Fine, pointy tips or reinforced tips?

J

James Y

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Feb 18, 1999
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Do you prefer your knives with fine, needle-like tips or to have stronger, thicker tips? Do you ever fear accidentally snapping off a fine tip?

Many of my favorite knives are ones with fine tips (including Spyderco Police, Endura, Delica, Buck 110, BM AFCK, others). Also one of my very favorite EDC's is a Benchmade 550, which has a very useful blade that is, IMO, as reinforced as a tanto blade, only it has some belly and a strong, spear-like tip to it.
Jim
 
Well, I think that it really depends on what kind of knife you are carrying and for what purpose. Persoanlly, I like reinforced tips on knives such as the Wegner and on most tantos for work. If I am carrying a knife while in a suit or while at a formal gathering, I would want something along the lines of a gentleman's knife with a sharp pointy tip.
Matt
 
I prefer strong tips. Very fine pointy tips like the CRKT Apache 3 and CRKT S-2 have fine, very weak tips.

Since I snapped-off the tipe of my Apache 3 last week, I am now averse to this kind of tip design. Very good for cutting fruit, but very delicate - I think too delicate.

I looked at the tips of my Spydie collection - no delicate tips there. (Although the Centonfante knives, which I do not have, may have a delicate tip issue.)
 
Fine pointy tips on light duty utility knives and strong, thick tips on heavy use tactical knives of course.

I have this theory that a tip will find its natural thickness. If it is too fine, you will soon break it off. When you reshape the tip and resharpen it, it will then be the perfect thickness for it mission. :)
 
I prefer the finer, pointier tips. I usually carry at least two knives though, a Sebenza and something else with a finer point.

Just curious - What catagory would you place a Sebenza in? Or say a BM940? Or a CRKT M-16 (spearpoint)?

A small Sebenza gets to less than 1/16th of an inch only in the last 1/4 inch of the blade.


Steve-O
 
For my uses, a finer point and thinner edge geometry work best. Joe and others recomend when sharpening to go with a certain degree and during subsequent sharpenings, sharpen you rknife thinner and thinner until you shart chipping out. Then go up a knotch. That way you get the thinnest edge for your uses that will still be durable. I have found with the various folders I have used that a knife with a fine point and high grind best fits my uses.

I also want one of those CRKT Military M-16 folders with a thick tanto tip, but that si because I really like it!
 
I tend to prefer the fine and pointy version. This works best for the uses I put my blades too. I like thin grinds and polished edges with a scary sharp tip. Since I don't pry, wedge, or chop with my knives then I get along great with tips such as this.
 
I like the tip on my Marble's Fieldcraft -- fine and pointy enough for delicate work, yet not delicate or fragile at all.
 
That’s a question of the intended purpose. Regarding food preparation I prefer a thin blade with a fine and pointed tip, regarding self defense I trust more in a thicker blade and a sturdy tip (e. g. Microtech SOCOM Elite).
 
Thanks for sharing all your thoughts!

Steve-O:
(just my opinion) I would probably consider the Sebenza (at least the standard blade) to be somewhat in-between or even maybe on the stronger side as far as points go, even though it has a great, thin edge. The CRKT M-16 spearpoint, maybe in-between too???

I looked at my plain Delica II and Delica '98 and love them, but never before paid much attention to the fact their tips are almost paper-fine. I think in many of Spyderco's coming upgrades, enhancing some of the tip strength is definitely one of the things they have been focusing on.

I love them all, though, just lately find myself being extra careful with my extremely fine-tipped knives.
Jim
 
I generally prefer a stronger, thicker tip to a thinner, weaker one. I avoid a lot of knives because of their rather delicate tips. One knife that I'm interested in, with a too thin tip, is the Spyderco Military. I'd buy one except for the tip. A thin tip is more acceptable on a knife like the Spyderco Native because I see that as more of a lighter duty knife than something like the Military, but I wouldn't mind if they beefed up the Native's tip a little.
Steve Harvey has a point about knives finding their own natural thickness. But, rather than waiting for a thin tip to break, I accelerate the process by grinding down, by hand, the tips on some of my knives to a more robust profile before they break. One knife that I've done this on is the Buck Odyssey, a really good knife except for the very pointy tip. Another knife I've done like this is the Schrade Sharpfinger.
 
Originally posted by Architect
I snapped-off the tip of my Apache 3 last week, I am now averse to this kind of tip design.
Click to expand...
Architect,
What were you doing to snap the blade?
I just bought one, and want to avoid doing the same...;)
Rob
 
What are you guys doing to snap off the tip of a knife? A knife is for slicing and cutting, not prying. I prefer, no I demand a fine razor sharp tip on my knives. If you want to pry, use an old screwdriver or an actual prybar. Same with chopping; use an axe or machete. A knife is for cutting.
 
If I were forced to choose one over the other I would choose the sturdier tip, a delicate tip is useless when it is not attached to my knife. However I am not forced to choose, therefore I carry both.

Same with chopping; use an axe or machete. A knife is for cutting.
Click to expand...

If chopping is not considered cutting what is it?
 
I lean towards tips that can penetrate, though I want them to be able to hold up to at least some torquing. So I lean more towards thin tips most of the time. For everyday use, I want the point to penetrate easily in a controllable manner. For back defensive use, I want it to penetrate easily. It's only for harder utility use that I want a thicker, stronger tip.

Joe
 
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