Knife Related questions

[SpyderEdgeForever]

1 Regarding industrial and machine knives: What are the main reasons as to why they are almost never shaped like sporting, fishing, hunting, combat, and everyday carry knife blades? For example, on paper cutting knives and tool machining knives they are never shaped like a bowie blade or a drop point blade, in general, the blade shapes you see on these tools would not make good sporting knives. Is this because of breakage and other issues?

2 Classic Switchblades: I have read where knife and hand to hand combat folks have claimed the classic Italian switch blade would not make a good hand to hand combat knife. I am not talking about cheaply made copies. Would a well-made classic switch blade hold up to serious field combat or not?

3 Short Survival Knives: Could a person who knows what they are doing and who has outdoor survival skills, do well, if they had a quality fixed blade knife with say a three to three and a half inch blade? Or would this be too short and they would need a longer blade length for serious survival use?

[demoncase]

1 Regarding industrial and machine knives: What are the main reasons as to why they are almost never shaped like sporting, fishing, hunting, combat, and everyday carry knife blades? For example, on paper cutting knives and tool machining knives they are never shaped like a bowie blade or a drop point blade, in general, the blade shapes you see on these tools would not make good sporting knives. Is this because of breakage and other issues?

1. Machine knives need to fit into a piece of mechanical equipment and don't need to be held by a hand- hence being designed to bolt into place. Short, stubby blades with a cutting edge and enough space to bolt into a cutting arm are the norm
2. Industrial knives are purely for cutting not aesthetics or balance- Something like a Stanley blade (you Colonial chaps call them 'box cutters') are the ultimate purity of a cutting tool. Fripperies like a nice upswept bowie clip point don't help a box cutter cut cardboard.
3. Industrial and machine knives are normally replaced rather than resharpened (Replacement being faster than resharpening thus meaning less production line downtime)- hence that informs your design choice- the bare minimum steel required to hold an edge for the length of time before you have to drop it on the ground.

2 Classic Switchblades: I have read where knife and hand to hand combat folks have claimed the classic Italian switch blade would not make a good hand to hand combat knife. I am not talking about cheaply made copies. Would a well-made classic switch blade hold up to serious field combat or not?

Consider the closed handle, numerous pins and several small springs and pins within a switchblade handle, as well as the normal fine bolstered wood or ivory handle.....Now picture dropping that in a muddy puddle- and sob at the thought of having to take it all to pieces, get it clean, dry and oiled.

Compare that to the Spyderco Military's flow-through simplicity- run it under a tap and you're going to be good to go.....

Even then- if you are in a field environment- a 'combat knife' tends to a mid-large fixed blade for the maximum strength that it provides- less to go wrong less to break. If I was marching off to war, I'd be hanging a Kabar or 1980s Gerber Mk2 off my web-gear for the overt primary combat role- and keeping my folder for the other more frequent utility tasks

3 Short Survival Knives: Could a person who knows what they are doing and who has outdoor survival skills, do well, if they had a quality fixed blade knife with say a three to three and a half inch blade? Or would this be too short and they would need a longer blade length for serious survival use?

Absolutely: The Finns, Swedes and Norwegians have managed for centuries in survival situations with 3inch-ish blades....When you've seen a full sized moose grallocked, skinned and jointed by a Finn using nothing more than a 3" Puuko then you start to question the need for the weight of that 12" custom Bowie that's weighing down your trouser belt :D

Mine in bold

[Doc Dan]

1. Knife blades tend to be shaped for the purpose they are made for.
2. Besides what DC has said, I will add that usually the construction of these knives is not very sturdy. I have broken a few of them.
3. Most people take too big a knife in the woods because it is cool (I guess). A 3" to 4" knife is all you need, in reality. When I was 16 a huge knife got carried in the woods a lot. But as I got older I noticed that my 3 to 4 inch blades got all the use. With age comes wisdom, sometimes.
Take an Izula. They claim it has a 2.5" blade, but in reality it has the same blade length as a Delica or a Mini Grip. I like to EDC these and often think that if I ever got caught somewhere, such as a train or car crash in the middle of nowhere and only had one knife, the Izula would be one of my top choices of knives I would want to have with me. I do not even bother with the clip. I leave it off. I drop the knife in my pocket like a regular pocket knife.

[Evil D]

1 Regarding industrial and machine knives: What are the main reasons as to why they are almost never shaped like sporting, fishing, hunting, combat, and everyday carry knife blades? For example, on paper cutting knives and tool machining knives they are never shaped like a bowie blade or a drop point blade, in general, the blade shapes you see on these tools would not make good sporting knives. Is this because of breakage and other issues?

2 Classic Switchblades: I have read where knife and hand to hand combat folks have claimed the classic Italian switch blade would not make a good hand to hand combat knife. I am not talking about cheaply made copies. Would a well-made classic switch blade hold up to serious field combat or not?

3 Short Survival Knives: Could a person who knows what they are doing and who has outdoor survival skills, do well, if they had a quality fixed blade knife with say a three to three and a half inch blade? Or would this be too short and they would need a longer blade length for serious survival use?

1. I'm not sure exactly what kinds of machine knives you're talking about, but from the experience I've had in manufacturing where something was being cut, blades are generally ground to be tough and last a long time, and they rely on extreme amounts of pressure to cut things. For example, the shears that cut corrugated paper (cardboard) have very thick/obtuse bevels on the blades and rely on tons of pressure to cut sheets. This way the blade doesn't have to be or even stay very very sharp to still cut, and they don't damage easy. On the other hand I also did polyethylene extrusion for about a year and we used blades that resembled disposable straight razor blades to slit plastic film, because the blades needed to be extremely sharp to continuously cut literally millions of feet worth of plastic film 24/7. Those blades did wear out rather quickly though and would be either adjusted to a different spot on the blade that was still sharp or replaced. Because they were so thin, they were cheap to replace. So, this answer is going to depend on the application and cost more than anything.

2. My understanding is that stillettos were designed primarily as stabbing tools and not much more. Even the highest quality versions you can find use less than great steel and have some of the worst grinds you'll ever see in a pocket knife and make very poor slicers. All that plus the very small pivots which make for a less than strong knife laterally, and they're just not good for much more than sticking something. If they were used in a fight, I would expect them to be used more as a surprise attack tool than anything else.

3. Les Stroud has survived 7 days in the wilderness alone without a knife of any kind. He has far more experience than you or I, but I would guess that someone who knows what they're doing would do just fine with a 3 inch blade. In a true survival situation, you're really only supposed to use your knife when absolutely necessary anyway, so you preserve the edge. There are lots of ways to build a shelter without having to carve something with your knife.

[bearfacedkiller]

1) Don't know. This is not my area of expertise.

2) The traditional Italian switchblade is designed for stabbing. It is basically a folding dagger and daggers were originally designed for assassinating people by stabbing them from behind between some ribs into the chest cavity. They aren't ideal for face to face fighting.

3) I do a lot of wilderness survival and bushcraft stuff and my Becker BK14 with its 3.5 inch blade has done a lot of hard woods work. If the weather is warm it is all I need. If it was all I had in the winter then I would be quite worried. I really like large knives and a 9 inch blade weighing about a pound is awesome in the bush if you don't mind carrying it. For me, bigger than that is unwieldy. So yes, as long as it isn't too cold out a 3.5 inch blade is quite capable as a survival tool.

[demoncase]

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3. Les Stroud has survived 7 days in the wilderness alone without a knife of any kind..

And I can barely keep myself fed and watered in my own home for 7 days :D