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bookworm13
677
Nov 14, 2017
That's odd, it shows $54.98 for me at Amazon and camel shows the last time it was $30 was exactly one year ago on 20161114. There's a used one for $27.13
Regardless, the total lack of a guard or finger choil concerns me. Anyone with experience with the knife have any feedback on your finger slipping forward. Seems the new design has the sharpened edge all the way to the handle.
JeremyHeld
47
Nov 14, 2017
bookworm13You're looking at the 4 in blade, not the 5 in blade. The 5 in blade is $30 on amazon--which I'm guessing means they just lowered it to price beat/match.
bookworm13
677
Nov 14, 2017
JeremyHeldThanks for the clarification. According to camel, the price dropped on 11/08 so probably just coincidence.
Looks like other Amazon buyers have the same worry about no safety features.
Sitwon
277
Nov 15, 2017
bookworm13How are you planning on using the knife that you think your finger is going to slip up onto the blade? Fighting?
bookworm13
677
Nov 15, 2017
SitwonNot planning on doing any fighting (with knives or any other tool), but not being able to push cut without worrying about your fingers seems to be unnecessarily limiting your options.
Sitwon
277
Nov 15, 2017
bookworm13To my understanding, you could push cut with this just fine. They way I understand the terminology, with a push cut the direction of force is perpendicular to the blade. That is, the direction of force is from the spine toward the edge. Often, you may actually be applying force directly to the spine of the blade. (You typically see this demonstrated when bushcrafters make fuzz sticks.)
Do you mean stabbing?
Or maybe you are using "push cut" to mean something like slicing or draw cutting, but where you are pushing the handle toward the cut, rather than drawing the handle away from the cut. I'm not sure I can think of an obvious reason you would use the blade in that way. It seems to me like a more awkward movement than normal slicing or draw cutting.
Is there a scenario I'm not considering?
Knives like this (sans guard) have been used for hundreds of years, and not because knife makers didn't know how to put guards on their knives. It seems that in Scandinavia, companies like Mora make knives with and without guards, but culturally the ones with guards are used by children. Adults generally seem to feel they don't need the guard and that it gets in the way when using the knife for carving.
MDDoge
296
Nov 15, 2017
SitwonA push cut is indeed the opposite of a draw cut. I'm actually not sure of the correct name for cutting with the blade perpendicular to the direction of travel (like is done with batoning or when cutting a cheese block.)
Personally I consider a guard/finger stop to be a good safety feature. While it's unlikely that your fingers will slip onto the blade during any normal use, I don't see any reason not to have one, and cutting your fingers while away from civilization is trouble.
Sitwon
277
Nov 15, 2017
MDDogeOk, I see. I did a little more research and it turns out the terminology is a little complicated. The bushcraft and culinary communities use the same terminology to refer to different techniques.
In the culinary world: A draw cut is where the tip of the blade stays on cutting board and you draw the knife toward yourself, slicing through the food. A push cut is where you start with the knife above the food, and move it forward and down until it contacts the board. This is the reverse of "slicing" in which you move the knife down and back (toward yourself) as you cut. Although, sometimes "push cutting" is called "slicing" and "slicing" is called "back-slicing". There seems to be a lot of variation in the names, and sometimes very subtle variations in the descriptions of the technique. Slicing and push cutting are different from draw cutting because the edge is generally parallel to the board, where as in the draw cut the tip of the blade stays on the board but the edge is held at roughly a 45 degree angle relative to the board.
In the bushcraft/survival world: A draw cut is where the knife is held perpendicular to the material with the edge facing you and is pulled toward yourself. In this way, you are using it similar to a draw knife for shaving material. A push cut is where the knife is held perpendicular with the edge facing away from you, and you press the knife forward into the material without moving the edge laterally. Sometimes, you use your thumb or even the thumb of the hand not holding the knife to press on the spine of the blade. Slicing is any motion is which the blade is moved laterally while cutting, such that the point of contact with the material travels either from handle to tip or from tip to handle during the cut.
Here are a few references of the terms being used and techniques demonstrated. https://youtu.be/sH8pgoMzVSs?t=1m17s https://youtu.be/cwvwxbdIU4w?t=4m46s https://www.knifeplanet.net/survival-knife-safety-grip-techniques/
So in a culinary "push cut" you are indeed applying pressure in such a direction that your hand could plausibly slide forward onto the blade. Except, that never happens. Because when performing a push cut the knife is held in a pinch grip. This knife in particular would NEED to be held in a pinch grip because otherwise your fingers would hit the board and prevent most of the working edge from making contact with the board and completing the cut. Indeed, in order to use this blade for push cutting, it CAN'T have a finger guard. The finger guard would hit the cutting board the same way, preventing the completion of the cut.
So the only way to use this knife for the push cut technique is for it to not have a guard so the edge can come all the way down to the cutting board. But that's not a problem because you would be holding the knife in a pinch grip, so your fingers, if they slid forward, would slide onto the sides of the knife, not onto the edge.