Hey everyone, David C. Andersen here coming at
you from the KnifeCenter. Welcome to KniFAQ number 65, the knife series where I answer all
your questions, whether they're sharp or dull this week, bunch of good questions, but one of
the big things we're going to focus on is blade shapes. What are they? What are they good for?
This, that and the other thing? Let's get into it (KniFAQ) Alright, everyone, thank you, as always, for
your questions. If you want a chance to have one of your questions featured in a future KniFAQAQ,
just leave it in the comments section below. That's where we see them and where we kind of
pull things together when we're building out these episodes. This week. Jumping right in to
the main topic at hand. Jeremy Fox asks us Hello, David, I've got a question might be a bit
dull to some. But can you explain the difference between clip point and drop point? Every time I
think I know which is which I get it wrong. Also wharncliffe and sheepsfoot. Thanks for your
time. Love the videos. Thanks, Jeremy. Not not a dull question, because as we're going to find
out here, something that you might think is like completely straightforward isn't always the
case. And I'm going to kind of go beyond we've never really covered all the basic blade shapes
in one video before so I'm going to answer the parts of your question in particular, but also,
I'm going to cover a wide range of blade shapes, at least a good basic primer, you're going to
have a good set of vocabulary and a good knowledge of what constitutes what are the best
that I can give you guys anyway. But we'll start with the clip points and the drop points blades.
Two of the most common shapes you see in most EDC, everyday carry folding knives out there,
they're just super useful. They're versatile, can be used, can be made to work for anything
from just general utility stuff to tactical stuff, of course, like food prep and hunting,
skinning camping, just an overall very versatile shape. I will start with the drop point this is
a ZT0562 cf with a drop point blade shape and drop point comes from you know you've got to tip
your get your point but the drop comes in from the spine. Ignore the thumb ramp bit here that's
not necessary for a drop point. But all you do with a drop means you have that gentle
curvature. Sometimes gentle sometimes more abrupt, but it's a Moreover, gentle curve
towards the tip. And that's your drop point blade. Usually it's a shape kind of like this
where you have some straight edge or when you're talking about the edge side, you've got a little
bit of straight edge and you've got this section of belly out in here near the front that's the
curve section. Sometimes the whole edge can be a little curved. There's there's wiggle room in
there, but the dropping spine the gently arcing down spine is what constitutes the drop point in
general clip point one of the most iconic folders ever made, the buck 110 got gets its
name from the tip right here that is clipped out it's got this concave curvature towards the tip
here rather than a gentle curve down, which would be a convex curve. In this case, advantage
of these you can often get a much more acute tip as such as a lot of especially older school
hunting knives had clip points like this. I think after Bob loveless introduced his drop
point hunter or popularized it, you see a lot more drop points in the the hunting sphere, but
still a very versatile shape. Just with that little bit of difference, you can get a
typically more needle like points, although not exclusively, there are gray areas where it works
either way. Now let's get into some kind of variation variations or variants on these two.
I've got another Buck 110 right here this is the slim Pro also has a clip point but it doesn't
have that concave scoop are that halfmoon shape to the clip. It is instead a straight line from
where you don't have a gentle curve but from where the spine starts to angle towards the tip
towards the tip one straight line and we call this a straight clip or a straight clip point.
