Richard
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- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
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PLEASE READ HERE FIRST: I haved asked in the review for comments on the performance of the 3V tanto blade. I want to be sure and make it clear, that when the 3V blade went to heat treat, it was dropped and warped during treat. It was then put through a second heat treat to straighten it, which may have ruined it. Chief told everybody first thing about the 2 heat treats, we made the decision to test it anyways. I myself have no idea how that would affect it, hopefully here we can get some makers opinions on that. With that being said, read on.
On Sunday, Jan 9th, Lynn Griffith invited 3 forum members over
to view some testing of one of his blades. Lynn of course
supplied a Spec-Op Bowie blade that he had made. It had warped
on him a bit during heat treat, so he set it aside for testing.
The blade was unfinished as far a bead blasting and having handles
put on, but otherwise was a functional blade. Chief made the
hundred plus mile trip, and brought a tanto blade he had ground
from 3V and heat treated by a well known maker. I brough a Benchmade Nimravus.
Yvsa brought a HI Ang Khola Bowie. Each of us of course brought more
knives, but mainly to let the others look at them. The ones listed
above were the ones tested in one way or another.
I will start off by saying that these tests are probably not very scientific.
They were done for a few reasons. One was to see how the various
blades performed different, random tasks, and to have different
people witness the performance and be able to report in an objective
way. I will of course include our impressions and state what happened.
From that, you may draw your own conclusions. I photographed many
activities through the day. I realize now that I probably missed some
pics that I should have taken, and took some that I probably didnt need to.
Oh well, live and learn.
This report is how I see things, and also feedback I got from Yvsa
and Chief. This review is here for all to see and if I have
made any errors or mis-interpretations then please Yvsa and Chief, correct me.
First off was a little informal chopping. We cut a branch off
of a tree and laid it accross a stump. The branch was about
1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, and green. The Griffith Bowie took
about 6 or 7 chops to get through. The Benchmade was not able to
get through by chopping, probably due to its light wieght.
It was however able to be beat through by hitting the spine
with another piece of wood. Yvsa had his AK Bowie, and Chief
had a knife that one of his friends made, it could best be
described as a...um... clip point cleaver. Both that and the
AK were big heavy knives that made good "chopping machines".
The limb was nothing for those two knives. The above should be
kept in mind regarding the chopping test. First, the chops were
not always accurate as far as being able to hit the same spot on
the branch. Also it should be noted that the Griffith Bowie had no
handle slabs. We ended up putting electrical tape around the handle
to protect from sharp edges. We also chopped one branch off of a
tree using the 3V tanto, however it was a chisel grind and the blade
kept deflecting to the side with each impact. The inability of the
Benchmade to chop should in no way suggest that the knife is no good,
it is just far to light to even be considered a chopper. None
of the blades tested showed any damage to the edges, just a
few smudges from tree sap if anything.
After the chopping was done, we then stabbed 4 knives in to a log.
These were not just little 1/16 pokes into 2x4, these were hard
stabs of approx. 1/2 inch, maybe a hair more into a good, solid and
dense log. We the levered the knives sideways to check the effects
on tips. The results of that were as follows:
Bear butterfly knife - Tip bent considerably and stayed that way.
3V tanto - Bent just a hair, but actually came through pretty good.
Very slight permanent bend.
Griffith Bowie - A little flex, then tip snapped off about even with the log.
Benchmade Nimravus - Not much flex, tip snapped off about even with the log.
It would seem the tanto came out pretty good here.
Next up was some bolt cutting. Here we had a few surprises.
The knives and bolt were put in a vise and used the vise to
force the knives through the bolts. The Benchmade was tested
twice, once on the plain edge and once in the serrated part.
The plain edge had a very slight deformation of the edge, but
nothing major and was perfectly funtional afterwards. The serrated
part came through with more deformation and outward bend of the
edge. It did not look as though it could have been fixed with a
simple sharpening.
