Some of the folks posting pics of their Yojimbos and the like have me wondering about Wharncliffe blade shapes. I probably won’t buy a Yojimbo, but a Delica with this blade shape could be an option. I’m not really interested in the defensive utility of such a blade, I’m more interested in whether there are any advantages for typical every day carry use. Any major negatives I need to be worried about? Does the Wharncliffe do better or worse at different blade lengths?
I have a Delica Wharnecliffe and like it quite well. It is an excellent utility blade.
The only thing about wharncliffes I can think of offhand that's ever really annoyed me is that since there's no belly to the blade, if you ever have to scrape anything with it, the shape is kind of limiting. Like if you had a flat surface, and you only wanted to scrape part of it, the straight surface of the wharncliffe makes that basically impossible.
Whether that particular obscure problem would be an issue for 99% of people, I don't know, probably not. I do so much stuff with knives that I think I'm no longer a good judge of what works for most users.
Anyway that's the one thing about them I don't like.
I like the so called "zulu spear" blade shape...which is between a drop point and a wharncliffe. The secondary blade on this knife made for me by Ken Erickson illustrates the idea...
It's a useful blade shape with just a bit of belly.
There's nothing civil about this war.
Unless you needed to cut one spot vs scrape, couldn't you just use the curved spine of the blade for scraping? Maybe the spine on some wharncliffes wouldn't be the right shape either, come to think of it, but the Delica has a curved spine.Originally Posted by misanthropist
depends what you're scraping and how fine an edge you need
They are a good shape for wood carving.
I started to type out a conversation I had with a Janich student on the topic, but then checked my archives and found an article from Recoil Mag that talks about it. What's the protocol? I can upload the pdf of the entire issue, or copy and paste the text. I don't want ruffle any feathers about copyrights.
I've posted before about the Benchmade 940 that I've carried for several years.
The upper knife was my EDC for six years. I use it for everything: opening letters and boxes, cutting food, digging splinters and thorns out of my skin, and cutting rope/string/cordage/targets/ammo boxes/whatever else needs to get cut. It’s been through the washing machine a couple of times, and I've used it to field dress and gut a blacktail deer and filet a king salmon. I've sharpened it on DMT stones so many times that the blade shape has changed from a modified clip point to a near-Wharncliffe. It's easy to sharpen to a razor edge, and it holds that edge well despite the abuse that I heap upon it daily.
The lower knife was new when this image was made. A few months ago, I sent the old one to Benchmade to replace the blade. Ms. Okie glommed on to it upon its return, so now I carry the other one. I rarely use the belly of a blade--it's either the point or the edge--so a Wharncliffe is OK for me. I noticed zero change in utility when I went from the original to the spare.
Okie John
“The reliability of the 30-06 on most of the world’s non-dangerous game is so well established as to be beyond intelligent dispute.” Finn Aagaard
"Don't fuck with it" seems to prevent the vast majority of reported issues." BehindBlueI's
That's beautiful.
#RESIST
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