Hacking Knife

A hacking knife, also called a side knife, is a heavyweight knife with a single-sided straight edge and an exposed, unsharpened back edge built to be struck with a steel hammer, set into a solid steel through-tang handle with side scales usually of thick leather to absorb the impact. Glaziers use it to remove old putty before replacing a window pane, cutting parallel to the glass to avoid cracking it and strong enough to sever the small hidden nails called glazing sprigs; woodworkers use it as a light froe, driving it through small billets of wood with a hammer to split them.