Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
I have used this knife, and others like it in the past (reground MEUK-52100), and at first use it seems problematic because the stock is so thick and the handle and knife so small. It tends to do poorly on a lot of precision work because the blade is so wide and thick for its size. It doesn't make a nice paring knife in the kitchen as it is too wide, and it is also too thick and too short for utility chopping/dicing/slicing. For general utility applications the thick blade stock causes too much binding on rigid materials, it tends to facture styrofoam and needs a lot of force to cut thick cardboards. It is also so small (surprise) it has little dynamic heft on a swing.
However all of the problems tend to be forgotton when you use it for some wood work. While the spine is very thick, the knife is basically full ground to the edge. The edge has an apex/shoulder profile of 0.009"/10.6:0.023"/7.8 . This very acute and thin edge means it bites in deep with little pressure and quickly roughs wood to shape and at the same time easily handles precision cutting, aside from trying to cut deep curves. It really sets a standard for wood cutting ability and is a high benchmark for that type of work. The thick spine of the Small also allows more vigerous use than can be expected of a thinner blade, both in cutting as well as prying.
It is an easy to grind steel with a fine grain/carbide structure so there will be few complaints about sharpening in general, though this isn't a good choice for cutting abrasive material as it both wears fast and maintaining the full convex grind means a lot of material needs to be removed. The corrosion resistance is also low, higher than steels like O1 and L6, but not something which reacts well to being left wet or being used in really humid enviroments. The sheath is also nothing to get excited about but allowed hands free carry of the knife and in general I had no complaints. Ref :
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/knives/black_small.html
This is one of the general types of knives I think everyone should at least use once, if not own as it defines optomization of a grind for a specific type of work. Similar profiles exist in an Opinel and Valiant golok and of course many of the forged blades by Kirk and company. I have other things planned with this knife, specifically I want to check the edge holding on a push against some of the high carbide steels and see if the effects noted by Landes on carbide stability hold true here.
-Cliff
However all of the problems tend to be forgotton when you use it for some wood work. While the spine is very thick, the knife is basically full ground to the edge. The edge has an apex/shoulder profile of 0.009"/10.6:0.023"/7.8 . This very acute and thin edge means it bites in deep with little pressure and quickly roughs wood to shape and at the same time easily handles precision cutting, aside from trying to cut deep curves. It really sets a standard for wood cutting ability and is a high benchmark for that type of work. The thick spine of the Small also allows more vigerous use than can be expected of a thinner blade, both in cutting as well as prying.
It is an easy to grind steel with a fine grain/carbide structure so there will be few complaints about sharpening in general, though this isn't a good choice for cutting abrasive material as it both wears fast and maintaining the full convex grind means a lot of material needs to be removed. The corrosion resistance is also low, higher than steels like O1 and L6, but not something which reacts well to being left wet or being used in really humid enviroments. The sheath is also nothing to get excited about but allowed hands free carry of the knife and in general I had no complaints. Ref :
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/knives/black_small.html
This is one of the general types of knives I think everyone should at least use once, if not own as it defines optomization of a grind for a specific type of work. Similar profiles exist in an Opinel and Valiant golok and of course many of the forged blades by Kirk and company. I have other things planned with this knife, specifically I want to check the edge holding on a push against some of the high carbide steels and see if the effects noted by Landes on carbide stability hold true here.
-Cliff