its kinda work is kinda different , more for just doing the primary work that is done when you set up camp , and thats about it .

This is just my feelings and experience tho .
 
I agree with 42B, the thinner the better for me,

For me a knife is primarily a cutting tool, food prep, opening packets, dressing game and carving are the main tasks required for my a belt knife on most trips, for me I find 1/8 is perfect for a knife with a blade length around 4inches, I have never had any problems battoning with knives of this thickness and never wished for anytrhing thicker.

I think with knives now makers and manufacturers are over building knives as people tend to use knives for wood prep etc instead of there primary function of just cutting, for me I would rather have a tool dedicated to a specific task and excell at that one task rather than being a jack of all trades doing tasks to a lesser standard, for example a hatchet/axe and a folding saw is unbeatable for wood prep in heavily wooded areas in colder climates and I would much prefer this than a 1/4 inch thick prybar that will do the job and slice a sandwitch but do it with less finesse, a thin 1/8 thick knife for gutting an animal will work wonders where a thick knife will do the job and split firewood but to a far lesser standard.

this is all just my opinion based on my years spent in the bush, everyone is different and I dont think thicker or thinner blades are better or worse it comes down to what the individual prefers, what works for me might be a complete pain in the arse for the next guy, so what Im trying to say is a combination of tools specifically designed for a set purpose is what I prefer and this always includes a thin belt knife, this does change tho if I only want to take one tool that must do all bushcraft tasks something a bit thicker for added peace of mind is good to
 
I'm not usually one of the guys piling on Nutn (don't hate the guy but don't pay attention to him much either) but I'm not sure what was funnier about that one--the fact that he thought chopping with a splitting axe was a good demonstration of how well a felling axe would perform...or the fact that he did so poorly at it on top of it. Like I said, as long as you watch out for the cheeks of the Gerber splitting axe, it actually chops quite well because of its gargantuan hollow grind. :p

I think that my biggest requirement for a woods knife is to have it at a good spring temper. Edge retention will be slightly diminished, but resharpening will be easy (read: damage is easy to repair) and the knife is less likely to be harmed by non-knife-like usage like light prying or heavy batoning, even if it's very thin. :thumbup:
 
1/8" thick, 4" long seems to be my preference, just from looking at the knives I tend to use. With a flat grind or Scandi.

My SDS Nessmuk is my favorite. It is flat ground and has a rather broad blade, so it is very sharp and tends to stay that way. The 1/8" spine makes it stout enough for splitting wood.
 
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