Still a clip point but yeah, definitely different from that classic, you know half moon
clip out. So hope that helps there. This next knife this is a Bokor LRF demonstrates a spear
point profile which meets all the definitions of a drop point and in fact it is but spear points
the tip of these of the blade itself sits on the center line it's not above or below that line
and typically the spine and the edge itself follow the same or very similar arcs, you can
almost reverse the or mirror the image top to bottom. That's not strictly necessary. That's
just more of a generalization there. But drop points with more or less equal blades that has a tip in the center line. We call it a
spear point. So those are a couple of variants. Now let's get into some modifiers. And this is
where you know Thomas might throw up is, is getting in the weeds graphic. But let's be
honest, this whole question is kind of getting into the weeds a little bit, but it's important
stuff. This next knife here CRKT, the PSD which stands for particle separation device, which I
think is a fantastic name for a knife, a lot of different things going on here, you've got a
typically this blade, we would call it a harpoon point. And all that means is you've got this
kind of scoop out of the spine, back here that scoops are the angles back up towards the spine
area, and then comes down towards the tip. Now this can be most often you see it like this with
a straight line there. So this is technically a straight clip point. But it's a harpooned, or a
harpoon straight clip point in this case, but that section here could be dropped, you could
have it on other blade shapes as well, it doesn't have to be on a a clip or drop point
shape, you could get it on sheepsfoot in wharncliffe, too, technically, you've also got a
recurve to the heel of the edge right here. So this is a recurve, harpoon straight clip point
blade shape. Weeds are getting tall. Again, those are just kind of modifiers that you could
apply towards just about any kind of blade shape out there. Most commonly, you see it with a with
a shape like this straight clip point profile, technically, but there you go. Now let's get
into the sheepsfoot and wharncliffe side of things. And interestingly, when we talk about
blade shapes, usually the kind of the defining feature of any style of blade shape is the way
the spine is or the the kind of shape the spine makes sheep's wood and wharncliffe are one of
the only ones that that are out there that actually prescribe a very specific edge profile,
in that the edge on a on a unmodified style of sheepsfoot or wharncliffe should be completely
straight. I've got a CRKT S.P.E.W., up here on top and a an Ontario Besra flipper on the bottom
wharncliffe with the SPEW sheepsfoot with the Besera. And the main difference here is a
wharncliffe will typically have a much longer drop from the spine, so that you get an almost
needle like tip, it's designed to have that very precise, very sharp piercing point. Whereas the
sheepsfoot blade is not going to have that long, gentle arc down towards the needle like tip
tends to have a more abrupt shape towards the tip more of an abrupt drop. And that's because
more of like the intended uses this is not intended primarily to be a thinner, poke your
points your dainty your blade style, it's got a little more strength out there towards the tip
at the expense of the piercing efficiency, great utility shapes right here. You know, good for
EDC, especially if you don't need anything where you might need the belly of a drop point or a
clip point. These things work great. Anything where both of these styles actually, the
wharncliffe and the sheepsfoot work really well. When you're working on a surface and using the
tip of the knife great for drawing across, you know a cutting board or a craft mat or cutting
any kind of thing on a surface whether could be the ground on a construction project for that
matter. Now the style you see here on this Bezer has sort of a an abrupt change to the angle it
can be a little more gentle. It doesn't have to be this abrupt, or this kind of sharp of a turn
when it does it. All of them are good old sheep's foot blades. Now, where's the line
between wharncliffe and sheepsfoot? Hard to define honestly there and there's no there's no
right answer in this case. Consequently, there's no wrong answer. I take that back. There's some
there are certain times we can definitely say something is wrong. But to demonstrate what I
mean, this knife right here the almost called it an Ontario the giant mouse ace Riv. What's the
blade shape? We've got a more gentle or not quite a wharncliffe I don't think it's it
doesn't have that long needle like tip, but it does have a longer drop to the spine then, you
know something like that Besra but this is also what we would call so we'll go with sheepsfoot
rather than wharncliffe. And basically, that's because you don't really have the needle like
tip. This would be a modified sheepsfoot because you have curvature to the edge itself. But it's
almost getting into drop point territory in a way. Hence the hence the weeds hence the no right or
wrong answer in this case, but I'd go definitely go with modified sheepsfoot. In this case,
famous case or famous example of a modified wharncliffe would be something like the Kershaw
Leek, you've got that curvature towards the edge, but you still have a needle like tip in
this case. And when we get into that word modified, inside, you know, inside baseball
behind the scenes stuff here, when we say something's a modified blade shape, it's because
it doesn't quite fit exactly, but it still feels like a certain thing. They call it modified.
There you go. Next up, cleavers. Let's get into those. This is the Kershaw bracket right here.
And this is also kind of a gray area when we get into cleavers, some of them are very kind of
cleaver esque and make you think of a meat cleaver. This one certainly does. But it's also
kind of a modified sheepsfoot. There's a line it's just in the weeds there somewhere, cool
knives. And that kind of the reason I call this a modified sheepsfoot in a way in addition to a
cleaver, is when I like to describe knives to folks I try to describe the blade and how it's
going to work, how it's going to feel when you're using it. And as such, some of these
different blade shapes can inform that description. If I say this is more of a like a
modified sheepsfoot style of Cleaver, it's going to give you an idea of how it performs. If it's
a more of a choppier Cleaver, I'm probably wouldn't call it a modified sheepsfoot blade in
that case, gray areas weeds weeds are growing fast. Alright, few more blade shapes. I want to
talk about we we talked about the bulk of your question. But another important shape is the
trailing point seen here on this CJRB Gobi and all that means is the tip of the blade sits
above the line of the spine of the knife it is trailing away has several different names.
