hollow grind vs flat grind

[aero_student]

Is one grind better than the other?

Whata re the adavtages and disadvatages of hollow and flat grinds. It seems to me that the hollow grind would have a stronger blade since more of the original materials remains.

[cerulean]

With a hollow grind, there's generally less steel directly behind the edge, which can make it more prone to chipping. As far as overall strength of the blade is concerned, both hollow and flat grinds can either start at the spine or below it. However, many hollow grinds start below the spine and many flat grinds start at it.

Probably the biggest disadvantage of a hollow grind though is that it doesn't make deep cuts as well through material that tends to bind. A flat grind can wedge apart the material it's cutting and prevent binding.

One thing to keep in mind is that the hollow grind is a relatively recent invention, and it was first used almost exclusively for razors. Even today, you really never see hollow ground kitchen knives or wood working knives.

Advantages of hollow ground knives: The blade may seem to make shallow cuts better, as there's not as much steel passing through the material. Also, hollow ground knives keep the same edge thickness after many sharpenings, while flat ground knives get thicker. However, it's easier to thin the primary bevels of flat ground knives if you want to decrease the edge thickness after awhile.

[Joe Talmadge]

Dang, beat me to it! I'd agree with all the above.

With that in mind, here are my general preferences.

For everyday utility use, a full flat grind is my favorite. By "full flat grind", I mean the grind starts up at the spine. This gives an excellent balance of performance and edge strength, works well for both shallow and deep cutting, and will do everything from fine controlled cutting to chopping. My next fave would be a hollow grind, which gives great performance, but suffers badly for deep penetration, and isn't great for chopping. My least favorite is a flat sabre grind -- that is, a flat grind where the grind starts somewhere near the middle of the blade. This makes the edge thicken dramatically, so it's great for chopping (both because of edge strength and because it wedges the material apart), but is a less-than-optimal choice for most other cutting chores.

Big choppers take a full flat or sabre flat grind, depending on what you're doing. Kitchen knives always take a full flat.

Joe

[Tightwad]

I'd have to agree with Joe about the flat grind being much more useful. While I own many knives
of all makes and types without exception I've found the flat grind to be the best overall for 99.9% of
everyday uses. As an example I favor the calypso flat grind blade, along with a 4.25" stockman from
Buck as my most used daily carry. There are a few hollow gind that do get carried in rotation but not
many with the Buck 112 and the spyderco large goddard as most often used. A check of the grind
most often used by cutlers of old , when knives were used more often than now, will turn up more
flat than hollow grinds. The old timers knew how to make good cutting tools.

[The Stare]

From what I've read, there is a strong financial aspect to the prevalence of hollow ground blades: they're cheaper to make.

My mind is doing one of it's many daily farts, so -- well, it came thru -- Convex edges have not been mentioned. Many people list this grind at the top, or second to the flat grind. It is more expensive/requires more skill to grind than the others, I believe. Maybe Joe can give us his rundown on the convex edge, tho you only inquired about the 2 styles.

Stare