Drop Point 

 

One of the most popular and common blade styles on the market today. Its  convex-shaped blade with sloping spine and  lowered point,makes these blades extremely popular with hunters. The design proves a very controlled cut.These blades also have a strong tips that resist breaking. The only downside is that this blade’s tip isn’t suited for piercing like other styles of blades.

Clip Point

 

Another one of the more common blade styles the Clip Point offers a controlled cut and allows it to pierce easily as well. The name comes from the fact that the front portion of the blade looks clipped off. Generally speaking these blades have thinner and sharper tips (for piercing) thus making the tip more susceptible to tip breakage than say a drop point.

Spear Point

The Spear point has a symmetrical blade with the tip aligning with the center of the blade. This style is often used in throwing knives and daggers as well as actual spear points. The are robust and are designed for piercing. They are not really suitable for skinning or other applications where a controlled cut is required.

Tanto

The Defining feature of the blade is the hard break from the bottom blade to the front section. An “American Tanto” knife blade has a straight front edge while a “Japanese Tanto” knife blade will add some curve to that front edge. This style is often used in  tactical weapons because of their strong tip and excellent ability to drive straight through objects. 

 

Straight Back

Straight Back knives are extremely strong. They are particularly popular for survival-style knives. This style has an extra strong tip and is excellent at piercing and slicing material. The Clip Point is similar to a straight back knife except that the unsharpened back edge of the knife stops about half way down the blade before dipping to the point in a curve or direct line. Thus the Clip Point, unlike a Straight Back Blade, is not as strong at the tip.

Sheepsfoot

Wharancliffe

The Wharncliffe is similar to the Sheepsfoot with the exception that its spine gently tapers the length of the blade till its curve eventually meet the cutting edge. Its uses and attribute are similar to the Sheepsfoot designed blades.

Blunt Point

This is another version of the Sheepsfoot. The main difference is the spine and Edge are parallel until the drastically round off and meet producing a blunt point.

Lambs Foot

This is another version of the Sheepsfoot. The main difference is the Spine and Edge are parallel until the drastically angle and meet producing a very angular tip shape making the tip narrower than the area meeting the tang.

Trailing Point

The trailing point knife is basically a fillet knife. It has a very smooth, gradual belly that makes short work of slicing along surfaces or separating thin materials.The Trailing points defining characteristic is the tip, which actually pitches back upward beyond the back of the blade. While the point is sharp its is weak. This design is most common in Fillet Knives.

Hawk Bill

The Hawk Bill blade design does its cutting by pulling along the material to be cut. Hawk Bill Blades require very little downward pressure to cut. Most of us are familiar with this being the design utilized in Carpet and Linoleum Knives but, this blade design makes a really a brutal combat style knife as well.