That's probably the most correct here but you'll hear stuff like this referred to as like a
Persian blade style sometimes or just an upswept blade. upswept certainly works sometimes though
you can have an actual upswept blade where the tip is not above the line of the spine there. So
it's technically not a trailing point in that case. Now a trailing point is typically great at
slicing tasks. You see it a lot on hunting knives, for example, in a lot of food prep and
butchery style of knives as well like the seminars and or sign meters or however they
pronounce it for the the kitchen side of things. All do this kind of thing, even a butcher knife.
Technically, depending on how the clip is shaped, or how the tip is shaped, can be a
trailing point blade, although not always not going to get into some of those different shapes
in this particular video, just keep in mind that those are out there as well. But even day to day
uses slicing stuff. If you're if you're looking for that long efficient slice, especially unlike
pull cuts, like this type of blade shape is going to work really well. Now tantos or tantos
or however however you pronounce it might be this might be the most divisive part of this
whole section of the question here. We're going to start with a status because there's actually
two different equally correct at this point in time anyway,
versions of what a tanto can be. And I'll start with this cold steel recon tanto right here.
This is what we refer to as either an American style tanto or a western style tanto. And no one
out there more than cold steel is responsible for really popularizing this blade shape. And
similarly, actually to the true wharncliffe and a true sheepsfoot. A tanto are an American tanto
does not describe the way the spine works. You can have a trailing point, like you have on this
knife. You can also have drop point tanto is this place, depending on how the spine arcs down
but the key feature for a western style tanto is this tip section right here you're going to have
a very abrupt change in the angle of the edge right here. In fact, coming to a point in most
typical cases, so that you've got a leading edge that could be used for some chiseling stuff.
Typically they're very straight here at the leading edge although that's not exclusively the
case always. There is just a hint of curvature here. You also typically again, not exclusively,
but quite often see compound grinds you've got hollow ground section here. You're on the main
edge. And this leading edge has a flat grind. And this style of tanto with on this blade in
particular is going to give you a very strong tip. For piercing, it's not going to be an
efficient piercer necessarily, but is it going to be very strong for rough handling in those
kinds of uses. Now, the traditional tanto blade shape is a little bit different. And here we get
into your what the tanto was originally in Japan was actually a short sword. And the closest
thing it's actually hard to find a lot of versions on a production knife nowadays that we
can really point to. But one of the closest is some of these designs here. This is the Burnley
Kwaiken compact from Boker. And the kwaiken or kwaiken in the original Japanese is more of a
smaller knife as opposed to a short sword. And you're going to get almost just a bellied shape,
you could have a little more towards the tip here in terms of a flatter shape. But you're not
really going to see that defining points where the angle changes at the edge of the blade, it's
going to be a little more gentle, not necessarily always as gentle, as you see here
where it's essentially just a big continuous curve. But there you go. So you can see like
these are both, you know, different extremes of the same coin, these are both tanto blades, I
declare, now we get into Thomas's favorite blade shape over there. And that's because this is one
of the hardest to define blade shapes out there. I think it is the reverse tanto kind of most
famous I think for being seen on the 940 Osborne series from Benchmade. Or the newer one of these
are 945, right for the mini size, but it's the same kind of blade shape. And that's essentially
because you turn it upside down, you've got that Western tanto profile here, but the other side
of the edge is sharpened. But here we get into gray areas to obviously this is very well
recognized and kind of agreed upon as a reverse tanto. But couldn't we kind of call that a clip
point with the straight clip point blade there. Checking the leaves, check in the weeds. And one
more just to make things even extra confusing. Spyderco they present problems. I love Spyderco.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with them, but their blade shapes almost kind of defied
