Types of knives and their uses?

[Bo-dacious]

Hey guys, what is each type of knife good at and why? Example: why is a bowie knife good for fighting? What about the shape and the grind and the balance makes it a good tactical knife. Or a hunter or a camp knife etc. Another example: what is the curve of a Katana do? The curve of a kukri? What about these features makes blades cut better? Any type of knife is appreciated.

Irrelevant question: I'm thinking about opening a knife sharpening business in a couple years and I have a lot of random questions. One is, why do knife sharpeners not charge per inch on every knife? It seams it'd be easier that way. Is there some reason or is it just preference?

Thanks guys,

Bo

 

[Planterz]

These are butter knives. They're used to spread butter.

 

[Hickory n steel]

This is called a mezzaluna, you use it with a dished out cutting board to chop up herbs and garnish.

 

[SpySmasher]

These are butter knives. They're used to spread butter.

Design advantage: their dull edges make it more difficult to kill your in-laws during Thanksgiving dinner.

 

[SpySmasher]

Does anyone have some book recommendations for our friend? Histories of various cutlery traditions? This topic seems impossibly large for a thread.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Does anyone have some book recommendations for our friend? Histories of various cutlery traditions? This topic seems impossibly large for a thread.

I'd like to know of one as well.
My cousin got one a couple years ago for Christmas and from from what I checked out it seemed like a good book, but i don't know the name of it.

 

[Tommy-Chi]

Hey guys, what is each type of knife good at and why? Example: why is a bowie knife good for fighting? What about the shape and the grind and the balance makes it a good tactical knife. Or a hunter or a camp knife etc. Another example: what is the curve of a Katana do? The curve of a kukri? What about these features makes blades cut better? Any type of knife is appreciated.

A lot of design queues can be gleaned by looking at a lot of knives. It is going to just take a lot of reading and Googling to find these answers. I do not know of a singular book that I can point you too.

For ex, I know from reading that a lot of the Bob Loveless designs are copied time and again by new knife makers who want to design a knife for a particular role. You will probably come across a number of statements such as that and they may not be provable one way or the other.

 

[Legendary_Jarl]

I don't think the bowie is necessarily good for fighting... needle and spear point are definitely good stabbers.

Mind you, I've seen some spear points being called duct knives and used for piercing and cutting duct board:

My local knife sharpener charges per inch...

This type of blade is good for leather working and apparently carpet installing etc.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I don't think the bowie is necessarily good for fighting... needle and spear point are definitely good stabbers.

Mind you, I've seen some spear points being called duct knives and used for piercing and cutting duct board:

My local knife sharpener charges per inch...

This type of blade is good for leather working and apparently carpet installing etc.

Yep, duct knives normally have one serrated edge.
I used to have one by a company called KLENK that someone gave me but I gave it to my brother to throw.

 

[justjed]

REAL knives are for cutting stuff. Tho CALLED butter KNIVES, they're really a specialized spatula. In my opinion.

As for what makes a Bowie a fighting knife, its a combination of features. A relatively long stiff blade with a sharpened clip(if you want to be technical), it has the reach to keep the wielder a bit further from an antagonist. BUT, the one feature, more than ANY other, that makes it a good fighter is the will and skill of the man holding it. According to many sources, including Rezin Bowie(the originator of the Bowie knife), Jim Bowie's 'Sandbar Duel' knife was simply a large butcher knife with a sharpened clip point.

 

[DocJD]

These are butter knives. They're used to spread butter.

But why not sharp ?

 

[justjed]

Because you hold the bread in your hand to spread it, and usually TOWARD yourself, increasing the risk of cutting the heel of your hand or fingers. Bagel thumb, anyone?

 

[DocJD]

Because you hold the bread in your hand to spread it, and usually TOWARD yourself, increasing the risk of cutting the heel of your hand or fingers. Bagel thumb, anyone?

I use a sharp knife but edge facing down and opposite the precious flesh and direction of the spreading . Like using a trowel .

 

[GIRLYmann]

Ah, the bowie knife.
Takes quite a reputation to have a knife carrying habit be named after you.
Obviously the term bowie knife is part of today's nomenclature for describing
a type of knife.
It would certainly take some doing before the world sees yet another knife owner
be made infamous by the type of knife he carries or
as in bowie's case - by the way he used his knife.
So much for the Bowie.
Other Knives that aren't quite knives would include the
Oyster knife and watch (case opening) knife.
I guess these won't bring in money for anyone in the knife sharpening line.

 

[DocJD]

Ah, the bowie knife.
Takes quite a reputation to have a knife carrying habit be named after you.
Obviously the term bowie knife is part of today's nomenclature for describing
a type of knife.
It would certainly take some doing before the world sees yet another knife owner
be made infamous by the type of knife he carries or
as in bowie's case - by the way he used his knife.
So much for the Bowie.
Other Knives that aren't quite knives would include the
Oyster knife and watch (case opening) knife.
I guess these won't bring in money for anyone in the knife sharpening line.

All it takes is Hollywood and you instantly got the "Rambo Knife " .

 

[not2sharp]

Does anyone have some book recommendations for our friend? Histories of various cutlery traditions? This topic seems impossibly large for a thread.

Stone's Glossary might be an interesting starting point.
https://www.amazon.com/Glossary-Construction-Decoration-Arms-Armor/dp/0486407268

But, to answer the OP's question, all knives are tools designed to cut. What they cut and how they cut helps to drive the infinite variety of designs, but it always comes back to the user's preference.

n2s

 

[Charlie Mike]

Takes quite a reputation to have a knife carrying habit be named after you.

CM Carry... Named after the position/orientation I carry large fixed blades.

 

[GIRLYmann]

Oops, awfully sorry i goofed.
all hail! to BF's presiding
Living knife legend.
He has spoken

 

[Bo-dacious]

Thanks for the info and pictures guys.
Not2sharp: that seems like a cool book.
Planterz: damn, I've been carrying one of those around telling people it's a bowie!

Thanks,

Bo

 

[davek14]

From wiki on the Bowie...

Arkansas culturalist and researcher Russell T. Johnson describes the James Black knife in the following manner and at the same time captures the quintessence of the Bowie Knife: "It must be long enough to use as a sword, sharp enough to use as a razor, wide enough to use as a paddle, and heavy enough to use as a hatchet.