Very interesting topic about teeth
I was interested in one question, it's not about the size of the teeth, but about the form teeth.

I see saw wood on folding knives Victorinox. They are very well
sawing wood. Saw a lot of saws for metal - aluminum, steel, copper.
All saws have teeth divorce. As in the pictures below.
On the knife Randall 18 I did not notice of any divorce.

So the question for those who enjoyed the blade of the knife
does not clamp in wood or metal, at a time when the saw teeth
will drop in its height?

The blade Iz Turley and Ed Martin and other has rubbed saws,
but they come with divorce. I think they are well-sawing.
But design #18 I like more

found an interesting video from the tests.
just what I wanted to express my pictures:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vz_-f5DyUs

but it seems that victorinox and classic Saw win
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxNWy67ji_E

But this does not reduce the damage of the model 18,
when sawteeth considered not as a saw,
but as a shock teeth for lacerations.

I've wondered about that myself. I have several Randalls with sawteeth but have not tried to saw anything with them. I think they would get the job done, (depending on material being sawed), but maybe not as efficiently as an actual saw with a "teeth divorce" blade.

Desert Snake--

A couple of comments about the teeth.

1. The teeth on the Randalls were not originally intended for sawing wood--they were put on the military models to be used in escaping from downed aircraft.

Therefore, the design shown on Crutchtip's close-up above your last post might be the best for cutting through such things as Plexiglas and the aluminum skin of aircraft.

Note that the "cut" with these teeth is best achieved by sticking the knife through the material being sawn and pulling it toward you--it is a ripping action that can get the fastest results if you were desperate to get out of a downed chopped or whatever.

2. Folks at the shop might best explain how this original application of saw teeth to the military models migrated over to having teeth as an option on some of the other knives--although some of the other knives are also sold to military personnel who could have asked for them on their Model 1's etc.

3. The RMKs do not have any offset to their teeth simply because they weren't intended to make smooth cuts in any material such as metal (look at your hacksaw and you will see the same offset design as on your wood saw). The purpose of the offset is to cut a wider channel or "kerf" in the material being sawn than the thickness of the saw blade so the blade will not bind in the kerf.

4. Personal opinion--The saw teeth on the many sporting and military commercial and even custom knives are put there for eye appeal to sell knives to the Rambo wannabe, and are next to useless for sawing. Better to have a saw with you if you have to carry one of these knives.*

I suspect the original Rambo knife (done by custom maker Gil Hibben in collaboration with Sylvester Stallone) was designed to look "bad' for the movie--no doubt driven by what those two thought would make the greatest impression on the audience. Neither of them ever had to actually use the saw on those blades.

*Which suggests that maybe a survivalist should carry a folding saw along with a more modest fixed blade knife.

Larry

Actually, the first two Rambo knives were made by Jimmy Lile. Hibben made the third and fourth - neither had sawteeth. The full width teeth on the Lile knives were designed for cutting wood and they do work. The Lile saw was never meant to be used for large sawing tasks, but more for notching poles to build shelter. The narrow front teeth on the clip are designed to act as barbs to hold fish or small game if the knife is converted into a spear. You're correct, the Rambo knife was intentionally oversized to look more menacing and show up on screen.

Tom--

I was writing under an impression, but had not done the homework to track exactly what the history of the Rambo knife was (Lile versus Hibben).

Herman Schneider told me that he had introduced Stallone and Hibben at some point (Herman knew Stallone and had been making knives for some of his movies). I did not try to tie it down as to time frame and the exact history of the Rambo knife (since I am not a fan of these sorts of knives). I do recall that Lile made such knives (I used to see them on his table for sale), but did not follow up to learn that he made them for the movie.

By the way--Hibben might still have openings on what he said was to be a limited number of 100 Rambo knives that he was going to make and sell.

If I think about it while at Blade I might ask Gil and get his perspective, and maybe some more insight into his appraisal of the teeth.

I guess this is all off topic here, so I'll shut up at this point.

Larry

No worries, Larry. I was just clarifing a few things. At the time, most people thought the Rambo knife was an original design, but even Lile said it was inspired by the Model 18. Also, Lile had been making hollow handle knives long before First Blood, but they didn't have sawteeth.

This thread has gotten WAY off track. I would suggest to the mods to move some of these newer non-18 related posts to an independent thread on saw teeth.

Larry,
Thanks for the clarification!
I missed a bit of the moment that the teeth are designed for the cockpit, where in addition to aluminum has plexiglas, and I examined sawteeth in the modern sense of survival, ie sawing all materials. It is possible to consider this sawteeth like kind of Serrated blade for aluminum and Plexiglas.
I think I understand what you mean motion sawteeth to themselves - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zApUSw0xsRY
to time 1:15 (incidentally tool for glass has the same teeth)


crutchtip,
I agree with you, it would be nice to pick out the subject of about teeth in a different theme and perhaps not even in the Randall knives, but in general fixed blade.


I used to think that for the release used of a special knife USAF Canopy Knife/Breaker tool.

It has been suggested that we could entertain each other on the sybject of sawteeth on a knife blade. Very well: Let us begin.
Stay sharp, Capt. Chris