definition, in some cases. Case in point, this Delica cool Santa Fe stoneworks. A customized
version by the way, you've got a straight spine. But it's not a clip point, I wouldn't never call
this a straight clip. You've got a hint of drop here right at the towards the tip. I wouldn't
call it a drop point either. I wouldn't call it a sheepsfoot either. I wouldn't really call it a
wharncliffe either. But I think honestly, modified wharncliffe kind of quote most closely
describes the way this knife is going to behave when you're cutting things. So I kind of tend to
call the Delica a modified wharncliffe while also fully acknowledging that as a very
imperfect definition. You guys let me know what you think the blade shape on this guy is down
below. I vote for Spidey cliffe, Spidey cliff. I don't
even know what that means. That's okay. But anyway, that's why well, first of all, I hope
this kind of helps give at least a primer on blade shapes. There's certainly a lot more than
just these. But these are kind of going to describe the most commonly seen things and also
help you understand when I'm talking about a blade and I say it's like a modified this or
that. It's because they're you know, it might not meet the exact definitions of this sort of
thing, but it's going to help you you'll help me describe kind of what it feels like both in
terms of its looks and in terms of how it's going to be used. And this will also give you
there's some weird blade shapes out there that seem to blend like that Spyderco in a way, blend
a lot of different things together and almost defy explanation. Sometimes, I've seen sheep's
foot blades, but instead of the drop here, it's like a half moon clip point is taken out of the
front. So is that a sheep's clip? That kind of can tend to kind of mix things together a little
bit where necessary, but if you've got the vocabulary, it starts to make sense a little
bit. Man, that's a lot of knives for the first question. So I really hope that helps. Alright,
let's get to question number two, shall we? Which comes from Frank William Abignale. Hey,
David. I'm currently in search of a five to seven inch full tang fixed blade tanto and I'm
not sure Which one of the cold steel Leatherneck tanto in D two, or the cold steel recon tanto
and SK five is the better choice. Given that amongst other camping tasks, I'll do some
batoning with it. We'd love to hear your opinion. And if you've got a better alternative
about the same price point in mind. Yes. All right, cool. Got a couple things to look at
here. First off, I have one of the stainless versions of the Recon tanto here, but it's the
same blade shape. And I've got the leather neck tanto here as well. Leather neck tanto is about
68 bucks recon tanto. And SK five is like 50 or 60 bucks. I got a tab open over here, let me
check. Look at that I have the stainless one
bookmarked. No matter between these two, if you're talking about the difference in steel,
the D two versus the SK five, the SK five being a carbon steel, in this case is going to be the
tougher steel. And I would go for that due to the toughness for that kind of task. And I would
also go with that, versus the Recon tanto for the design as well, primarily because if you're
using this in a sort of outdoorsy scenario, which I'll get to more of that in a bit, the
guard here on the leather neck is more of a combat type of feature. And that's the finger
guard, the index finger side I think is okay. But the part on the spine here is going to get
in the way if you're doing certain tasks where you want to choke up on the blade, or do
different kinds of kinds of grips, and be a little bit much to go there. So for that reason,
between the two, like I said I'd go with the recon, you can choke up on it a lot better, you
can get right behind the edge do some detail work. However, both of these knives feature a
hollow grind. And we didn't talk about grinds at all, when we talk about blade shapes, that's a
that's another video different ways, different ways. And even though the steel is going to be
tougher on the SK five steel version of the recon, because the the grinds here are kind of
scooped out to make a very thin edge, you've got a very thin edge, which can be a bit more
delicate, especially if you're doing something as abusive as batoning. Which, that's fine. You
know, I have baton plenty of knives out there. Some companies, you know, you're gonna void your
warranty if you admit to doing something like that. But be that as it may, I wouldn't really
want a hallowed ground knife for that type of task. Personally, I wouldn't really go for a
tanto for a outdoor camping task. But I'm not going to tell you not to obviously you that's
what you want, you may have some good like chili type uses in camp for a blade shape like this.
