need opinions please and/or websites, contacts, regarding: what's the best zytel or g-10 or whatever synthetic non-metal knife out there? where can one find these? is the Cold Steel Delta Dart really a capable little guy for the price? any with an edge as opposed to a spike? thanks...
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
best non-metal/synthetic knife?
- Thread starter Kelt
- Start date
The CS Delta is quite a penetrator and best kept for that function. Its knurled grip and triangular cross section (triple edged!) can go thru food cans with the proper angle of insertion. Worth the few bucks if you are on a particular mission. The CS CAT (Covert Action Tanto) is a waste of material IMO/ IME. None of these can cut well.
The Newt Livesay composite NRG is said to be capable of penetrating steel drums. I' ve not tried this myself. Its material of phenolic resin is a bit flexible and I suspect a single attempt at penetrating a drum would render it useless. But is has great ergonomics and comes with one of the best kydex neck sheaths in the business. The NRG cannot cut either.
The Emerson designed composite (milky whitish green color!) offered by Shomer- Tec is a larger type G10 blade that has wonderful ergonomics. I believe its designed was based on one of Ernies earlier fixed blade models designed for military use. It is dubbed the "banana" shaped knife. It has an almost 5" blade, is chiseled ground, has a finger choil and a nice thumb ramp all on a .25 thick package. Shomer- Tec now offers a sheath for this particular blade. I haven' t tried to sharpen this one yet so I don' t know as to its cutting ability. But then none of these are really made to cut.
Ceramics are the best cutting composites out there. But too long for me to detail. Next poster...
L8r,
Nakano
The Newt Livesay composite NRG is said to be capable of penetrating steel drums. I' ve not tried this myself. Its material of phenolic resin is a bit flexible and I suspect a single attempt at penetrating a drum would render it useless. But is has great ergonomics and comes with one of the best kydex neck sheaths in the business. The NRG cannot cut either.
The Emerson designed composite (milky whitish green color!) offered by Shomer- Tec is a larger type G10 blade that has wonderful ergonomics. I believe its designed was based on one of Ernies earlier fixed blade models designed for military use. It is dubbed the "banana" shaped knife. It has an almost 5" blade, is chiseled ground, has a finger choil and a nice thumb ramp all on a .25 thick package. Shomer- Tec now offers a sheath for this particular blade. I haven' t tried to sharpen this one yet so I don' t know as to its cutting ability. But then none of these are really made to cut.
Ceramics are the best cutting composites out there. But too long for me to detail. Next poster...
L8r,
Nakano
- Joined
- Sep 21, 1999
- Messages
- 1,819
Howdy Kelt,
The only non metallic knife I have any experience with is the "CIA Letter Opener".
It's a little polymer thing (feels like the same material as a Glock receiver) and would be a decent enough blade for penetrations rather than slashing.
Supposedly it's able to be sharpened with a nail file but I never had any luck at that.
For less than $10, you can't go wrong.
------------------
Vampire Gerbil: Nosferatus Rodentus Moderatus; similar to a domestic gerbil, except for the odd accent and little black cape.
The only non metallic knife I have any experience with is the "CIA Letter Opener".
It's a little polymer thing (feels like the same material as a Glock receiver) and would be a decent enough blade for penetrations rather than slashing.
Supposedly it's able to be sharpened with a nail file but I never had any luck at that.
For less than $10, you can't go wrong.
------------------
Vampire Gerbil: Nosferatus Rodentus Moderatus; similar to a domestic gerbil, except for the odd accent and little black cape.
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 3,264
The best non-metalic knives in my experience are the Kyocera ceramic kitchen knives. I don't know about using one as a stealth weapon, but in the kitchen they keep cutting and cutting and cutting . . .
Flint and obsidian knives got us through the ice age. Daggers would have been mostly wood or bone.
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
Flint and obsidian knives got us through the ice age. Daggers would have been mostly wood or bone.
------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
Kelt: I own both Mad Dog's Frequent Flyer and Mirage X EOD. And for a while, I was ernestly searching through previous posts and threads for more info on these knives and others like them.
