So I decided to test out some of my knives tonight. What you see here are the results of my testing. I took a cardboard box and stuffed it with sheets of cardboard, most coming from flattened boxes wedged into a large box. I lost count of how many are in there, but I'd wager there's at least 15-20 layers of cardboard. One I had them wedged in tightly enough for them to stay put, I closed up the box and inverted it and selected the knives. Once I had my knives ready, I held each in a reverse grip and stabbed them into the box, with medium force. The karambit I did more of a punching motion for obvious reasons. I didn't stab them in as hard as possible so I could be sure I wasn't going to hit any of the other blades. I did my best to use the same force for each. In the photos you can see a CRKT Obake (my latest acquisition), a CRKT Heiho, a Kerhaw-Emerson CQC-7K, a V-42 Stiletto reproduction (the blade doesn't have the deep hollow-grind of the original, so the blade is more like a Fairbairn-Sykes), an M5A1 Bayonet that was misground at the factory and redone by a friend, my two Mini Micro Bowies, my Padam Suga, my Tanto by an unknown maker, my Indonesian-made Karambit, and my Grayman Dinka.
One interesting thing I noticed is that my Bowies penetrated about the same, even though one has a shallower clip point, which you would think would aid penetration, but really it all depended on how much force I applied. I also found that at least in cardboard, the Bowies don't get especially stuck. They're pretty easy to remove from the target. I also found it interesting how the Heiho and Obake penetrated to the hilt, while the CQC-7K didn't penetrate quite as far. It has an American-style tanto tip, and I would have expected it to penetrate better for it, but the more traditional tanto tips prevailed. I was also surprised at how easily the karambit penetrated. It felt like the karambit would have penetrated to the hilt no matter how much strength I used. It also has a scary-sharp tip.
However, the most interesting thing of all was the V-42 versus the M5A1. As a little background, the M5A1 has the same blade as the M3 Fighting Knife, as well as the M6 and M7 Bayonets. It also doesn't have the real sharp tip of the V-42. Yet consistently I found that the bayonet penetrated better than the V-42. Sometimes the difference was narrow, but it was often at least an inch deeper than the V-42, and I felt less resistance with the M5A1, while the V-42 at times felt like it was fighting to get in instead of just going in. I've had people speculate as to what happened, trying to figure out why the V-42 Stiletto lost when it should have won, but I was not too surprised. I'd heard about things like this before. The Fairbairn-Sykes blade has a wedge shaped cross-section, and that means that the deeper it goes the more resistance it meets.
I'm trying to get my hands on a Ka-Bar to compare to the V-42 and the M5A1. A friend owns one, and hopefully I can get him over here with it soon.
One interesting thing I noticed is that my Bowies penetrated about the same, even though one has a shallower clip point, which you would think would aid penetration, but really it all depended on how much force I applied. I also found that at least in cardboard, the Bowies don't get especially stuck. They're pretty easy to remove from the target. I also found it interesting how the Heiho and Obake penetrated to the hilt, while the CQC-7K didn't penetrate quite as far. It has an American-style tanto tip, and I would have expected it to penetrate better for it, but the more traditional tanto tips prevailed. I was also surprised at how easily the karambit penetrated. It felt like the karambit would have penetrated to the hilt no matter how much strength I used. It also has a scary-sharp tip.
However, the most interesting thing of all was the V-42 versus the M5A1. As a little background, the M5A1 has the same blade as the M3 Fighting Knife, as well as the M6 and M7 Bayonets. It also doesn't have the real sharp tip of the V-42. Yet consistently I found that the bayonet penetrated better than the V-42. Sometimes the difference was narrow, but it was often at least an inch deeper than the V-42, and I felt less resistance with the M5A1, while the V-42 at times felt like it was fighting to get in instead of just going in. I've had people speculate as to what happened, trying to figure out why the V-42 Stiletto lost when it should have won, but I was not too surprised. I'd heard about things like this before. The Fairbairn-Sykes blade has a wedge shaped cross-section, and that means that the deeper it goes the more resistance it meets.
I'm trying to get my hands on a Ka-Bar to compare to the V-42 and the M5A1. A friend owns one, and hopefully I can get him over here with it soon.