What Are the Parts of a Fixed Blade Knife Called?.

Point to choil: Kershaw's blade words

The blade's words come from Kershaw's anatomy page, which Kershaw titles for pocketknives, so each definition below is Kershaw's, read from the point back; the folder's own parts are listed in the pocket knife parts answer.

1. Point: where "The edge and the spine meet."
2. Tip: the front of the blade, which Kershaw says "is used for fine detail work."
3. Edge: "The sharpened part of the blade that is used to slice and pierce through cutting tasks."
4. Spine: "the unsharpened top edge of the blade."
5. Swedge: "a tapered or beveled false edge near the spine."
6. Ricasso: "The unsharpened portion of the blade between the grinds and handle," which Kershaw says thickens toward the handle.
7. Choil: "An indented, curved notch behind the blade edge" that, in Kershaw's account, lets a sharpener reach the end of the edge.

Guard, tang, handle and pommel, maker by maker

A guard behind the blade and a pommel at the butt are fittings Buck writes as a pair and Böker also names; Case lists an aluminum guard on its Mini FINN Hunter, and the makers' words for both are gathered under guard and pommel.

Inside the handle runs the tang. Buck says fixed blades "can have tang or full-tang construction at the handle end," and Böker says a full tang knife's single piece of steel "extends from the point of the blade to the butt of the handle"; how the two constructions compare has its own answer, full tang vs partial tang.

Buck says "handle slabs" are attached on either side of a full tang, Böker writes "handle scales," and Gerber's Terracraft page lists "Machined G-10 scales." Böker says "The lanyard hole is used to attach a strap or loop."

The sheath is a separate item in the makers' own lists: CIVIVI's spec list for its Cloud Peak gives it a line of its own, "Sheath: Brown Leather Sheath," and the materials makers list for sheaths are taken up in leather, nylon or Kydex: how sheaths differ.

Reading the Buck General and the Alpha Hunter

The Buck General Fixed Blade Phenolic lists a 7.38 in blade of 420HC stainless, and its description pairs a "Black Phenolic handle" with an "aluminum guard and pommel" and adds a "Black leather belt sheath."

The Buck Alpha Hunter Walnut's listing names no guard or pommel: it gives a walnut handle and a full tang, and it lists a sheath with the knife.