So what I'm going to suggest rather than one of those two is both of these are like at the seven
inch at the top end of the range of lengths you were talking about Ka-Bar has actually this is
not what I would suggest that got a five and a half inch tanto with with a plain edge without
serrations This is flat ground, so it's gonna be a little bit tougher. But again, like hold these
two up next to each other You're not going to be it feels like a different beast. So I didn't
want to suggest that particular guy what I'd go with you can actually save a little bit of money
and go with the spec plus alpha machete from Ontario 35 bucks for these guys and you've got
1075 carbon steel should be very similar and it's kind of toughness characteristics to
something like the SK five is going to be in a similar range, at least it's not a tanto but you
do have that sharpened leading edge. So you can do some chisel II stuff if that's what your
you're wanting a tanto for you'll be able to Baton a bit better cuz you've got a flat grind
in this case so you don't have as thin an edge. There's more strength behind the edge it's less
fragile overall. And for that task, I think this is just going to be better I mean this has got
splitter all over it. How did the how does the rest of it compare to
some of these other knives fit and finish on the cold Steel's is going to be better, I will admit
and I actually they're going to be I think a little more comfortable in the hand as well not
that this is bad. Just I think the the Recon especially fits my hand a little bit better. But
this certainly works really well. Both of these are all of these knives have full length tangs
or there abouts essentially with overmolded grips over top so you still have that kind of
shock absorption and cold protection on that. Other differences. The sheath is also not as
nice on this. It's just kind of a simple nylon pouch very effective, but definitely not as nice
as the secure-ex sheath you would get with the cold steel. But even though these are nicer, I
think this Ontario's actually going to be the better tool for the job. All right, next
question comes from Nam Neha name brand flakes. I think I've decided mostly on Old Hickory for
most of my Kitchen Knives, but I'm looking for some good stainless steak knives and maybe some
more budget friendly Japanese Kitchen Knives as well. Sure got some suggestions here for you for
the steak knife. Got an Ontario here that I actually really like especially when paired with
a bunch of other Old Hickory stuff. These are the Robeson Viking steak knives a set of four of
these is about 135 bucks so it's not a like a cheap set of steak knives. These are built
really well and are going to look really good with the you know a bunch of other wood handled
knives, blade steel here Sandvik 14 C 28 N with a serrated edge. So you've got that stainless
steel, you've got a pretty good blade material overall and shape it's going to work really well
as your steak knives I don't think these are available individually. It's the set of four
like I said 135 bucks, made in the USA which is pretty cool to don't see a lot of kitchen knives
that are made in the USA, Old Hickory as being a notable exception with their carbon steel
blades. As for a kind of budget, Japanese style of knife this brand is you wouldn't expect it
from this brand, which is do a cine, which is actually an Italian brand. But this knife right
here they've got a whole series of Japanese made traditional patterned Japanese style kitchen
knives, this is the six inch diva comes in about 38 bucks. So not quite as affordable as an old
hickory is which is kind of miraculous how inexpensive those knives are. But still a very,
very attainable knife and you've got more patterns in this obviously, but definitely worth
checking out. The handles here are maple it's not a stabilized wood or anything at this price
point. But then again, neither are your old hickories it's got a just a traditional oval
shaped pattern, you're not going to get any of like the D shaped handles you would get on
something higher end like a Shun but they feel built really well. You know for 20 series steel,
nothing exotic. But the reason I picked this over some other things like I mean there's other
good Japanese made kitchen knives that are inexpensive that we sell but very few of them
have traditional grinds. In this case, they've actually got a chisel grind on this knife where
it's ground from one side only. And the backside has no primary bevel behind the edge. So going
to work for have a very traditional feel. And they feel pretty solid and look pretty solid
too. Alright, that was a lot of weeds today. So let's get into the lightning round and speed
things up here a little bit. Graham Blackhall asks Heiser greetings from the UK considering
getting a knife blade laser engraved for my new grandson. Congratulations, by the way. My
questions are can laser engraving affect the heat treatment of a blade and are some Steel's
better than others to avoid this? Thanks, take care grant. I wouldn't worry about it quite
honestly, any kind of lasering that's going to happen is happening a little further up on the
blade for one thing, but it's not going to cause enough heat build up to really alter the temper
of any of the blades. Only piece of advice I'll give you you know, don't worry about what steel
you're looking for. But keep an eye on the coatings or the finish on the blade, a mirror
polished blade very hard to laser engrave because guess what it reflects the lasering back
off of the surface on really high polish stuff. The Kershaw Leek here, great choice the bead
blasted nature of these blades tend to laser engrave very well, in terms of stuff with like
harder coatings like DLC PVD, stuff like that. Not sure how well that does or doesn't engrave I
feel like I've seen engraved PVD stuff before. But DLC might be a might be a little tricky. But
stuff like the stuff like a bead blast, bleed blasted finish tends to work really well.
