If you look at hunting, fishing and military knives, you will notice one very curious detail. There is often a small notch where the handle meets the blade. It is quite obvious that it was not done just like that, but to solve some kind of utilitarian problem. It's time to sort out the issue and understand why this element is not on all knives, if it is really so important.
An example would be a traditional Bowie knife. If you look closely at it, you will notice that there is a small unsharpened area between the handle and the sharpened part of the blade, adjacent to the guard. This seal is called ricasso. It is generally believed that the first ricassos appeared on Western European bladed weapons somewhere in the XIV-XV centuries.
Ricassos were made primarily on swords, broadswords and falchions in order to increase the controllability and convenience of weapons in battle. The part turned out to be so effective and popular that later it was placed on literally all bladed weapons, including rapiers, daggers and knives. In some cases, the ricasso is adapted so that the index finger can be placed on it. In this case, the non-sharpened part has a characteristic bend and depression.
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At the same time, if you sort out more knives, you can also notice that on some of them, right on the ricasso, there is a small notch - the muzzle. What is it for? Only in order to distinguish between the heel of the knife and the sharpened part of the blade. This is a kind of "tactile safety" that lets the hand know that the sharp part of the blade is coming next. A small indentation is made in situations where the ricasso does not turn into a sub-finger notch by a blacksmith. In addition, the muzzle clearly demonstrates how far you need to sharpen the blade next time so as not to spoil the heel.
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If you want to know even more interesting things,
then it is worth reading about bowie: the US symbol with the strongest slash.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/050420/54026/