Short answer: hard-use fixed blades — hunting knives, bushcraft knives, camp knives — are most often convex or sabre ground, because both leave more steel behind the edge than a full flat or hollow grind would, and that steel is what keeps an edge from rolling or chipping when you're batoning wood or working through a joint. Flat grind still shows up on dedicated skinners, where thin, controlled slicing matters more than raw durability.
Fixed blades trade slicing efficiency for durability
Unlike a chef's knife or a folder, a fixed-blade hunting or outdoor knife is judged mostly on what happens when the edge meets something harder than it expects — bone, a knot, a nail buried in a log. That changes which grinds make sense: the thinnest, most efficient slicing geometries, hollow and full flat, are usually the wrong choice, because they're also the most fragile.
Convex grind — the strongest edge geometry
A convex grind curves smoothly outward from the blade face to the edge, with no distinct flat facet at any point — cross-sectioned, it looks like a gentle bulge rather than a wedge. It's mathematically the strongest common grind, because there's no thin, unsupported section anywhere behind the edge. Axes, machetes, and most serious bushcraft knives use it for that reason. The tradeoff is sharpening: there's no single flat angle to reference on a stone, so it's usually maintained by hand on a strop or a soft backing rather than a fixed-angle jig.
Sabre grind — durability with an easier sharpening angle
A sabre grind is a partial flat grind that starts partway down the blade rather than at the spine, leaving a noticeably thicker shoulder behind the edge than a full flat grind would. It's not quite as strong as a true convex edge, but it's much easier to sharpen consistently, since it's still a flat bevel with one angle. This is the most common grind on production hunting and survival fixed blades.
Where flat grind still wins — skinning knives
A dedicated skinner spends its life doing thin, controlled slicing along a hide rather than chopping or prying, so the calculus flips: a full flat grind's thinner, more efficient edge is an advantage rather than a liability. That's why skinning knives are one of the few fixed-blade categories where flat grind is still the default rather than the exception — see our skinning knife guide for the rest of what makes that shape work.
Matching grind to the job
- Batoning, chopping, general bushcraft: convex grind.
- All-around hunting knife that also needs to be easy to touch up in the field: sabre grind.
- Skinning and caping specifically: flat grind.
Forging changes how a convex grind gets made
On a factory blade, a convex edge is ground in afterward, usually on a slack belt that lets the wheel flex into the curve. On a hand-forged blade, a smith can shape a good part of that curve directly with the hammer before it ever touches a grinder, which is one reason convex grinds are common on forged hunting knives specifically — the geometry and the process suit each other.
Questions people ask
Is convex grind only for axes and machetes?
No — plenty of hunting and camp knives use it too, especially hand-forged blades where a smith can shape the convex curve directly with a hammer and belt rather than grinding it in afterward.
Which grind is easiest to maintain in the field with no jig?
A sabre grind is the easiest to keep consistent freehand, since it's a single flat angle. A convex grind is actually simple to touch up on a strop or leather once you know the technique, but it takes practice to avoid rounding it into something closer to a flat grind by accident.
Does a thicker grind mean a heavier knife?
Not necessarily — grind shape and blade stock thickness are related but separate. A convex or sabre grind on thin stock can still be a light knife; it's the geometry behind the edge, not the total blade weight, that changes.
More guides
- Skinning Knife Guide
- Damascus Hunting Knife Guide
- Full Tang vs Partial Tang
- Chef Knife Bevels Explained
More from the workshop
Full Tang vs Partial Tang
Knives break where the blade meets the handle. Tang is what carries that load.
Skinning Knife Guide
Wide belly, low point, three to four inches. Why the shape looks the way it does.
How to Clean a Pocket Knife
Ten minutes twice a year keeps a folder working for a lifetime.