Actually something like a black stonewashed finish, like you see on this bezel it might work
really well too, because then you're going to get a lot of good contrast as well, which could
be pretty neat. And in fact, I've not laser engraved metals, but I've I did run a laser
engraver at a previous job and the darker stuff like that tended to engrave a little bit easier
too. So hope that helps. Paul Sakowski asks, What are your suggestions for a sheath
extension? I have a buck 105 Which I love but the handle digs into my side. As a result I'd
like to extend the sheath lower on the hip which will get better access to my knife as well. What
do you suggest? Really easy to do and not too not too expensive either? I've got a buck 109
right here are sorry, but this is not a 109 This is a 105 Did you say 109? Or did I say 109? You
said 105. Good thing I pulled a 105 But anyway, for that good, you want to add a Castrum
dangler. To this guy, real simple. It's a solid riveted leather belt loop with essentially a D
ring here on the back several different colors, you can get it in browns or blacks different
hardware colors to 23 bucks, really nice and you simply pop it right on. Now you've got a dangler
ready to go. Keep it lower, it'll keep it below like a hip pack or a hip belt from a pack or a
long winter coat. And it's gonna keep you from digging into your side as well. And when you're
getting in and out of vehicles or seats or anything like that, real easy to rotate, so it's
not going to dig in when you're sitting down either. That's the guy right there. Castrom
dangler. Alright, David McElroy asks, is m 390. A good fixed blade steel because I was under the
impression it was a more brittle steel and I'm afraid of a malfunction. If I were bearing down
on the knife. Yeah, I mean, M 390 is not on the spectrum of Steel's is not one of the tougher
Steel's out there. And I definitely wouldn't want it on something larger like a chopper or
stuff like that. I've always said the bigger a knife is the more important toughness is in the
equation. But smaller knives. Nothing wrong with it. That's the thing. A fixed blade can be
smaller like this Bradford right here, one of the Guardian threes about 162 bucks for this in
M 390. Now one of the things you can do to kind of bolster a steel, that's not as tough as some
other things, you can go a little bit thicker, which Bradford does a little bit without going
overboard. And that's going to make the overall knife a bit tougher. But yeah, all depends on
what you need. If it's just a small, everyday carry cutting piece that you're not going to be
batani or chopping with M 390 is gonna be perfectly fine. But if you need a heavier duty
knife, I would tend to go for something a little more tough. You can also get stuff like 3V from
Bradford, which would be a really good choice. All right. Now, last but not least, closing out
the video with our Most Serious question of the day. What knife would Santa's carry on his slate
Dustin he asks this question. I figure he encounters many situations where a good EDC
blade would come in handy asking for a very jolly friend. I've got it right here. It would
be the Kellam Saami, small reindeer knife. You got reindeer antler on this guy. 30 bucks for
this guy with a carbon steel straight back blade. Do battle do? You got some night these
these are actually really cool. They feel comfortable. Each one's obviously a little bit
different since you're dealing with a natural material. The sheath has some reindeer engraving
or engraving. Reindeer graphics or tooling there on the front. And this is made in Finland. And
did you know that according to Finland, Santa is from Finland. He races cards to fins. The fins
are good drivers. But this is I mean it's a very finished profile this straight back spine with
this style dryness commonly called a puukko or is called a puukko. Although not all straight
back spine blades are Puukkos... weeds... blade shapes from earlier before. But yeah, check it
out. Santa is from Finland. So you carry a Finnish knife and there's plenty of reindeer
shed laying around. Especially in November when all the males shed
their antlers. So all of Santas reindeer are female because we always see them with antlers
on when he's moving around. So I've yet to see them at all. You got to believe harder. My
friend just fell asleep. Me too. Anyway, that's all the time we've got for today. Thanks,
everyone for your questions, man, as always, really appreciate it. Go ahead leave your
questions in the comments of this video for a chance to be featured on a future episode. If
you want to get your hands on any of these knives, you can check out the links in the
description to take you over to KnifeCenter.com and make sure you sign up for our knife rewards
program so that when you buy one of these knives today, you'll at least earn some free money to
spend on your next one. I'm David C. Andersen from the KnifeCenter signing off, see you next
time.
