Blade Styles

FREE Stuff Clip Point
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. This format is often combined with a good-sized curving belly, for slicing ability. The combination of a controllable, sharp point and plenty of belly makes the clip point an excellent all-around format.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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