Knives start to look more like what we know as knives about
five thousand years ago. This is when man started to
understand how to work with metal. At this point knives
where made out of copper, then bronze, iron, and now steel.
There are many alloys, such as carbon fiber, and titanium
that are used today that make knives the sharpest and
strongest they have ever been.

Knives start to look more like what we know as knives about
five thousand years ago. This is when man started to
understand how to work with metal. At this point knives
where made out of copper, then bronze, iron, and now steel.
knives are sharer and stronger then they have ever been
using alloys such as carvon fiber, and titanium.

The knives we see today can be broken up into two types
fixed blades, and folding blades other wise called pocket
knives. Both of these knives have basically the same parts.
The two most obvious parts are the blade, and the handle.
The tang is the medal from the blade that runs thought the
handle. There are also two types of tangs. The full tang
that goes all the way thought the handle, and the partial
tang witch only runs part way thought the handle. Full
tangs knives are much better knives and it is reflected
with the price at stores full tang knives are normally much
more expensive that partial tang knives. Other parts of the
knife are the end of the knife that is used to pierce, the
edge and is used to cut.spine, cross section, fuller witch
is the groove. Some people think that this is a blood
groove but it is really just to make the knife lighter. The
ricasso this is the metal part that is not sharp between
the blade and the handle, guard, and the butt. The butt
may have a whole in it to run a lanyard though.

Knives made to day are much more complex then the stone or
even bronze knives of the past. With a wide variety of
medals to make knives out of. Depending on the metal your
knife will have very different strong points and weak
points. If your knife is made out of carbon steel it will
be able to get very sharp, and hold its edge for a long
time. when the blade loses it edge it is very easily
sharpened. On the down side carbon steel will rust and
stain easily. Now stainless steel will not rust and stain
as easily but will never be as sharp as the carbon steel.

The handle of a knife can be made up of many different
things. The handle can be made of just plain wood. Or can
be very decorative. Other materials used for the handles of
knives are plastic, rubber, micarta, leather, or it can be
made of medal. Decorative handles could be made from bone,
ivory, oosic, walrus tusk, sheep or buffalo horn, mother of
pearl, and well just about anything

To try to bring the best quality's of both of these steels
there is a medal called high carbon stainless steel. This.
These blades do not stain and hold there very shape edge.
Another type of knife is made from laminate this is using
many types of metal sandwiched together to make the best
knife possible. Titanium is used to make a light but strong
knife, but titanium will never get as sharp as the carbon
steel. Ceramic knives are hard, and very light. They will
hold a sharp edge for years with out having to sharpen it.
But they are very brittle. If you where to drop it on
something hard it would break. When sharpening them you
will need a silicon carbide sandpaper.

Fixed blades are your basic straight knives they do not
fold and need to have a sheath to cover the blade and are
normally worn on a belt. these knives are much stronger
that there folding brothers due to the tang running down
the handle. It also helps that there are no moving parts to
the fixed blade knives. Pocket knives, and folding knives
have a pivot point that folds the knife into the handle.
Most of these have some sort of locking system on them.
Asis lock, button lock, frame lock, lock back, liner lock
and slip joint are some of the most common. These locks are
unique to Benchmade knives. And the pick lock. Witch one
people like is all just a matter of opinion they all work
great it comes down to what the individual is most
comfortable with.

knives are one of the worlds oldest and virsital tools,
there are knives made for just about anything. knives can
be used as utensils, tools and a weapon. There are even
knives that are used in religious or traditional
ceremonies. In every part of our history knives have played
a part in making us what we are today.