Ballistic Cloth – A very durable, heavy nylon type material used for sheaths.
Blade Spine – The blade spine typically refers to the thickest and fullest portion of the blade. On a single-edge flat-ground knife, blade spine always refers to the outermost back of the blade. On a classic dagger, the spine refers to the fullest-thickness part of the blade running straight down the middle. On knives with false edges, the term “spine” is used inconsistently. Technically, the spine would be the fullest and thickest part of the blade where the main bevel meets the false edge bevel. However, blade spine is often used to describe the back of the blade instead, right over the false edge.
Blood Groove – A groove in the knife blade that makes the instrument lighter and stiffer, also referred to as “Fuller.” A popular misconception holds that the blood groove’s purpose is to break the vacuum when the blade is being extracted from a victim’s body. In fact, no such vacuum occurs.
Bolsters – The metal material at the blade end of knife handle. Today these are usually made of nickel silver or a mild stainless steel. In older, less expensive knives they were often made of iron or mild steel.
Bowie Knife – Any large, fixed blade knife with a blade ranging from 6 to 14 inches. The original namesake knife had a blade that was probably 9 inches long, with a sturdy guard projecting from both the top and bottom of the knife between blade and handle. Invented by Rezin Bowie and made famous by his brother, Jim, who died at the Alamo.
Butt Cap/Pommel – The pommel refers to the end of the handle of a knife. Many knives have a metal cap over the pommel, called a butt cap. Often the pommel is interesting because of a decoration; however, there are different forms of working pommels.
Caper – A knife designed to do the delicate work of skinning around the eyes and lips of trophy animals. This work is called caping because you remove the cape of the animal.
CATRA machine – a computer-controlled testing machine that gives the most accurate and repeatable data for an objective evaluation of edge sharpness and consistency.
Choil – The choil is an unsharpened section of the blade. If a guard is present, the choil will be in front of the guard on the blade itself. The choil is often used as a way to choke up on the blade for close-in work. The index finger is placed in the choil, and this close proximity to the edge allows for greater control. In addition, the choil is just in front of where the blade itself becomes part of the handle, an area often prone to breakage due to the blade-handle juncture. The choil leaves this area at full thickness and thus stronger.
Clip Point Blade – A blade on which the back line breaks and slants downward to produce a finer and more useful point. Also, a blade format where the top of the blade has a cutout (or “clip”) at the top of the blade. The cutout is either concave or straight. Clipping the blade brings the point of the knife lower, for control. It also makes the tip sharper. Since the sharp point is one of the goals of this format, the clip is often accompanied by a false edge.
CORROSION RESISTANCE – A blade’s ability to resist rust, which is the result of exposure to the environment or elements.
Cryogenic Quenching – The process of freezing blades to -120 degrees fahrenheit to improve blade performance.
Double-edged – A double-edged or spey blade has two edges. The blade cuts in either direction, with a strong sharp point. This shape is primarily used for fighting knives.
Drop Point – A blade design made popular in handmade hunting knives by Bob Loveless beginning about 1969, used earlier by Randall and others. Characterized by a slow convex-curved drop in the point. The drop-point format lowers the point for control, but leaves the point extremely strong. It’s usually coupled with plenty of belly for slicing, making it ideal for hunting knives. An extremely good all-around format that also shows up on tactical and utility knives.
DUCTILITY – The blade’s ability to flex, bend or take an impact without fracturing. If the amount of flex or bend is small before cracking or breaking, the blade is considered brittle.
EDGE RETENTION – A measure of the blade’s ability to hold an edge by resisting abrasion and wear.
Epoxy Powder Coating – A coating process that protects blades from corrosion and also makes them non-reflective.
False Edge – Many knives have beveling along the top in addition to the bottom sharpening bevel. Bevels on the top edge are referred to as a “false edge”. The false edge can be either sharpened or not.
Flat Ground – A grind that tapers from the top of the blade down to the cutting edge. Also known as a “V” grind.
Framelock – The framelock is a variant of the linerlock. Instead of using the liner, though, the frame functions as an actual spring. It is usually much more secure than a liner lock.
Full Tang – A tang that shows all around the handle of the knife between two pieces of handle material.
Guard – Also known as a hilt, is the piece of steel that separates the handle and the blade. Serves to keep the hand from slipping on the blade when cutting. Can be single or double.
Gut Hook – The unique blade shape is ideal for opening the underside flesh of game during field dressing.
HARDENABILITY – The steel’s ability to be hardened.
Hardness – The measure of hardness for tool steels is most commonly done with a Rockwell tester. (See Rockwell.) The best hardness for a given steel is not necessarily the best for another. Generally, steel blades should be hardened to the high 50s or low 60s on the Rockwell C scale.
HEAT-TREAT – An important series of steps in developing blade properties, such as toughness. Learn more about Buck’s state-of-the-art heat treating process.
Hidden tang disappears into the handle itself.
Hilt – To a sword collector, the hilt encompasses the entire handle and guard. To the modern knife world, hilt and quillion mean the same thing: The guard (single or double) between the handle and the blade.
Hollow Ground – The ground surface of the blade is concave. Used to create a fine cutting edge.
Hone – Used as a noun, it means a fine stone used to put a finished edge on a knife or razor. Used as a verb, it is the action of finishing the edge of a knife.
Honing Oil – A light oil used to keep the surface of a sharpening stone free of steel deposits and debris.
Hunter – A style of sheath knife. Used for hunting, camping and skinning.
INITIAL SHARPNESS – The sharpness of the blade right “out of the box,” and the sharpness that is the goal when re-sharpening.
Inlays – Designs of metal or other material inlaid into the handles of a knife.
Integral Hilt – The hilt and blade are machined or forged from the same piece of metal. The term “full integral” means that the blade, hilt, tang and pommel are all from the same piece of steel.