The large "clip point cleaver" looking knife that Chief brought,
and Yvsa's AK Bowie were both tested on the bolt. Both knives went
through, it took some effort to get them through, possibly because
they were both quite thick. Both knives had very slight rolling of
the edges, but both were still fully functional. Afterwards,
Yvsa 'steeled' his bowie a bit, and the edge was back to SCARY,
and I do mean scary sharp. Next up was the big surprise.
The 3V tanto failed terribly. It was tried twice, and both times
it would penetrate the bolt slightly, then the edge would simply
smash and wrap itself around the bolt. The tanto would be unusable.
The Griffith blade went through the bolt like butter. No apparent
effect to the edge.
We also tested a few junkers for fun. The butterfly knife and some
chinese folders failed in much the same way as the tanto blade did. No surprise there.
The Griifith Bowie seems to have come out on top here, with
Chief and Yvsa's knives making an extremely close second place.
The Benchmade did very well, except on the serrated part.
No other serrated knives were tested. I was going to try my
Spyderco Endura, but the blade shape would simply not allow the
vise to hold it right. I think everyone was surprised at the
miserable performance of the 3V tanto.
Next up was some breaking. Only 3 knives were tested here. Each
blade was places the vise about 1 to 1 1/2 inches at a time,
and levered to the breaking point. Here we had a surprise as well.
First up, the Benchmade. Lever it sideways to approx. 20 degrees
and SNAP! Put it back in with the next 1 1/2 inch and flex to about
15 - 20 degrees and SNAP!. Pretty much the same all the way to the
handle. Next in was the Griffith. This knife got fairly thin
toward the front of the blade. First break was approx 15 - 20
degrees and SNAP! The next break took some more effort, but was
able to be broken. The last break of the Griffith proved to be
the toughest. Chief had to do the last break as he was probably
the strongest of the bunch (dont get a big ego now LOL) .
It took some considerable effort from him. Next up was another
surprise. The 3V tanto lost its tip fairly easy in the first
break. After that it simply refused to break. Lynn was able to
flex it with huge effort to way past 90, to about 120 degrees and
it still would not break. No apparent stress craking either.
Of course the blade was bent beyond all repair, and stayed quite bent.
Here we have a toss up between the Griffith and the benchmade.
The Griffith took a bit more effort, but the flex and breaking
points were quite close. The breaks on the two knives looked
similar, but the breaks in the Benchmade were fairly clean,
but still a little on the ragged side. The Griffith blade broke
more cleanly. I have no idea what that means, but maybe a few
makers could chime in with opinions on why that is. Also,
makers who know alot about 3V may wish to chime in on why the tanto behaved that way.
A few afterthoughts. We had alot of fun, and it was very nice
of Lynn to have us all over to participate. It was interesting
to see the performance of various knives. A few things that I
learned are as follows. To those who say that a knife should not
be considered a sharpened prybar, you are correct. Knives are
for cutting. I also had never considered having a Khukuri or a
Bowie like Yvsa's as I thought if they are made in Nepal, they
cant be any good. Boy was I wrong. I had never really taken time
to look at them. Yvsa's changed my mind. His AK bowie IMO was
without a doubt the sharpest knife there, after he got done
'steeling' it. Even though it was not included in the break test,
it is my 'un-educated' opinion that is was quite possibly one of
the stoutest knives for its size I have seen. As for Lynns knives,
they are well thought out, very high quality cutting machines.
Lynn will tell you up front that his knives are not for prying,
they are for cutting. And they will cut with the best of them.
I do think his bowie would have done even better at chopping
if it had a handle. As it was, it still did quite well.
The Benchmade did much better than I though in the bolt
cutting part. Both ats34 knives were a little on the thin side,
and we all knew they would break, we were just interested at
what point they would. The 3V was a flop. I have emailed with
both Yvsa and Chief, and I think we might all agree that maybe
the heat treat could be called into question. Hopefully a maker
who knows 3V can chime in and analyze the results of the 3V for us.
I dont know if the above tests could all be called practical, but
they were fun. It was also a way to compare multiple types of
knives in somewhat the same manner.
Below is a link to the photopoint album with all the pictures.
