Blades of different sizes, designs, purposes have firmly entered our daily lives, and the knife industry is developing by leaps and bounds. Specialists have developed a special system for classifying knives by purpose. Depending on the tasks that the tool helps to solve, it belongs to one category or another, has design features. We should discuss how to decide the motivation behind a blade by its appearance and primary attributes.
TYPES OF KNIVES BY PURPOSE
Types and work of blades are closely interconnected. For example, a thin kitchen blade for splicing fish will not be able to cut ropes or plan tent stakes. And vice versa – with the help of a hunting knife, it is hardly possible to carry out a filigree thin slice of gastronomy.
COMBAT
These blades are designed for impact technique, therefore they are durable, have a massive blade of medium length with a necessarily pointed tip. The design of the knife also includes a prominent guard to protect the fingers from cuts. Also, combat blades can have the following features:
- oval handle with finger grooves for a solid grasp;
- the tip can be sharpened both from above and from below;
- the blade is etched or coated with special compounds so that the blade does not shine in the dark;
- the tip is in line with the butt;
- the mounting of the handle is strong, the blade is always fixed.
The combat knife was originally intended only for inflicting injuries to the enemy with stabbing blows during battle. Today, such blades are often used for other purposes, such as cutting branches on a hike, digging in, cutting wire.
TOURIST
This is a field help tool. Universal, which should be able to do a lot. At the same time, the dimensions of the blade are important – it should be compact, not take up much space in the backpack. Therefore, tourist knives are usually small in size. They can have a decent cutting edge (then, at that point, they are furnished with a sheath) or a collapsing instrument. We list different highlights:
- the steel used is corrosion-resistant, stainless;
- plastic handle – light and compact;
- a minimum of slots and holes – for easy maintenance;
- ease of sharpening in field conditions;
- In the curved shape of the design, the tip is lowered down.
HUNTING
Blades of this type are more often used not for a fight with an animal (although such an appointment is not excluded), but for ripping, skinning, butchering an animal carcass. A hunting knife can also be useful on the farm, when slaughtering livestock, for example. This blade has the following features:
- handle made of wood, bone, or horn;
- a small guard (so as not to interfere with butchering the carcass);
- thick butt;
- small blade (10-15 cm);
- a powerful point sharpened to razor sharpness;
- high blade hardness (58 or more HRC);
KITCHEN
This classification of blades is the biggest and generally different. It is the chef’s blades that are most in demand on the market. Every home has at least three main knives from the so-called “chef’s trio” – universal, chef, vegetable.
In their arsenal, there will be Damascus steel kitchen knives with a narrow specialization – for specific products and types of work. The design of the product, its special characteristics, the materials of manufacture, and the technology of sharpening depend on the purpose. We highlight the main distinguishing features of knives of various modifications:
- Steel type. The higher the load that the knife is subjected to during operation, the stronger and harder the steel. Thus, meat hatchets, chef knives, and other powerful blades are preferred from high carbon steel.
Knives for thinning meat, boning should be more flexible, so molybdenum-vanadium steel, stainless steel is preferred. Ceramic knives are very hard but brittle. This material is used only to create kitchen knives with a limited range of work – they are suitable for cutting non-solid foods, vegetables, gastronomy.
- Blade shape. The larger and denser the product with which you need to work, the more massive the blade is required. For knives designed for impact technique, a rectangular blade shape with a massive
butt is often optimal, for generalists – with a wide heel and a blade tapering towards the tip. For delicate cutting, plating, knives with a narrow and long blade are created. For cleaning vegetables – with a miniature.
- Sharpening angle. For rough impact work, a tool with a large sharpening angle is suitable, for delicate thin cutting – with a minimum one. For example, meat hatchets are sharpened at an angle of 45 degrees, and slicers of Japanese brands – at an angle of up to 15 degrees.
Professionals easily determine the purpose of a knife by its appearance. What matters are the dimensions, design, thickness, and length of the blade, the method of mounting the handle, the materials used? Each category of knives is suitable for certain types of work, and they have no equal in their field.
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