Knife – A tool with a blade and a handle. The blade will have at least one sharp edge. The first blade could have been of bone or stone, while the first handle may have been a piece of hide used to protect the hand from sharp edges of chipped or broken stone.
Knife, Boot – A knife small enough to be concealed in a boot, generally considered a defensive knife.
Knife, Combat – It opens cans of food, it digs foxholes, and it’s used in hand-to-hand combat.
Knife, Fighting – A knife intended for killing sentries, for hand-to-hand fighting and little else.
Knife, Folding – Any knife that allows the blade to be folded into the handle. Pocketknives, Folding hunters, etc.
Knife, Gentlemen’s – Any knife that is trim and elegant in form. It can be carried without embarrassment anywhere, because it conveys prestige.
Knife, Hunting – A knife used for skinning and butchering large and small game. Today it usually means a knife with a blade of 3 to 6 inches with a guard between the blade and the handle. But originally, it was a kitchen knife carried into the field. New styles appear annually.
Knife, Pocket – Any knife that can be comfortably carried in a pocket. May have several blades. Almost always a folding knife.
Kydex® – A hard plastic material used for sheaths. Chemical, corrosion and impact resistant.
Lanyard – Sometimes used to attach a knife to clothing or belt.
Lanyard Hole – A hole usually found at the butt of a knife handle to attach a thong or lanyard.
LASER CUTTING – Large blades and “hard steel” blades are cut from sheets of steel using a state-of-the-art computer-controlled laser that can cut out blades to a specified shape.
Laser Scrimshaw – Using a laser to mass-produce scrimshaw designs on knife handles.
Liner – Thin sheets of metal between the blade and the handle material of folding knives.
Liner-Lock – A liner lock has a leaf cut out of the handle’s liner. When the blade is fully open, the leaf springs open and blocks the back of the blade, preventing it from closing. Since the liner locks has no spring pushing against the blade, it has an incredibly smooth action. To unlock the knife you thumb the leaf out of the way, obviously using just one hand. The blade has a detent in it, and a small ball bearing embedded in the leaf drops into the detent when the blade is fully closed, keeping the knife from opening accidentally. This lock format is extremely strong when done correctly.
Lockback – A folding knife that has a lock release on the back of the handle and spring tension against the blade. When the knife is fully open, a tooth at the end of the spring drops into a cutout in the blade, thus locking the blade safely in place. Pressure from a spring keeps the blade from accidentally opening. Pushing the release lifts the tooth out of the cutout, allowing the knife to close.
Main Blade – The largest blade in a knife with two or more blades.
Mark Side – The side of the blade with the Nail Mark, which can be the obverse or the reverse side of the blade.
Nail Mark – A groove cut into the back of the blade for the thumbnail to easily open the knife.
Pocket Clip – A clip intended to keep a knife or other tool at the top of the pocket for easy access.
Point – The extreme end of the blade where the line of the back and the line of the edge come together.
Ricasso – The flat area above and behind the hollow or flat ground area of the blade.
Rockwell Hardness(HRC) – An industry scale used for measuring the hardness of blade steel. The higher the reading, the harder the steel. Written as HRC or RC followed by a range of numbers.
Satin Finish – A finish that is not mirror-polished; the lines from the fine abrasive gives a satin appearance.
Scale – This refers to the handle parts on each side of a full tang hunting knife, or the parts on the sides of a pocketknife or folder.
Serrated – Scallops in the edge that allow a sawing action; ideal for cutting things like seat-belts and plastic rope.
Sheath – A method for carrying a knife, tool, light, etc., on your belt, pack or anywhere a strap is. Sheaths are made of ballistic nylon, leather, kydex and various other materials. Sheaths usually come with a Velcro or snap closure.
Sheepfoot Blade – A straight edge with the back of the blade falling in a strong curve to the point of the blade.
Side-Lock – Also known as a linerlock. A locking mechanism that features a tab cut out of the liner which is used as a stop to lock the blade in an open position. To close, the liner tab is pushed back to its original position.
Spear Point Blade – The edge and the back of the blade curve to each other and meet in the middle.
Spey Blade – Blade intended for the castration of livestock. The cutting edge curves up strongly to meet a very minor clip. Most often found in stock knives or cattlemen’s knives.
Stick tang – Thins out considerably once it goes into the handle.
STRENGTH – Steel’s ability to resist applied forces.
Swedge – A bevel grind on the edge of the back of a blade. If it were sharp it would not be a swedge, but would be a False Edge.
Tang – The tang is the part of the knife where the blade stops and the handle starts. There are many different terms used to describe what kind of tang a knife has, because the strength and other characteristics of the knife depend on the tang format.
Tanto – The classic Japanese tanto shape has the point exactly inline with the spine of the blade, and has a graceful belly curve. Most tantos seen on the American cutlery market are the Americanized tanto format. Like the Japanese tanto, the Americanized tanto has a high-point in-line with the spine. A flat grind is applied to the point, leaving it very thick and massively strong. The front edge meets the bottom edge at an obtuse angle, rather than curving to meet it as in the Japanese tanto. There is a separate grind applied to the bottom edge, often a hollow grind to leave this edge extremely sharp. Other tanto formats have become popular also, and modifications such as clipping the point or applying a chisel-grind are often seen.
Tapered tang – To save weight, the maker can taper the tang so it gets thinner as it goes back into the handle.
TEMPERING – The final step in the heat-treat process to improve toughness.
TENSILE STRENGTH – Ability to resist breaking. Ultimate Tensile Strength is the maximum load per square inch a blade can sustain before breaking.
Thong Hole – A hole at the butt of a knife handle intended for a wrist thong or lanyard.