Please feel free to post any feedback on this report. If you
have any questions that are not answered above, please ask,
Yvsa, Chief, Lynn or myself will be happy to answer them.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=110070&a=1479121
Meet the 'wrecking crew'
left to right is:
Yvsa, Lynn, Chief, Richard
Once again, I would like to thank Lynn for inviting us to participate. We had a blast.
Richard
On Sunday, Jan 9th, Lynn Griffith invited 3 forum members over
to view some testing of one of his blades. Lynn of course
supplied a Spec-Op Bowie blade that he had made. It had warped
on him a bit during heat treat, so he set it aside for testing.
The blade was unfinished as far a bead blasting and having handles
put on, but otherwise was a functional blade. Chief made the
hundred plus mile trip, and brought a tanto blade he had ground
from 3V and heat treated by a well known maker. I brough a Benchmade Nimravus.
Yvsa brought a HI Ang Khola Bowie. Each of us of course brought more
knives, but mainly to let the others look at them. The ones listed
above were the ones tested in one way or another.
I will start off by saying that these tests are probably not very scientific.
They were done for a few reasons. One was to see how the various
blades performed different, random tasks, and to have different
people witness the performance and be able to report in an objective
way. I will of course include our impressions and state what happened.
From that, you may draw your own conclusions. I photographed many
activities through the day. I realize now that I probably missed some
pics that I should have taken, and took some that I probably didnt need to.
Oh well, live and learn.
This report is how I see things, and also feedback I got from Yvsa
and Chief. This review is here for all to see and if I have
made any errors or mis-interpretations then please Yvsa and Chief, correct me.
First off was a little informal chopping. We cut a branch off
of a tree and laid it accross a stump. The branch was about
1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, and green. The Griffith Bowie took
about 6 or 7 chops to get through. The Benchmade was not able to
get through by chopping, probably due to its light wieght.
It was however able to be beat through by hitting the spine
with another piece of wood. Yvsa had his AK Bowie, and Chief
had a knife that one of his friends made, it could best be
described as a...um... clip point cleaver. Both that and the
AK were big heavy knives that made good "chopping machines".
The limb was nothing for those two knives. The above should be
kept in mind regarding the chopping test. First, the chops were
not always accurate as far as being able to hit the same spot on
the branch. Also it should be noted that the Griffith Bowie had no
handle slabs. We ended up putting electrical tape around the handle
to protect from sharp edges. We also chopped one branch off of a
tree using the 3V tanto, however it was a chisel grind and the blade
kept deflecting to the side with each impact. The inability of the
Benchmade to chop should in no way suggest that the knife is no good,
it is just far to light to even be considered a chopper. None
of the blades tested showed any damage to the edges, just a
few smudges from tree sap if anything.
After the chopping was done, we then stabbed 4 knives in to a log.
These were not just little 1/16 pokes into 2x4, these were hard
stabs of approx. 1/2 inch, maybe a hair more into a good, solid and
dense log. We the levered the knives sideways to check the effects
on tips. The results of that were as follows:
Bear butterfly knife - Tip bent considerably and stayed that way.
3V tanto - Bent just a hair, but actually came through pretty good.
Very slight permanent bend.
Griffith Bowie - A little flex, then tip snapped off about even with the log.
Benchmade Nimravus - Not much flex, tip snapped off about even with the log.
It would seem the tanto came out pretty good here.
Next up was some bolt cutting. Here we had a few surprises.
The knives and bolt were put in a vise and used the vise to
force the knives through the bolts. The Benchmade was tested
twice, once on the plain edge and once in the serrated part.
The plain edge had a very slight deformation of the edge, but
nothing major and was perfectly funtional afterwards. The serrated
part came through with more deformation and outward bend of the
edge. It did not look as though it could have been fixed with a
simple sharpening.
The large "clip point cleaver" looking knife that Chief brought,
and Yvsa's AK Bowie were both tested on the bolt. Both knives went
through, it took some effort to get them through, possibly because
they were both quite thick. Both knives had very slight rolling of
the edges, but both were still fully functional. Afterwards,
Yvsa 'steeled' his bowie a bit, and the edge was back to SCARY,
and I do mean scary sharp. Next up was the big surprise.
