I recall a thread on Bladeforums long time back re a Cold Steel Recon (?) which failed at the stress riser (that 90 deg angle at the hilt between the blade and tang). The gent was batoning in cold weather IIRC -- probably bad technique.
The way I understand
CS-Recon-Scout-Fails-Miserablythis blade failed because of poor quality control (heat treatment). ColdSteel sent a replacement.
Its a 5/16inch blade, thats 0.3125inch thick and the
edge is 0.060" thick and 43 degrees included (22.5 dps)
That is very thick, it should be able to handle anything.
For some perspective see
this comment the whole reason you get a knife made like the Recon Scout (geometry wise) is so that it can hack and pry, all that metal drastically lowers its cutting ability, and the lower hardness loses edge retention. It is all about toughness for that type of blade.
and
this one As for axes being thicker than knives, a rule of thumb for wood cutting axes is 0.25" thick at two inches back from the edge, that is the same as on a high end bowie. Now splitting axes have thicker bits, but no one carries them hiking. In fact wood cutting axes will get damaged on knots far easier than tactical blades like the RS because the RS has a vastly *thicker* profile.