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Knives

A knife is a sharp-edged hand tool used for cutting. A minimal knife is a blade and some method of gripping it. Knives have been used as tools and weapons since the Stone Age. more...

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The first knives were flint or other rock, chipped or ground to an edge, sometimes with a handle. Advances in smelting and metallurgy have led to blades made of bronze, iron, then steel and more exotic materials. Both materials and designs have changed over time.

Together with the fork and spoon, the knife has been a ubiquitous eating and cooking utensil in the Western world since at least the Middle Ages. All cultures use knives as tools. The importance of knives as weapons has declined, but knives are still made and carried for every purpose. A common category of knives are multi-purpose or pocket knives.

Anatomy of a knife

A knife always has one or more uses. A knife may consist of a blade, a spine, a tang, a choil, and many other optional features. The blade may be separated from the handle by a bolster, a guard, and/or a subhilt. The tang is an extension of the blade into the handle. The bolster usually helps to join the blade to the handle and adds greater strength. Some bolsters also may function as a barrier, or handguard, to prevent fingers from slipping onto the blade. A bolster with a definite extension away from the handle often serves as a guard to further protect the hand when using a knife.

Common blade features include serrations, coatings, and functional or decorative embellishments, including engraving, opening holes, thumb studs, disks and nail grooves. A fuller, sometimes mistakenly called a blood gutter or blood groove, is a depression along a blade. There is a myth that this promotes bleeding from a wound. The actual function is to lighten the blade without sacrificing stiffness. On many knives it is purely decorative. Additionally, a groove on the blade can reduce surface tension between the blade and the item being cut, thereby allowing easier movement or removal of the blade. Some knives have a choil where the blade is unsharpened and possibly indented as it meets the handle. A small choil is useful to prevent scratches (from sharpening) on the handle. A large choil is useful as a forward finger grip. Handles may be made of any solid material: wood, steel and decorative materials are common. A hole in the end of the handle allows the knife to be hung or placed on a lanyard.

Knives are generally divided into folding knives and fixed blades. A folder stores the blade inside the handle, while a fixed blade needs a sheath or other storage method when not in use. The handle of a folder is built around a frame; on the inside may be liners, and on the outside there may be slabs. Folders may include a locking mechanism; there are many types, but the common locks are back locks and Walker locks (also called liner locks). Fixed blades may have single or multipart handles, usually attached to the blade's tang. A full-tang design extends the tang all the way through the handle; these are the strongest fixed blades. Activities that require a strong blade, such as hunting or fighting, typically rely on a fixed blade. Some famous fixed blade designs include the Ka-bar and Bowie knives.