A little worried about strength

Has anyone whispered "Busse Combat" to our new friend Teddy yet? ;)
 
TwinStick said:
Becker BK2 or an ESSE 5 is what you want. You can chop & pry with no worries.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/839944-BK2-test-the-final-part-(LOTS-of-pictures)

If you need your knife to do more than than whats in the link above, you may have the wrong tool for the job !!! LOL :D
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Nice!

TheTeddy said:
That is one HELL of a knife. I'll have to pick one of those up for sure. Also, what, in your opinion, would be a good manual sharpener? I'm looking to spend less than $50, preferably in the $10-30.
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I bought a BK-2 when Amazon had them at $56 and I had a $50 Amazon voucher I got with the reward point on my credit card. You would have trouble finding a tougher knife for the money that the BK-2 costs. I also have a BK-7 & a BK-9 which are also excellent knives - I'd trust them in a survival situation to handle any knife tasks I needed to do.

For a sharpener you have plenty of options from a mousepad & some wet'n'dry sandpaper to whatever. You can go with guided systems like the DMT Aligner or ceramic rod systems like the Spyderco Sharpmaker. Pretty much all decent sharpening systems will do the job if you take the time & effort to learn to get the best out of them.

DMT Aligner: you can get a 'quick edge kit' which comes with a course & a fine diamond hone for under $40. You can get a 'Deluxe Kit' with course, fine & extra fine hones for under 50 bucks.

Wet'n'dry sandpaper - you can get several grades of paper & a mouse mat for under 10 bucks. This method is better for getting convexed edges.
 
mete said:
The only good hollow handle is the CRK one which was [ no longer produced] made of one piece of steel.
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C'mon now... Jimmy Lyle, RJ Martin, and even Anthony Marfione have made some very high quality hollow handle knives.
 
The hollow handle creates a severe structural weakness at the point where the blade attaches to the handle (except knives like the Cold Steel Bushman, you could work the handle on that to have a survival kit) because the blade and handle are not one piece of steel, and are held on by a nut attached to a tiny bolt-tang. All of the force exerted onto the knife will travel straight to the bolt, which can loosen the nut over time, or easily just snap off. Pretty much the worst design ever.
 
Nuts? Bolts? Don't know about the others, but Randalls are welded. Nothing's coming loose there.
 
Well I was talking about a low end fitting for the hollow handle survival knives. The weld would still be a structural weakness, because the steel is not uniform throughout. Think of it this way- try smacking a piece of rebar against a wall, and compare it to a piece cut in half and welded together. The weld will break before the continuous piece of metal.
 
In theory, yes. In practice, in the roughly 50 years they've made the knife, I've never heard of one failing. And that knife has seen some pretty hard use over that time period.
 
Tony8179 said:
C'mon now... Jimmy Lyle, RJ Martin, and even Anthony Marfione have made some very high quality hollow handle knives.
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Cold Kill said:
The hollow handle creates a severe structural weakness at the point where the blade attaches to the handle (except knives like the Cold Steel Bushman, you could work the handle on that to have a survival kit) because the blade and handle are not one piece of steel, and are held on by a nut attached to a tiny bolt-tang. All of the force exerted onto the knife will travel straight to the bolt, which can loosen the nut over time, or easily just snap off. Pretty much the worst design ever.
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See above quote. If you want a high quality hollow handle you are going to pay for it.
 
If you are worried about strength, don't buy M-Tech! All those knives could add up really fast to a nice Esse Izula or Becker BK 2.
 
Hey the Mtech's are great... to give to a person you don't like. If you really want to get them, give them an Mtech hollow handle, file the brand off, and make sure they take it out on a camping trip.
 
For sharpening for a new to knives person, it's hard to beat the GatCo or Lansky diamond deluxe kits. Thats what i use now. They work well for me. YRMV.
 
I use a Rapala (may be spelled wrong) 2-stage ceramin pull-though. with enough pulls, I can get a knife with the right kind of steel a razor edge. My cheapie Colt tactical folder is now my sharpest knife (even sharper than my Buck knives.
 
