Talon-blades.......why?, good or bad?

[dennis75]

hi all

i'm a great fan of AMK and noticed that they sell and sold many of their knives with a talon-blade. for example when you buy an Eagle-folder, you can choose between a regular one or one with a talon-blade.......and so it is too with their earlier SERE-series and the more recent S2K.

my question is: what's the advantage or disadvantage of a Talon-style blade-shape? what is it good for? in other words: why??

thanks in advance for any useful insights

grtz
denn75

 

[bquinlan]

From what I've seen the regular blades on that series are a classic drop-point design where the spine is the thickest part of the blade. The "talon" blades have a similar grind toward the cutting edge, but also have a false edge or swedge grind along part of the top of the blade. The swedge is not sharpened, but it does narrow outward from the center of the blade toward the top.

The main advantages of a swedge are that it makes a blade lighter, moves its balance point backward toward the grip, and improves its penetration when thrust (because of the narrower point profile). The disadvantages are that the blade may be a bit weaker (depending on the grind) and it will be harder to use a hand or baton on the top of the blade to push it into a cut.

This is an oversimplification, but I would say that a regular drop-point is slightly more versatile for utility uses and a swedge is slightly better for defensive use.

I hope that helps!

Would anyone more knowledgable care to comment?

--Bob Q

 

[dennis75]

you might just be right Bob, it sounds logical. i put a link below the Al Mar catalog......

check out the ultralight-series part of the catalog and you'll notice a picture showing the 3 different blade-styles (plain, talon, serrated)

http://www.almarknives.com/catalog.shtm

thanks
dennis

 

[tonyccw]

The Talon blades were Al Mar's version of the Benchmade Weehawk blades. Historically, they both served the same purpose. An asymmetrical semi-dagger blade that can carry an utility drop point while still provide penetration capabilities without the need for a true double edge. Whereas Jody Samson (the designer of the Weehawk blade) would fully sharpen the back edge (as were the Custom Weehawk blades that came with the BM Custom Bali's), those that came from the production side always came unsharpened. Since the Al Mar's are lockbacks with exposed spines, sharpening the swedge would be a bad thing.