6318/Turkish Clip for (Reasonably) Heavy Use?

[Trout Hound]

Hi Everyone,

Ok, so my Case 6318 in CV seems to have become my overall favorite EDC traditional. I really like the looks and the functionality of it, and, even when I try other patterns, it always seems to find its way back into my pocket. There is only one thing that sometimes makes me hesitate to bring it with me for the day.

I really love the way the Turkish clip blade looks, and it slices like crazy, but I sometimes shy away from using it for cutting tasks that are on the heavy side, because it seems less robust than something like a standard clip or spear point blade.

Now, I know better than to pry with the blade, or even to twist it laterally under pressure, and I’m not going to hammer it through a cement block, so I’m not talking about abusing it in any way. To give an example, my job occasionally requires cutting heavy plastic shipping bands under tension, or 1” diameter nylon tubing, etc., - materials that require a good bit of pressure to be placed on the blade, and I wonder if the Turkish clip has enough backbone to do the job without possible damage to the blade, loosening of the joint, or whatever.

BTW - I am aware that the 6318 in Pocket Worn Red Bone comes with a standard clip, but I tend to prefer the Amber Bone and CV steel.

I would be interested to hear your experiences or thoughts, especially if anyone else has used a 6318 or similar pattern, like an 897UH, and really put it through its paces. If I am using the blade correctly, is this a valid concern that calls for a different blade profile, or do I need to just man up and use the dang knife?

Thanks!
TH

 

[JohnDF]

Thank your lucky stars that it comes with that nice stout sheepsfoot blade... perfect for the types of utility tasks you're talking about.

 

[waynorth]

If you use the sheepfoot for "higher pressure" cutting, as JohnDF says above, your knife should work for you!!

 

[AZCoyote]

Good thing is that case knives aren't too hard to come by. So you could even buy 1 for hard use and buy another that can be babied and carry when you only expect typical cutting tasks.

 

[screened porch]

Maybe try it on those tasks you think it can't do and see about it. My guess is it would do fine.

 

[Henry Beige]

If you are not prying with it, and not twisting it, I don’t see how the height of the blade can have any effect on its durability, unless it means that there is somehow not enough material around the pivot point.

 

[afishhunter]

Shouldn't cause harm to the Turkish Clip cutting what you mention. If you're really worried about it, like the others have said, you can always use the sheepfoot on them.
I vote carry and use it.
My GEC 82 Dixie Stockman has what I consider a Turkish (or a slender at any rate) clip point main. So do the Buck 301/371's I have.
I used the Buck's clip point to cut the heavy plastic shipping bands a time or three, when I drove the expedited box truck, when the shipping department put one too many layers on the pallet to fit through the box door. Never had any damage to the blade.

In vocational auto shop in highschool (1973/1974 school year), and years later when I worked in a repair shop to cut fan belts, reinforced heater and radiator hose, plastic wire ties, and wiring harness covers, to 8 guage multi and single strand wire, again with no blade damage using a Camillus made 301, the clip point, more often than the 110 I had on my belt.

 

[sceva]

I always liked the Schrade Uncle Henry 197UH Cats Paw that, I believe, had a Turkish clip blade. I carried one in the mid 1980's and once loaned mine to a friend to field dress a deer that had been hit by a car near work. It did the job with no problems.