I must say that from my own experience, and from reading about other people's experience, don't expect a fibre knife to cut. Stuff like the CS CAT, MD FF, Livesay NRG are all stabbing weapons. With a properly sharpened edge, they may serve as a last ditch cutting tool, but after one or two cuts, the edge is ruined. It's no big deal to sharpen the dege up again, but you'd want to be wary about doing it too often, or you'll only have a stick in your hand after awhile.
The ceramic type knives like Kyocera and MD MirageX (infact, I believe that apart from MD's Mirage, all the other ceramic blades, no matter who the knife maker is, are made by Kyocera) seem to cut well. The material is very hard, and, with much skill and patience, can be honed in to a very fine cutting edge. However, they are only good for slicing type cuts. The only trouble with these knives are that because of the hardness of the material, they are also rather brittle. Many people have written about chipping their knives when the blade hit bone or accidentally crashed on to the ceramic plate below. Kevin McClung (MadDog Knives) has attempted to get around this problem by using a "composite ceramic" material. (He has not released much info about its specifications, but apparently his blood, sweat and tears are involved
) His blades are also a lot thicker than any others I seen, and the primary bevel is also left more obtuse. As a result, his blades don't slice as well as the Kyocera kitchen knives, but are capable of chopping wood and poking big holes in planks. But don't believe the blade is invincible. It can chip, just like any other ceramic blade. It's just more robust, so it's able to take the shock of chopping wood.
And a word of warning. When you do finally dull the edge or if it chips and you want to redress the edge, be prepared for the long haul with a lot of elbow grease. (Alternatively, you can part with some of your hard-earned cash in an effort to persuade Kevin to resharpen the edge for you, but I wouldn't advise it, as it only diverts him from making new knives, and that would put you in the black books of all the devoted collectors of his knives
)
So, what is the best non-metal/synthetic knife out there? As in collecting all other types of knives, there is no straight answer. It all depends on what you want it for and how much you're prepared to pay for it. Although as a matter of economics, Livesay's NRG wins over MD's Frequent Flyers. (BTW, does anybody have a source for Ironwood? I heard that it's even tougher than the stuff used to make the FFs and NRGs, and I would like to try making a knife out of it.)
Hope this helps.
[This message has been edited by Steelwolf (edited 30 October 1999).]
I must say that from my own experience, and from reading about other people's experience, don't expect a fibre knife to cut. Stuff like the CS CAT, MD FF, Livesay NRG are all stabbing weapons. With a properly sharpened edge, they may serve as a last ditch cutting tool, but after one or two cuts, the edge is ruined. It's no big deal to sharpen the dege up again, but you'd want to be wary about doing it too often, or you'll only have a stick in your hand after awhile.
The ceramic type knives like Kyocera and MD MirageX (infact, I believe that apart from MD's Mirage, all the other ceramic blades, no matter who the knife maker is, are made by Kyocera) seem to cut well. The material is very hard, and, with much skill and patience, can be honed in to a very fine cutting edge. However, they are only good for slicing type cuts. The only trouble with these knives are that because of the hardness of the material, they are also rather brittle. Many people have written about chipping their knives when the blade hit bone or accidentally crashed on to the ceramic plate below. Kevin McClung (MadDog Knives) has attempted to get around this problem by using a "composite ceramic" material. (He has not released much info about its specifications, but apparently his blood, sweat and tears are involved
And a word of warning. When you do finally dull the edge or if it chips and you want to redress the edge, be prepared for the long haul with a lot of elbow grease. (Alternatively, you can part with some of your hard-earned cash in an effort to persuade Kevin to resharpen the edge for you, but I wouldn't advise it, as it only diverts him from making new knives, and that would put you in the black books of all the devoted collectors of his knives
So, what is the best non-metal/synthetic knife out there? As in collecting all other types of knives, there is no straight answer. It all depends on what you want it for and how much you're prepared to pay for it. Although as a matter of economics, Livesay's NRG wins over MD's Frequent Flyers. (BTW, does anybody have a source for Ironwood? I heard that it's even tougher than the stuff used to make the FFs and NRGs, and I would like to try making a knife out of it.)
Hope this helps.
[This message has been edited by Steelwolf (edited 30 October 1999).]