What is every knife design best used for ??

Most of my knives are drop point. Some are clip point.

I have seen Joe Teti in Dual survival using a tanto and it looks attractive but made me wonder if it practical , and where it can best be used !!

So here is my question. There is electrician knife, bushcraft knife, you name it. What design do you prefer and why ( drop point, clip point, tanto, sheepfoot , spear ...ect.)

And, where is tanto used mostly ??
OK, other than its looks !

Tanto points are good for stabbing things, because the tip is strong. They are a pain to sharpen.

I prefer drop points, straight backs, and leaf shaped blades. because those are what I have always used and they just feel "right" for me. I have tried a few clip points. I found no advantage to them, and the tip looks fragile on many (I'm talking about the extreme clip points). I never broke a tip, probably because I was too afraid to use the knife hard enough to break the tip!

I do like the milder clip point style. Like the Cold Steel SRK. That almost appears to be a hybrid of clip point and drop point to my eye.

As far as the "why" I like what I like ... mostly it's just familiarity.

99% f thee time, the shape of the tio has been irredevant, while sharpness has mattered.

i do have a tanto blade which makes a fine excavation tool for delicate archaeological work....

For general use I prefer the drop point. It offers a long edge and the drop point is good for gutting and field dressing fish and game.
"Bushcraft knife" is an umbrella term for various designs. Sometimes there are fierce battles regarding what is and is not a "bushcraft knife".
The tanto is primarily a thrust oriented combat knife. It can be practical for bushcraft and fieldcraft. There are better designs for that. I can understand why someone with military background would use a tanto. The currently issued fighting knife of the German army is a tanto design and it is popular in some outdoors communities.

I prefer sheepfoot wharncliffe.

Can you please tell me where do you use a sheepfoot?

I once had a hawkbill knife ( a friend's gift ), didn't know what to do with it, so I used a file to reshape blade to a straight one. It became wharncliffe shape.

Certainly can't say that this is a pointless discussion.....

Actually my current edc carry, a Skeletool CX, has a point not shown here, although it might be close to a "modified".

Whatever it is, it works and gets the point across

I like to think of the Skeletool CX as having a Wharncliffe blade with a curve, making it more akin to a drop point in utility.

Everybody may talk about the blade shape, but it's the geometry of the blade plus the handle that determines the utility of the cutting tool. My 2c.

Having seen Chisels picture I must correct myself; I like and have a wharncliffe.
Don´t have much use for a knife but mostly cutting up boxes or sausage packages for grilling or whittling some sticks. For those tasks I feel wharncliffe is perfect.

I read long time ago, that sailors in the past who climbed ship sails used Wharncliffe knives specifically. If the knife fell it won't stab anyone under, as the knife's tip is not centered, and the center of garvity of the knife is on the back of the blade, so it most likely fall on its back.

In these days, this can be applicable to electricians or handy people climbing ladders with someone down assisting them. It is worth considering if it proves to be true.

Once on You tube, I saw a bushcrafty lady with a clip point knife. The clip was so exaggerated, it is almost a reverse hawkbill and similar to persian. This design makes the tip so easy to break. OTOH, the knife is great for filleting a fish.

I would think a sheepsfoot would be better at ladder drop mitigation than a wharncliffe. Wharncliffes are still quite "pointy".

You are right.

You remind me of a colleague at work who brought a cheap knife to work. It was a fruit knife, and had a rounded tip. I liked it so much that my evil mind started daydreaming of 'borrowing' it. LOL.

Another colleague had a diver's knife which had a partial chisel head. Looks like a drop point with a broken tip. And the 'broken' tip was half-inch wide. That would be great all around camp, and great for digging, or removing bark ..etc.

I don't remember al the details but may be looked like this .
Although I think it was heavier
Would be great for working in the garden

I think divers probably have a greater need to pry things rather than stab them, and that's where the blunt tip comes from.

I make knives as a side business and I personally prefer a clip point. Almost all the knife people I know have gone through a tanto phase. I know I did. But the traditional tanto would not be my choice for a survival tool. That's not what it's designed for. Neither is a dagger. When I was an apprentice I reshaped a few Cold Steel SRK for people. Some of my own designs came out of those modifications and the original designs. As always this is jmho.

I find a blunt prybar tip has a lot more practical utility than people give it credit for. The only problem with dive knives is that the steel is generally lousy, chosen for corrosion resistance rather than edge holding.

These days, my favourite work blade in my garden, woods, and shop is a chisel-tip wrecking knife. This is a symmetrical scandi-grind with a thick spine. People literally laugh at it because it doesn't "look right." Then they use it for a while and come to respect its utility as a tool.



It digs, scrapes, pry's, and cuts like a champ. I would take one into the bush any time. Better still, I bought a raft of them on a clearance for $5 each.

Personally, I think the macho mentality that "I need a sharp point to kill a grizzly bear with my knife and skin it out after" is pure armchair horseradish. (There are of course practical uses for a sharp tip; I'm not dissing those at all.) My 2c.

Corrosion resistance is probably the number one priority for a dive knife. More important than edge holding. They haven't yet come up with "the one perfect steel" for every knife use. That's why we have so many to choose from. Each one is a compromise. The steel, the blade shape, the blade length, the handle ... everything is a compromise - and you choose which one fits your primary need the best. For working in the yard and around the house, my choice is a Mora Companion Heavy Duty made of high carbon steel. I wouldn't dive with it though.

Another specialized knife which bears mention is the Japanese Hori-hori, or soil knife. It coms with a spear point and impossibly dull edges, which can be sharpened if needed. Generally some nondescript stainless steel, since it isn't mentioned as a selling point.

I use mine around the house, gardening, weeding, and the like, and one is going on my next dig.

Also worthy of mention is a pry bar, available in a variety of sizes and shapes, and quite capable of handling tasks which would damage most knives.

Problem with prybars, they are heavy. And they are designed (curved) in a way they are hard to EDC. I wish to have a heavy (not necessarily large, but heavy) knife similar to the japanese soil knife, straight and relatively sharp/dull.

I once bought a cheap 'bushcraft knife' , not for real bushcrafting, but for this reason. It is cheap (meaning: not a very good steal) but it was thick. I wanted it for all around digging, gardening , whatever. Unfortunately since we moved the furniture and stuff around the house, I haven't seen it and don't know where it is.

Rogan Tools https://roganusa.com/

They are going to suck as a knife for fine tasks, but for abusive tasks like digging and prying it'd be hard to beat.