knife shapes and their uses

[heavy handed]

all the knives ive ever owned, have only had either a spear tip blade or a modified drop point. i was just wondering about the other types of blade shapes and there pros and cons and how they have served you. (on both fixed and folding)
i was looking at a hawkbill blade online and it looks like it would be good for cutting zip ties etc. but ive had no frst hand experience with them.

spear/drop point:

PROS:  good push cut
         
          easy to sharpen to the tip
         
CONS:  some have a weak tip

          can be NKP unfriendly.

heavy handed

[Sean]

I have a Byrd Crossbill and it's amazing on pull cuts.  Limited on quite a bit of others though.
A nice slim Wharncliffe is great for whittling but again no sweep so limited a bit on some chores.
I like the drop and clip point design for the most part.  One thing I have learned to really
appreciate with blades is a full flat grind.

sean

[heavy handed]

i like full flat grind to ,i dont know why it just feels right

[Nutznboltz]

Hawkbills are ideally suited pull/draw cuts making them perfect as a self defence knife.  They are wicked cutters, I had a spyderco karambit before and it was incredible though limited in use.
Tanto blades are my favorite, also limited due to its blade shape but very effective.  The straight edge cuts like a straight razor, the secondary tip slices more effectively imo than a curved belly and the secondary edge and tip are flat ground making a very strong tip for penetration.  I've edc'd a cs med tanto for many years and used the secondary edge as a chisel to push cut cable ties on many occasions.
Spear points are kind of limited to a tactical role as many of these blade styles don't have much belly for daily tasks.  Perfect for push cutting/stabbing.
clip points are more traditional edc knives as they have good belly for cutting and fairly strong tip for poking around when need.
They are many other blade styles such as wharnclif, drop point, bowie and modified variations of each that can make it quite confusing.  I generally go with what looks good to me.  Haven't tried a wharnclif blade yet but I'm guessing because it looks alot like a straight razor/box cutter it would be an excellent blade for utility chores.

[Freudian Frog]

Anyone have an opinion on reverse tanto? I've been quite interested in it for some time now, but haven't had the chance to play with it. =S

[Dizos]

One thing I have learned to really
appreciate with blades is a full flat grind.

sean

I agree, full flat grinds slice really well.  Most of my knives end up doing food prep at some point and the flat grind just works better for cutting through food.

For knife styles I prefer something with some belly so that you put the edge where you want it without the tip getting in the way.  

I had a pretty good lesson in the importance of knife geometry when I as a kid.  My very first fixed blade purchase (in the 80's) was a Cold Steel Tanto.  I had never seen anything like it and coveted it dearly and bought it soon after getting one of my first paychecks (I was 15 or 16).  I proceeded to abuse the knife messing around but never had a chance to actually use it as a tool until a couple of years later when I went deer hunting (also for the first time).  I shot a buck and proceeded to clean it using the tanto.  I tried to start a small incision in the pelvis area but found that the steep and angular edge geometry of the tanto simply could not start a delicate cut, made worse by the fact that the point was located about 6" above where I had my grip so I had very little control over what I was doing. I made a mess of things and contaminated a bunch of meat by cutting open stuff that I shouldn't have.  The straight edge made it difficult to draw a nice cut to open the rest of the body cavity and when it came to skinning the lack of belly resulted in a well perforated hide by the time I was done.  I'm sure someone with more experience field dressing game could have done a better job with the tanto, but it really was not appropriate for the job.  The next time I field dressed a deer it was with a proper hunting knife and it was much quicker and I did a much better job.

[Nutznboltz]

Anyone have an opinion on reverse tanto? I've been quite interested in it for some time now, but haven't had the chance to play with it. =S

Actually I don't see the point of the reverse tanto blade.  The blade has a slight belly incorporated which gives it some utility but other than that this blade design doesn't serve a special purpose.  The upper portion of the tanto is not sharpened (at least on benchmade versions) which is a trademark of a tanto blade(Americanized version anyways), it might have some tip strength for pierce cutting but spear,clip,drop points serves the same purpose.  Seems like its just a marketing gimmick.

[Sean]

love the looks of the reverse tanto even more than the standard.  I just have one tanto blade though that being on
the recon 1.  I don't particularly care for sharpening them.

[max6166]

Anyone have an opinion on reverse tanto? I've been quite interested in it for some time now, but haven't had the chance to play with it. =S

It essentially looks like a stylized drop point. I can't think of any advantages over a regular drop point except the tip may be a little stronger than normal?

The back seems more like a visual design choice versus a functional one.

[sappyg]

One thing I have learned to really
appreciate with blades is a full flat grind.

sean

I agree, full flat grinds slice really well.  Most of my knives end up doing food prep at some point and the flat grind just works better for cutting through food.

For knife styles I prefer something with some belly so that you put the edge where you want it without the tip getting in the way.  

i totally agree with you Dizo. i like a good drop point or slightly clipped point for hunting. too much point on a blade does get in the way. i go back and forth between a hollow grind and a flat grind blade.
i've been tryng a kersaw leek lately and i'm likin' that warncliff blade a lot. i've never used that blade design before. i don't think it's a good hunting blade at all but it a great EDC blade.  

[Nutznboltz]

love the looks of the reverse tanto even more than the standard.  I just have one tanto blade though that being on
the recon 1.  I don't particularly care for sharpening them.

Sean,
Sharpening a tanto blade is super easy on the Lansky system.  Just takes a little time becasue you have to treat both edges seperately.  The results from a Lansky are amazing.

[Freudian Frog]

Anyone have an opinion on reverse tanto? I've been quite interested in it for some time now, but haven't had the chance to play with it. =S

It essentially looks like a stylized drop point. I can't think of any advantages over a regular drop point except the tip may be a little stronger than normal?

The back seems more like a visual design choice versus a functional one.

That's what I was assuming, just wondering it that extra spine helps the tip any, or harms it.

LOVE THE LOOKS THOUGH.

[ringzero]

Anyone have an opinion on reverse tanto? I've been quite interested in it for some time now, but haven't had the chance to play with it. =S

The Benchmade NRA Pardue with reverse tanto blade has been tempting me for a whle.

Cabelas has these marked down to 20 bucks:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=cat21404_knifeclearance&id=0063716519019a&navCount=0&podId=0063716&parentId=cat600427&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=OG&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233

.

[sappyg]

that's a great looking knife. for $20 how can you loose? i tried to read the reviews but could'nt open the page for some reason.
that particular reverse tanto looks very useful compared to the others i have seen. it kinda has a warncliff type design.

[jzmtl]

For less than $20 I'd pick up two. 

[Sean]

love the looks of the reverse tanto even more than the standard.  I just have one tanto blade though that being on
the recon 1.  I don't particularly care for sharpening them.

Sean,
Sharpening a tanto blade is super easy on the Lansky system.  Just takes a little time becasue you have to treat both edges seperately.  The results from a Lansky are amazing.

Yes it would be.  I used to have the Lansky and the Gatco systems.  Unfortunately it's a bit difficult for me on the
Sharpmaker.

[Shane769]

I like a full flat grind myself, but for EDC a hollow grind works good enough for my purposes. For a camping/hiking outdoors use and abuse blade, FFG all the way.

[nuphoria]

Do you guys know a nice reference page for grind types?

I could do with an idiots guide as some of the terminology is throwing me 

[jzmtl]

Do you guys know a nice reference page for grind types?

I could do with an idiots guide as some of the terminology is throwing me 

http://www.the-knife-connection.com/common-knife-blade-grind-types.html