The 3V tanto failed terribly. It was tried twice, and both times
it would penetrate the bolt slightly, then the edge would simply
smash and wrap itself around the bolt. The tanto would be unusable.
The Griffith blade went through the bolt like butter. No apparent
effect to the edge.
We also tested a few junkers for fun. The butterfly knife and some
chinese folders failed in much the same way as the tanto blade did. No surprise there.
The Griifith Bowie seems to have come out on top here, with
Chief and Yvsa's knives making an extremely close second place.
The Benchmade did very well, except on the serrated part.
No other serrated knives were tested. I was going to try my
Spyderco Endura, but the blade shape would simply not allow the
vise to hold it right. I think everyone was surprised at the
miserable performance of the 3V tanto.
Next up was some breaking. Only 3 knives were tested here. Each
blade was places the vise about 1 to 1 1/2 inches at a time,
and levered to the breaking point. Here we had a surprise as well.
First up, the Benchmade. Lever it sideways to approx. 20 degrees
and SNAP! Put it back in with the next 1 1/2 inch and flex to about
15 - 20 degrees and SNAP!. Pretty much the same all the way to the
handle. Next in was the Griffith. This knife got fairly thin
toward the front of the blade. First break was approx 15 - 20
degrees and SNAP! The next break took some more effort, but was
able to be broken. The last break of the Griffith proved to be
the toughest. Chief had to do the last break as he was probably
the strongest of the bunch (dont get a big ego now LOL) .
It took some considerable effort from him. Next up was another
surprise. The 3V tanto lost its tip fairly easy in the first
break. After that it simply refused to break. Lynn was able to
flex it with huge effort to way past 90, to about 120 degrees and
it still would not break. No apparent stress craking either.
Of course the blade was bent beyond all repair, and stayed quite bent.
Here we have a toss up between the Griffith and the benchmade.
The Griffith took a bit more effort, but the flex and breaking
points were quite close. The breaks on the two knives looked
similar, but the breaks in the Benchmade were fairly clean,
but still a little on the ragged side. The Griffith blade broke
more cleanly. I have no idea what that means, but maybe a few
makers could chime in with opinions on why that is. Also,
makers who know alot about 3V may wish to chime in on why the tanto behaved that way.
A few afterthoughts. We had alot of fun, and it was very nice
of Lynn to have us all over to participate. It was interesting
to see the performance of various knives. A few things that I
learned are as follows. To those who say that a knife should not
be considered a sharpened prybar, you are correct. Knives are
for cutting. I also had never considered having a Khukuri or a
Bowie like Yvsa's as I thought if they are made in Nepal, they
cant be any good. Boy was I wrong. I had never really taken time
to look at them. Yvsa's changed my mind. His AK bowie IMO was
without a doubt the sharpest knife there, after he got done
'steeling' it. Even though it was not included in the break test,
it is my 'un-educated' opinion that is was quite possibly one of
the stoutest knives for its size I have seen. As for Lynns knives,
they are well thought out, very high quality cutting machines.
Lynn will tell you up front that his knives are not for prying,
they are for cutting. And they will cut with the best of them.
I do think his bowie would have done even better at chopping
if it had a handle. As it was, it still did quite well.
The Benchmade did much better than I though in the bolt
cutting part. Both ats34 knives were a little on the thin side,
and we all knew they would break, we were just interested at
what point they would. The 3V was a flop. I have emailed with
both Yvsa and Chief, and I think we might all agree that maybe
the heat treat could be called into question. Hopefully a maker
who knows 3V can chime in and analyze the results of the 3V for us.
I dont know if the above tests could all be called practical, but
they were fun. It was also a way to compare multiple types of
knives in somewhat the same manner.
Below is a link to the photopoint album with all the pictures.
Please feel free to post any feedback on this report. If you
have any questions that are not answered above, please ask,
Yvsa, Chief, Lynn or myself will be happy to answer them.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=110070&a=1479121
Meet the 'wrecking crew'
left to right is:
Yvsa, Lynn, Chief, Richard
Once again, I would like to thank Lynn for inviting us to participate. We had a blast.
Richard
