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Anatomy of an Outdoor Knife

BALETA Handmade - Anatomy of an Outdoor Knife

Handle

Tang

This could be full tang or hidden tang design. Full tang is where the steel of the blade is continuous around the profile of the handle and is generally considered to be a stronger design. It also has the advantage that if in a survival situation and through some incredibly unlucky event your handle material breaks, you still have a full length handle to hold the blade with! However, it is heavier than a hidden tang design. If a hidden tang is designed correctly, it should be almost as strong as a full tang but has the advantage of being lighter and also more elegant without the steel band visible around the handle.

                              Full tang​                                                     Hidden tang

BALETA Handmade - Hidden Tang m.jpg
BALETA Handmade - Full Tang m.jpg

Butt/pommel

Normally called a butt on an outdoor knife but can be finished with a different material like brass in which case it could be called a pommel.

Lanyard Tube

Threading a cord through this tube will provide additional purchase on the handle, especially when drawing the knife from a sheath or if using the knife unseen in a tricky place like inside the cavity of an animal. Also, if one is concerned about losing an expensive handmade knife in the wild, a cord can be fitted from the lanyard tube to your belt with a clip.

 

Pins/Rivets

These go through the handle scales/block and the tang of the knife.  They hold the handle scales/block onto the tang. For a hidden tang design, there will normally only be one pin in the centre of the handle, through the tang. Pins/rivets can be a variety of materials; stainless steel, brass, nickel silver, copper, bronze, carbon fibre or synthetic in different colours. Mosaic pins are a tube that is filled with additional pins or tubes in a design that are held in place with a coloured epoxy resin. Pins/rivets can also be mechanical bolts or screws such as a Corby or Loveless bolt rather than a straight pin. Bolts or screws have the advantage that they provide additional mechanical strength in holding the handle scales to the tang.

Finger Guard / Bolster

This can be an continuous part of the blade steel/ricasso or of a different material such as brass, nickel silver, copper, bronze or stainless steel. It provides protection from the users’ hand slipping up the handle and onto the blade during use but will add weight to the knife. A metal finger guard or bolster also protects the handle material from damage during heavy use.

Blade

Ricasso

The flat part of the blade between the plunge line/main bevel and the handle. This can be textured or polished for the aesthetic of the knife.

Choil

The lower part of the blade that provides space between the handle and the start of the sharp edge so that the edge can be sharpened without marring the handle. When it is a small notch just before the edge, it is often called a ‘Spanish’ or ‘sharpening’ notch. This helps when sharpening the blade and also ensures that as the blade wears, the aesthetic of the blade is retained. Sometimes this is pronounced to provide an additional notch for the front finger when choking up on the blade.

 

Plunge Line

This is the transition from the flat steel of the ricasso to the angled bevel of the blade. This can be steep and sharp at the top or even run right up to the spine (full-flat geometry). It can also be more gradual and sweeping. Gradual, sweeping plunge lines are not often seen on factory produced knives because they are quite difficult to achieve. Sometimes the plunge line is blended into the bevel of the blade – often seen on culinary knives.

 

Jimping

This provides additional grip when the thumb is used on the top of the blade for leverage. Useful when the knife is used in wet or slippery situations. Blood, bits of meat and debris often collects in the jimping during use so it needs to be cleaned thoroughly. Jimping can be grooves or recesses cut across or diagonal to the spine. When it has additional decorative elements, it is normally filed and polished by hand and thus called ‘filework’.

Spine

The spine normally has sharp 90 degree edges on an outdoor knife so that it can be used for scraping or with a fire steel/ ferro rod to start a fire in survival situations.

Tip/point

The profile of the tip/point provides the main difference between the various blade profiles used for different tasks. On quality knives, the steel behind the edge is thicker at the tip to provide additional strength.

Belly

The rounded part of the blade. A more pronounced belly is useful for certain tasks like skinning an animal.

Main/Primary Bevel

This is where the steel is angled toward the cutting edge. The shape (flat, convex or concave), the width and position of the main bevel provide the geometry of the blade. This varies depending on intended use/task. A blade with the steeper angle on the main bevel (e.g. tall chef knife) will cut and slice very well through a given material but will not be as strong as a blade with a shallower angle (e.g. bushcraft blade). The main bevel can also be just on one side of the blade.

 

Edge/Secondary Bevel

This is the sharpened edge of the blade. The sharpened edge normally varies from 15 degrees to 25 degrees per side depending on intended use of the blade. The steel used for the blade is also a consideration. Generally, the finer this angle (e.g. 15 degrees on a Chef knife), the easier a blade will cut a given material. However, the finer angled edge is also more likely to get damaged against hard materials and will dull quicker than a broader angle (e.g. 25 degrees on a large outdoor knife made for chopping). Blade geometry such as a ‘Scandi’ grind will not have a secondary bevel and the main bevel will run to the edge. A ‘Chisel’ grind will only have a secondary bevel on one side.

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