I think you hit the nail on the head Liam. So many knives today are built with one thing in mind. To not break under extreme abuse, at the expense of all the other functions a knife should do. Excellent video!
Liam, I know this is a bit clunky, but what about offering both? Flat grind on a Camp/Hunt model (same knife blank, obviously) and Hollow grind on a Field/Stream edition - with the intended uses stated in the description to highlight the different blade geometry. Flat for strength on the Camp/Hunt model and Hollow for slicing/filleting/small game prep on the Field/Stream version. I think this would be a low-impact solution that would do two things: allow you to satisfy the needs/wants of both, and give you sales metrics for the different styles to inform blade grind choices downstream... What do you think? Personal preference: flat for family camping, hollow for hunting/fishing. In terms of pure aesthetics, well.. hollow wins IMHO. But that's just a personal thing.
My god that knife has a beautiful shape. It looks to be of practical size and weight as well. I wish I could shell out enough coin to purchase one from you!
I'm one for functionality in my blades, if you're just using a knife for a specialized task it should have the grind best suited for said task... i.e. if you're doing light to moderate wood processing you want a flat or convex grind, if processing game (which the Jager seems to be made for) I would want it to cut and slice as good as possible, so with that I would go with a hollow grind ^.^
I had a hollow hunting knife. I really love it for skinning, I liked it too much to try anything else with it though. I would buy one again for sure. I just hardly see them in the shops
your way to fucking over the top good. Most people can't ever get to your level of meticulous thought pattern and skill in a life time. Your so much fun to just sit back and enjoy. thank you for taking the time to do so. P.S. If all Americans tried to do their work of skills to the level you do, this country would be on top again. Lets make America great again and slow down and try to do our jobs at the best of our ability and push the foreign countries out when it comes to manufacturing. sorry for getting on my soap box. I know you don't want to here it. Just one of those days :(
I think that it depends on the steel; Hollow would be better with a tougher steel, but for 3V that can be prone to micro-chipping, I wonder if a hollow grind will take 3V past its limit. I would use hollow grind on some of my kitchen cutlery, but I prefer a flat or even convex grind on a multi-purpose blade that might see harder use outdoors.
I prefer the look of the hollow grind, but don't know enough about the differences between the 2 to give an answer that looks deeper than the aesthetic of the blade.
Liam I am curious how you like 52100. I have found that for steel commonly forged that 52100 takes the most insane of edges. Keeps it very well too. Maybe something to consider if cutting performance is your top priority.
Isn't the flat ground better at slicing than hollow ground? I was under the impression that hollow ground only sliced better up until the spine, which then caused a splitting effect.
James Blond - I believe as long as the grinds are taken to the same height, use the same thickness for the blade stock, and taken to the same thickness behind the edge, the hollow has reduced friction during the cut because less of the steel on the bevels will be making contact with the material being cut. When truly comparing grinds, all things really need to be equal. I've seen some vids where three (or so) completely different knives are used to compare cutting ability of the different grinds and those tests are simply invalid, unless of course they are testing the overall knives themselves where there can be a number of different variables.
Liam, do you, or will you sell a knife with this grind on a straight blade (not recurve) between 4 and 5 and a half inches as a clip point or Bowie point blade? That, in my humble opinion, would be the perfect all around camp, hunting, woodcraft knife. Given a handsome, but not exotic wood handle of walnut, ash, or hickory and that's an heirloom quality knife I'd pony up some money for.
In your video on axe geometry you said 35 and 5 degrees. That is 35 degrees from an imaginary line down the center of the axe head, not from the opposing bevel, right?
I own the gamete of knife thicknesses, steels, and profiles. If you break a properly heat treated 3v blade that is 1/8 or better, you were being an idiot. Since its 3v, I say go hollow. With that big wheel, you're getting way more slice than you are giving up in durability. Oh, and you are making it way easier to maintain since you won't be grinding back a big flat bevel at 62 Rockwell every time you have to go to the stone. A strop will keep that sucker hair popping for a long time.
I don't understand tool abuse. If you can't or don't want to carry a small blade for fine work, try and explain how you manage to carry a large blade and then bitch cause you can't get fine control or use out of that large blade.
