ASHBM Flexxxxx

I suspected as much, but have not had the opportunity to try... I am heading to the high desert soon, and will likely find some dry, knotty wood to swing some steel at---I'll try to get pics if anything cool happens.
 
Cobalt said:
To be perfectly honest, a good carbon steel should be able to flex like that and not break. If it does break, then the HT was obviously bad. I have done this many times with my SHBM's. The funny thing is that the first time you do it, before you pull your knife out, you are pretty sure you ruined the knife. The first time I did it, I was sure I had ruined my busse. When it came out it went back to true. I did it with a few other knives and they went back to true. Then one day, I did it with another knife and it took a set. It stayed bent, lol. I was shocked.
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Yeah I know what you mean. The first couple of times this happened to me I though oh gawd, I've stuffed it. But alas, no such thing.
 
RobStanley said:
Yeah I know what you mean. The first couple of times this happened to me I though oh gawd, I've stuffed it. But alas, no such thing.
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then panic mode trying to remove it before it i permanent lol, like taking out faster will make a difference. I am still impressed at how tough that wood is to bend a thick steel knife.
 
Cobalt said:
then panic mode trying to remove it before it i permanent lol, like taking out faster will make a difference. I am still impressed at how tough that wood is to bend a thick steel knife.
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I know! Me too. Especially when just going around the edges too. It's way too hard to hammer it thru the middle.
 
Just out of curiosity, ever tried a splitting maul? Wondering what that would do.

No, it isn't something you can take with you. I just have a lot of experience with that tool, so however it works gives an idea of how hard the wood is.

My initial thought is it's harder than anything I've ever run across. But then again, I've beat dried sweetgum with an 8# maul until I was worn out! And it burns about like balsa wood in a wood stove. This is obviously a different gum!!!
 
rockspyder said:
Just out of curiosity, ever tried a splitting maul? Wondering what that would do.

No, it isn't something you can take with you. I just have a lot of experience with that tool, so however it works gives an idea of how hard the wood is.

My initial thought is it's harder than anything I've ever run across. But then again, I've beat dried sweetgum with an 8# maul until I was worn out! And it burns about like balsa wood in a wood stove. This is obviously a different gum!!!
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What you call a splitting maul is what we call a block splitter, block buster etc. I have one and it just bounces off this wood. It's too hard. For me anyway. With a full blooded swing it only makes 1 - 2 mm dents in it. I do normally use it for splitting timber with no problems at all. This flooded gum is just too hard. I may have to break out the chainsaw to make smaller chunks methinks :)
 
rockspyder said:
Just out of curiosity, ever tried a splitting maul? Wondering what that would do.

No, it isn't something you can take with you. I just have a lot of experience with that tool, so however it works gives an idea of how hard the wood is.

My initial thought is it's harder than anything I've ever run across. But then again, I've beat dried sweetgum with an 8# maul until I was worn out! And it burns about like balsa wood in a wood stove. This is obviously a different gum!!!
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I've hit some half seasoned Red Gum that was soaked after the tarp came off during a storm with my Gransfors Bruks Maul..it stuck about half an inch into the wood....Only way to split it is batoning unless it is properly seasoned, then the maul will give it a nice crack and you can usually split it in two swings. I have said it before, i'll say it again, our Aussie hardwoods are ridiculously tough. When i tried to chop some more of that Red Gum with my Esee Junglas and SYKCO 1311 the blades make a "ding" sound like metal on metal.....


EDIT: Above me, Rob says the maul bounces off the wood. This happens with my Dad's old maul that has no where near an edge. My Gransfors is stupidly sharp which is the only reason it sinks in at all..and not very deep anyway
 
Thanks guys. It is interesting: it sounds like it splits like our gum, sort of. Difference being ours is fairly easy to split, if you split it as soon as it is cut. If you want until it is seasoned, it is near impossible to split. Even a small chunk will give you fits. But not so much because it is hard, but because the grain is all twisted up (kinda like your photos show). Really difficult. But again, burns like balsa or paper. Not much heat. You almost get more warmth from the splitting than the burning.
 
rockspyder said:
Thanks guys. It is interesting: it sounds like it splits like our gum, sort of. Difference being ours is fairly easy to split, if you split it as soon as it is cut. If you want until it is seasoned, it is near impossible to split. Even a small chunk will give you fits. But not so much because it is hard, but because the grain is all twisted up (kinda like your photos show). Really difficult. But again, burns like balsa or paper. Not much heat. You almost get more warmth from the splitting than the burning.
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Yes this stuff is about a year on the ground. Only difference from yours is it burns slow and hot.
 
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