Stick tangs and Full tangs. Advantages and Disadvantages

[Dave Budd]

Xunil is still around, just not on the forums any more I don't think.

Re shock and stick tang vs full tangs. If you are unsure whether one of the other is going to be best suited to heavy chopping tasks, just take a look at the heavy duty chopping/hacking/slashing tools and weapons from the last 3000 years in every part of the globe. Are ANY of them full tangs? I rest my case

 

[Shinken]

Do stick tangs have worse vibrations than full (or wide) tangs, when hacking at things do full tangs and there weighting give a better feel? Or is that simply down to having a piece of metal the length of the handle, or is even a good stiff half tang just as good?

On a small knife i would say there is not too much difference. On knife that is intended for chopping then i'd say that stick tangs are much better at reducing the vibration going into the hand. After all the handle acts as a cusion where as in a full tang your holding onto the metal that the blade is attached to. As is already said, that is why most big chopping tools are stick tang

 

[petrochemicals]

Xunil is still around, just not on the forums any more I don't think.

Re shock and stick tang vs full tangs. If you are unsure whether one of the other is going to be best suited to heavy chopping tasks, just take a look at the heavy duty chopping/hacking/slashing tools and weapons from the last 3000 years in every part of the globe. Are ANY of them full tangs? I rest my case

Well a machete kurkurri do but I assumed it was for strength as 2 foot of machete plus a thin six inch handle A) you need it and B)it will not make that much difference anyway.

A flat hidden opposed to a thin stick tang any vibrations is what i'm asking really, and not that anyone on here owns one but surely someone has had a go with one, but a half tang hidden or no, is there much difference.

On a small knife i would say there is not too much difference. On knife that is intended for chopping then i'd say that stick tangs are much better at reducing the vibration going into the hand. After all the handle acts as a cusion where as in a full tang your holding onto the metal that the blade is attached to. As is already said, that is why most big chopping tools are stick tang

That does make sense, again a half tang would have cushioning, but no re enforcement. Metal bars do tend to vibrate though, suppose that's why axes have no metal shafts until recently, or maybr that's a balance thing.

I did wonder whether having a bigger tang would deaden vibrations, through it being more stiff.

 

[demographic]

Well a machete kurkurri do but I assumed it was for strength as 2 foot of machete plus a thin six inch handle A) you need it and B)it will not make that much difference anyway.

A flat hidden opposed to a thin stick tang any vibrations is what i'm asking really, and not that anyone on here owns one but surely someone has had a go with one, but a half tang hidden or no, is there much difference.



That does make sense, again a half tang would have cushioning, but no re enforcement. Metal bars do tend to vibrate though, suppose that's why axes have no metal shafts until recently, or maybr that's a balance thing.

I did wonder whether having a bigger tang would deaden vibrations, through it being more stiff.

Flat (well more of an I shape really) hidden tang within either a leather washer grip or Viny grip is pretty much what every Estwing hammer (and hatchet) I've ever used has.

Err, its a hammer, taking shocks and beating things in is kind of in the job description for hammers.

I've read various adverts for different types of hammers over the years and many say they have a better handle blah blah blah.
Can't say I really believe that much as I'm managing just fine with the ones I use.

One of my oldest Estwing hammers really rings when I hit nails into it, to me that proves that the handle isn't transferring shock to my hand, otherwise my hand would be damping that ring like putting a hand onto a ringing bell.

Much of preventing vibration is by altering the shape and length of the tool.

 

[Dave Budd]

machetes are very thin metal (2mm or there abouts), so a stick wouldn't have any stiffness and would bend. Kukris are tradtionally sticks too, very short tanged at that; the full tang ones are made forthe British Army and genereally horrible to use by comparison anyway

 

[pieinthesky]

Re shock and stick tang vs full tangs. If you are unsure whether one of the other is going to be best suited to heavy chopping tasks, just take a look at the heavy duty chopping/hacking/slashing tools and weapons from the last 3000 years in every part of the globe. Are ANY of them full tangs? I rest my case

The historical popularity of stick tangs could be because the design lends itself to ancient/preferred/available manufacturing methods. Stick tang construction makes sense if you are forging a knife, also it uses less steel and would therefore be more economic when steel was relatively expensive.

I personally dont have a preference but I dont think you can use the stick tangs popularity over 3000 years as an argument that it is better than a full tang

 

[HillBill]

Indeed... iron was valuable... steel even more so. They used as little of each as they could... hence things like a steel core being forge welded into iron and things like that.

The historical popularity of stick tangs could be because the design lends itself to ancient/preferred/available manufacturing methods. Stick tang construction makes sense if you are forging a knife, also it uses less steel and would therefore be more economic when steel was relatively expensive.

I personally dont have a preference but I dont think you can use the stick tangs popularity over 3000 years as an argument that it is better than a full tang

 

[Shinken]

I personally dont have a preference but I dont think you can use the stick tangs popularity over 3000 years as an argument that it is better than a full tang

Nope but you can say that it has been good enough for that period of time and strong enough to be used on swords etc.

 

[pieinthesky]

Nope but you can say that it has been good enough for that period of time and strong enough to be used on swords etc.

100% agreed

 

[sunndog]

IMO the best reason to own a bushy knife with a full tang blade over 3.5mm thick is so you can have some nice contasting liners and a tapered tang
The prettiest handle type of all for me

On another note, remember all the survival books telling you not to touch a stick tang with a barge pole. Most would then go on to take you straight to Scandinavia in the "cold" section lol

 

[Shing]

Both are good from the strength point of view but the problem with stick tangs is you can't tell by looking at it if the tang has the thickness of a piece of spaghetti or its thick and robust. Also stick tangs for heavy use knives need a strong ferrule or metal collar for the handle to stop the handle splitting since that is the weakest part of any stick tang.

One thing about full tangs for knives intended for survival use is if the handle does break, you can easy keep using it by wrapping the tang with cloth or even leaves but its harder to repair stick tang knife unless you have the right tools like a drill and some glue and wood for the handle.

 

[shaggystu]

....One thing about full tangs for knives intended for survival use is if the handle does break, you can easy keep using it by wrapping the tang with cloth or even leaves but its harder to repair stick tang knife unless you have the right tools like a drill and some glue and wood for the handle.

Could you not just wrap it in cloth or even leaves?

 

[Shing]

Could you not just wrap it in cloth or even leaves?

It would depend but most stick tangs are quite narrow so a lot harder to create a makeshift handle. But a well made stick tang knife would be very strong for example if the tang was quite wide and thick and a very strong wood or plastic handle was used. But if I was stuck in the middle of nowhere, I would prefer a full tang knife.