Cold Kill said:
I use a Rapala (may be spelled wrong) 2-stage ceramin pull-though. with enough pulls, I can get a knife with the right kind of steel a razor edge. My cheapie Colt tactical folder is now my sharpest knife (even sharper than my Buck knives.
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Nothing wrong with ceramic rods, just no one confuse the pull through ceramic rod sharpeners with pull through carbide blade sharpeners - the carbide blades are really horrible things to subject a blade edge to.
 
Gadgetaholic said:
Nothing wrong with ceramic rods, just no one confuse the pull through ceramic rod sharpeners with pull through carbide blade sharpeners - the carbide blades are really horrible things to subject a blade edge to.
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Higher end carbine pull-throughs are supposed to be pretty good in the place of a coarse stone. I would still prefer a ceramic pull-through. I should have mentioned that the sharpener costs under $3. A stropping afterwards would leave your knife with a good finish and a sharp edge.
 
Cold Kill said:
Well I was talking about a low end fitting for the hollow handle survival knives. The weld would still be a structural weakness, because the steel is not uniform throughout. Think of it this way- try smacking a piece of rebar against a wall, and compare it to a piece cut in half and welded together. The weld will break before the continuous piece of metal.
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You ever try welding? or learn about the strength of welding? because based on whatever system you use most likely that weld will be structurally stronger then the rebar or metal youve just welded, for example 6010/6013 both are standard stick welding electrodes, both are rated to a 60,000 lbs per square inch of strength. (first two digits =XX,000 lbs/in2, the next two dont matter unless your welding) now ive seen some as low as 2023, and some as high as 10024, but anyway you look at it, that sucker is gunna hold, bet my life on it
 
brets-ftw said:
You ever try welding? or learn about the strength of welding? because based on whatever system you use most likely that weld will be structurally stronger then the rebar or metal youve just welded, for example 6010/6013 both are standard stick welding electrodes, both are rated to a 60,000 lbs per square inch of strength. (first two digits =XX,000 lbs/in2, the next two dont matter unless your welding) now ive seen some as low as 2023, and some as high as 10024, but anyway you look at it, that sucker is gunna hold, bet my life on it
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Well this thread has taken a turn for the technical. I am meaning that the weld would be a weak point (well except if you kind of overdue the amount of welding material) over a solid piece (like the CS Bushman- the handle/blade point was tested to sustain I think a ton of weight, like 2000 pounds). That may just be from the sheer thickness of the steel itself though.
 
I am amazed at the ignorance here. The welder I s correct. A good weld is usually much stronger than the material welded. Welds are tested by finding what will destroy one. Don't trust welds? Stay off freeways as much oh the steel in them is welded. If you really abuse a knife like anything it will eventually dail. How many lawnmowers and refrigerators have you encountered in the wilds that needed to have useless holes cut into them for you to survive?
 
I agree that there is really no reason to get an mtech when there are so many knives for a little more money that are just tanks and will really stand up to hard use and abuse. Esee, Becker, and cold steel all offer some great value for the money. The only reason I don't own a becker is because I find them horrendously ugly. But that's just a personal opinion. They are certainly great knives.

The hollow handle knives are pretty much just toys. Please don't stake your survival on one.

I second the spyderco sharpmaker as a great easy to use option for keeping your blades in shaving condition. it is a little more money then you wanted to spend but its well worth it and will last forever. Its better for maintaining an edge rather then reprofiling or doing anything that requires a lot of metal to be removed. for that you may want a guide rod system like a lansky
 
I beat the livin' he!! out of my ESEE 4 and never worry about it. It would be hard to beat ESEE in a price vs strength comparison. If you have a little more budget Bark River makes some of my favorite fixed blades in super tough 3V as well as other great steels.
You generally get what you pay for although with ESEE you might actually feel like you got more than you paid for.
 
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