Knife Styles & Blade Shapes

Knife Styles

• Indoor Knives
  Cutlery knives and kitchen knives are the knife styles most often associated with indoor use. The boning knife, bread knife, carving knife, and table knife would be included in those two categories.

  Kitchen knives in particular have become highly specialized. A chef's knife or cook's knife is one multi-purpose knife that can be found in the kitchen, but otherwise most indoor knives are created for a particular culinary purpose. The lengthy list of specialized indoor knife styles would include the paring knife, cleaver, fillet knife, peeling knife, and trimming knife.

Outdoor Knives Outdoor knives can be used for anything from chopping brush to combat. But the three outdoor knife styles that are most popular are the hunting knife, survival knife, and tactical knife. A hunting knife is typically a fixed blade knife with a design and features suitable for skinning, gutting, and similar tasks. Survival knives are usually serrated fixed blade knives with hollow handles that contain survival equipment such as fishing line, bandages, water purification tablets, etc& A compass is often positioned in the pommel. A tactical knife is typically designed as a combat knife, or in the civilian world, as a rescue knife or police knife.

• Fixed Blade Knife and Folding Knife
  Beyond even the boundaries of indoor and outdoor knives, knives can be grouped into the categories of fixed blade knives and folding knives. Fixed blade knives are inherently stronger and better suited to heavy-duty outdoor tasks. Folding knives are easier to transport and more likely to be used for a variety of tasks. Pocket knives, utility knives, and stockman's knives are folding knives.
• Multi-Tool Knife aka Utility Knife or Pocket Knife
  All three of these knife terms have commonly been subsumed under the term Swiss Army knife. The benefit of these knives is that they provide a great variety of blades and other features for handling a tremendous range of problems. A pocket knife might include multiple blades, a corkscrew, saw, nail file, scissors, magnifying glass, can opener, or pliers. Modern utility knives are beginning to sport such features as digital clocks and LED lights.

Blade Shapes

• Single Edge Blade
  A single edge knife blade features a sharp curving edge and a dull, flat back. Some single edge knives have a false edge, a sharpened or serrated spine used for heavier cutting.

• Double Edge Blade
  A double-edged knife blade has the same sharpness on each end and can cut in either direction equally well.

• Clip Blade aka Clip Point Blade
  A clip blade is a single edge knife in which the back of the blade has been clipped to accentuate and sharpen the point. The curve is typically short, and the remaining portion of the back may be a false edge or even a second edge. The result is a sharper but weaker blade.

  There are numerous variations on the clip blade knife. Many are known as modified clip knives, but some regional variations exist, such as the California clip knife (which has a longer and gentler curve) and the Turkish clip knife (which features a very elongated clip).

• Trailing Point Blade aka Curved Blade
  The blade of a trailing point knife looks like it's bending slightly backwards at the point. This upward curve emphasizes the belly of the blade rather than its point, resulting in a knife best suited for slicing rather than jabbing.

• Drop Point Blade
  A knife with a drop point blade has a more convex curve than a clip blade. This results in a thicker point that increases the knife's strength but reduces its acuity.

• Sheepsfoot Blade
  A sheepsfoot blade knife has a straight cutting edge, rounded point, and curved, dull back. This knife design offers the advantage of a clean cut and a dull back surface for added grip.