Double edged knives: What purpose?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
Messages
4,453
A large number of people, me included, like knives with the usual design. Sharp on one side and blunt on the other.

What about those double-edged knives? I reckon double-edged knives are not as numerous as their single-edged cousins.

Wny? Does the double-edged knife serve few purposes or do they just have that sinister look?

I have two or three of these double-edged blades in my collection.

I look at them sometimes and wonder if they would fit in very nicely outside the battlefield. Frankly, I just prefer the single edged ones. The blunt side always come in useful knocking those darn nails into planks (if I don't have a hammer around).
 
Double-edged knives face many legal restrictions in the US. Most states do not allow people to generally carry them.

I have yet to find a non-combative application that demands a double-edged knife. I'd be very interested if someone here could come up with one.
 
Here is one Chuck, but it is the only non-combative use I have encountered.

A double edged knife is a must for me in higher class whitewater as a rescue knife. If I am bounced around in a hydrolic (akin to jumping into a washing machine) I do not want to worry about where the edge is. All I want to be concerned with is hanging onto the knife and cutting what-ever might be holding me under or trapping me and being conscious of where I am in regards to the bottom and the surface (that chages rapidly).

In a rafting situation if a raft is pinned and I have passengers underneath the raft I would need to cut quickly. A small (sub 3 inch) double edged knife attached to the left breast of my pfd answers that need better than anything else I have tried. Split seconds can mean quite a bit in those types of situations.

My white-water friends and I practice rescue quite a bit and I want my reactions to be automatic rather than pensive once I realize that I need to cut something in that type of environment. I want to have cut as soon as the realization is made... I want my throw rope to be on target (in a swimmers face) as soon as I realize it is needed ... I want my zdrag lines up without thinking about it ... etc.
 
If you take a nice wide double edged blade (such as the mini or full-sized smatchette) you can sharpen one edge to a push cutting, hair popping edge and the other to a nice roughrope cutting cardboard slicing edge.
 
Originally posted by Crayola
If you take a nice wide double edged blade (such as the mini or full-sized smatchette) you can sharpen one edge to a push cutting, hair popping edge and the other to a nice roughrope cutting cardboard slicing edge.
Click to expand...

I was thinking along these lines as well. I used to have a SOG Pentagon which is serrated on one edge and plain on the other. So I had a choice of edges to use.
 
In the same vein, consider the double-bit axe. You don't need 2 bits on an axe for any particular chopping task, but flip it over and you have a spare sharp edge to use once the first one goes dull or chips out. Twice the time between maintenance breaks. Same could be said for a double-edge knife.
 
Who would need a combo-edge if you could have plain on one side and serrated on the other? That would also double the cutting surface for each type, all in one knife. If it was legal, I'd buy one.
 
Not really a use, but the symmetry of double edged knives is very appealing.
 
Well... I do think a dagger is primarily a fighting knife... and, while not my primary choice for a fighter, none-the-less an extremely effective one (read some Applegate or Fairbairn).

I like the idea of a D.E. (double edge) knife with one serrated and one plain edge... would beat the hell out of combo edge.

Also, for a dress fixed blade I would require a dagger... because the right dagger is very elegant, and there is something about the lines of a dagger that is very attractive, symetry(sp?) and beauty, nice for dressier occasions where you can carry a fixed. (I, being goth, can think of several modes of gothic attire(mostly those with a little victorian flair), which a smaller dagger would go nicely with.)

I carry a dagger as a neck knife.... Not terribly legal, but I like the knife, despite its short-comings, and since it'd be the last thing I'd ever use for defense(i.e. last ditch), I'm comfortable carrying it, at least till I find something I like just as well, thats more legal.
 
When asking the purpose of double-edged blades you have to look at the history of how and why they were developed in the first place. Daggers tend to be associated with one of 2 fields, religion and the military with the emphasis on the military.I strongly suspect that daggers came into fashion on the battlefield with the introduction of chainmail and it could be argued that this usage of daggers was later made more specialized by the introduction of the stilleto. Once chainmail fled the field this pretty much left the dagger in the role of officer plaything and a dualists left hand blade.
In terms of actual usage today the dagger has little or no role to play in my own opinion. Most daggers don't have the mass to make a good utility/camp knife (the smachet being the exception) and there are single edged blades that make much more effective fighters. That being said, I carried my Gerber MKII for several years when on deployment and I was prepared to kick anyone in the rocks if they tried to pry my baby from my grubby little claws.
Well hopefully most of this is coherent.

Walt (aka Suvorov)
 
One of the makers who posts here also runs hunts for hogs using dogs and knives. He said that for hunting purposes, the double edges kill about 5 times as well as the singles. I have no personal experience, but if I planned to hunt with a knife I'd take his word for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top