Parts of a knife

There are several terms that describe the various elements that make up a knife. The need to understand some of these terms is to enable you to understand the type of knife that you are about to purchase. The elements or parts of the knife serve different purposes. By being able to identify the elements allows you to pick the type of knife that best suits your needs.

The various elements are as the following:

The Handle

The handle is the part you hold onto. Sorry for being a little sarcastic but I could not help myself. The handle is one of the elements of a knife that is the most important. The materials of the handle really sets the knife apart from many others. Beyond the visual impact that the handle has it is also a very practical aspect of the knife. After all; it is the part that you touch the most.

The shape of the handle is also important the picture above illustrates finger grips. Some people really like the grips were others feel that they get in the way while field dressing an animal. Again it is what you want - so it is in your best interest to know as much as you can.

The materials of handles can be made from:

• wood,
• metal,
• plastics,
• bone and
• other natural products.

Each of the types of materials has pluses and minuses. The wood handles can be prone to wear were as the plastics can be very durable but not attractive. Metal handles can be both attractive and durable but they can make the knife rather heavy.

What many of the knife makers do is; make a compromise between durability and attractiveness. My personal opinion is the knife handles made for nature materials make the most attractive knives. To get the best of both worlds the natural materials are stabilized with acrylics (plastic). This process adds the durability and maintains the beauty of the natural product. This is often done with the various wood elements of the handle. Thus you get the beauty and the durability.

Some types of materials are:

• stabilized wood,
• Sheep horn,
• Water Buffalo horn,
• Walrus ivory,
• Giraffe bone and
• many others.

The Blade

The blade is what does the work. Depending on whether you are purchasing a knife for the look or its function the type of metal may of may not matter. The materials that may be used are: steel, stainless steel and Damasteel. This article is not focused on the types of materials but check back later for future articles. The importance of the material selection and the shape of the blade really comes down to what your intended use is.

The Spine

The spine is the top part of the knife that provides the structure to the blade.

The Point

The point is literally the point of the blade. The type and location of the point determines the utility of the blade. For example a drop point knife has a point that drops lower than the spine thus it is called a drop “point”. Other types are clip point and trailing point . Each of these are illustrated in the links above. There are many other styles but I have chosen a few for the sake of brevity.

The Edge

The edge is the cutting surface of the knife.

The Grind

The grind is the indentation in the blade that then forms into the edge.

The Fuller

The fuller is a groove cut along the spine of the blade. The purpose of this element is a bit debatable. Some feel it is to lighten a blade, others feel it is merely decoration.

The Guard

The guard forms a protection from the handle to the blade. This is to prevent your hand from slipping onto the blade or what you are cutting from hitting your hand.

The Tang

The tang is the least intuitively named part of the knife. The blade and the handle are difficult to explain due their obvious nature. This of course does not mean that the tang is not important. Not at all! The tang is the thing that often determines quality knives for cheaper version that look “nice” The tang is part of the blade that extends into the handle.

So a full tang extends through the entire handle and thus creates a knife that is very durable. A partial or a stick tang only extends part way into the handle. The less metal the is attach to the handle the weaker the knife. The tricky part is that the tang can be hidden in the handle making it difficult to determine the size of the tang. In this case “size does matter.”

The Lanyard

Is a hole in the handle that you can attach a cord to.

The Butt

The butt is, as you might have guessed by now, the end of the knife. No further explanation is required. :-)