Blade shapes at a glance – the right option for every purpose

The outdoor world is a big playground where you can experience lots of great and breathtaking things. The range of equipment must be as diverse as the numerous leisure activities, so that everyone interested in adventure has useful tools to fall back on during their activities. For many people, knives are one of the most important items of all.

By producing different blade shapes, manufacturers ensure that every outdoor enthusiast can choose a knife that really suits their purpose. In this text, we provide an overview of the properties behind the respective knife blades and the characteristics that distinguish the shape.

Different areas require different blade shapes

What we already know from the world of cooking is no different in the world of outdoor knives. Paring knives, chef's knives, vegetable knives, all-purpose knives and the like were all designed in such a way that they can meet the sometimes high demands of their respective areas of use.

So why should you differentiate between the blade and knife shapes of kitchen knives and not between hunting knives, pocket knives and survival knives? While you need a delicate knife for carving feathersticks, for example, you need a robust knife for batoning in order to split a piece of wood in two with powerful, targeted blows.

In addition to factors such as blade length, blade thickness, tang quality and type of steel, it is also the blade shape that allows you to perfectly match the knife to its intended purpose. The most popular blade shapes include:

• normal form
• drop point
• clip point
• spear point
• dagger
• Utility
• Tanto

Whether it's cutting, slicing, carving or stabbing - with this variety of options at your disposal, you'll always find the perfect option for you.

normal form

The standard form is a blade shape that usually results in a rounded knife belly. Both the cutting edge and the back of the blade are usually straight.

The look is certainly familiar to everyone from the home, as the shape is often used for bread knives. However, the all-rounder mentality of this design means that you also often see it in outdoor areas.

drop point

Drop point blades are particularly popular in the hunting scene, as the slightly outward-facing blade spine guarantees comfortable and safe handling. Thanks to the long belly of the knife, this shape is excellent for cutting. The tip is also extremely robust. This also increases the knife's longevity.

In general, there can be minimal differences with this blade shape - but the basic features always remain the same. Knives of this type have established themselves in the everyday carry sector, as these all-rounders perform excellently in many areas.

clip point

The clip point blade has a sharp, downward-set tip, as is also known from Bowie knives.

This arrangement gives the user a lot of control and also allows them to benefit from great cutting properties. Looking at the cutting edge and the back of the blade, you can see a lot of similarities to the normal blade.

spear point

If you look at the spear point blade, you will quickly notice that it is basically a special type of the drop point blade presented previously.

The upper cutting edge in particular makes the difference here, as it is left completely blunt and ground down. This results in more precise weight distribution and better handling. This blade shape has many enthusiastic fans, especially when used as an EDC and outdoor knife.

dagger

The consistent structure of the dagger blade is immediately apparent. The user always has two sharp cutting surfaces at his disposal. The tip is located exactly in the middle of the knife blade, while the belly is almost impossible to find.

The overall design is perfect for piercing softer materials, which is why knives with this type of blade have been used as weapons for ages. The dagger has many strengths - but other variants are better suited for cutting.

Utility

At first glance, the utility blade looks exactly like the dagger shape described above. The difference lies in the details, because with the utility blade, only the front part of the upper cutting edge is sharpened.

The entire back of the blade, however, is not sharpened, so that knives of this type can also be used wonderfully for cutting.

Tanto

The Tanto blade has been manufactured in Japan for more than 1000 years in the form for which it is appreciated by many knife enthusiasts today. A blade of this design has a completely straight blade spine and knife belly.

Since the tip of the knife is at the level of the back, this generally disqualifies the blade from cutting work. This is precisely why the tanto is also categorised as a stabbing weapon. The Japanese classic has one of the strongest tips of all and is therefore also used in a slightly modified form by some special units as a combat knife.