Question for Rob

My understanding of the use of Fullers is that they serve no functional purpose in the use of the knife as a weapon or tool - they are basically for looks only! It is a way to remove some weight from the blade without structurally weakening the blade to improve balance but with the KABAR it is decorative. The Japanese used fullers on some of their swords, particularly the longer ones, to lighten the blade & improve the balance & handling. There may have been some other factors too involving relieving stress in the metal & tempering but my memory is not functioning at full capacity yet. That's what I have learned about them but can't guarentee its accuracy though the sources are some very knowledgable folks.

Bill
 
Bill pretty much nailed it.

Looks and weight reduction are the two main things. I have fluted some short swords in the past that without the fluting the blade vibrated during a hard cut. After fluting there was little to no vibration. So I would think on some of old swords they were fluted to dampen vibration, much like match grade rifle barrels are fluted to dampen vibration and increase surface area for cooling purposes.

This is just a guess, but I would think many years ago when steel was a very valuable commodity, fullers were forged in to make the steel go farther. Maxium use of raw material.
 
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