Broke My Sharpfinger

[Shann]

I was pulling out some carpet this weekend. I forgot my little prybar to pull up the carpet. I needed to pry the carpet up around a floor register. My sharpfinger in its leather sheath was lying on the floor beside me. I stuck my sharpfinger, sheath and all, under the carpet and popped it up off of the tackless strips.

Lo and behold, the blade snapped right in half, not the tip, but right in half.

I was kind of bummed, since I use that little sharpfinger more than any other small fixed blade I've got. I've already more than my money's worth out of it though, it doesn't owe me anything!

I thought it was the carbon steel model, so I'm surprised it broke. In fact, I didn't think I used enough force to even bend it. I'm wondering if the fact that I left it in the sheath was the cause?

 

[glennbad]

It sounds like the knife being in the sheath did not allow it to flex at all.

Of course, it could be that a sharpfinger is not a prybar.....but you already knew that.

Was it a Schrade version, or a knockoff?

The disciples in the Schrade forum will say a prayer for you...

Glenn

 

[KeithAM]

Man, I've had and used a Sharpfinger since the late 70s, and I can't remember if it has a distal taper. If it does, that could be part of the explanation why it could break if used for prying.

 

[Jeff Clark]

The sheath probably provide some protection for the blade. It would have spread out the force on the tip and a little bit elsewhere. I guess that your blade was a little harder (more brittle) than average or had a flaw. Even with a stainless blade it doesn't sound like you were stressing the blade all that hard.

 

[Shann]

I know I shouldn't have used it to pry But to be fair to myself, I almost could pull the carpet up without a pry, I just couldn't wedge my fat fingers in far enough to give me any leverage.

It was a "real" Shrade. I bought it a few years ago out of a dusty knife stand (I still regret not just buying the whole stand and all of the knives in it, there was a golden spike, a couple of sharpfingers and some Uncle Henry folders) in a hardware store that has been in town forever. I really did like that knife. I'll have to get one off ebay or something one of these days.

 

[JGarth]

Sue the Sharpmaker Co for $54,000,000 like that judge tried to do for losing his pants ...

 

[Bob W]

Sue the Sharpmaker Co for $54,000,000...

Good luck with that. The Imperial-Schrade Corporation went bancrupt in 2004 and is now dissolved. It would be like suing Studebaker, or air.

 

[richard j]

jgarth. SHARPMAKER makes SHARPENERS. SCHRADE makes KNIVES and they made the SHARPFINGER. why sue the maker of a knifesharpener? (why even sue schrade for that matter? he was using the knife as a prybar.)

 

[Shann]

jgarth. SHARPMAKER makes SHARPENERS. SCHRADE makes KNIVES and they made the SHARPFINGER. why sue the maker of a knifesharpener? (why even sue schrade for that matter? he was using the knife as a prybar.)

I'm pretty sure he was just making a joke at my expense. Anyways, I wouldn't sue Schrade for any more than $19.95 million. (One million for every dollar that I spent buying it)

 

[JGarth]

Shann,
You have not let me down on the vision of ambula ...... ooopppssss ... not nice ....
Anyway, does that include mental anguish .....

Shann,
...gim me an " s " ...... s
...gim me a " u " ...... u
...gim me an " e " ...... e

s u e

Nite .....

 

[Stubai]

Photographs?

 

[DRider]

I have a Sharpfinger, probably 30 years old. Found it on a beach about 20 years ago. Very thick non-tapered tang, does taper smoothly to the point. Seems super-durable, but again, its not a prybar.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[utzman]

I thought it was the carbon steel model, so I'm surprised it broke.

When Schrade went bankrupt, I moseyed down to Wal-Mart and picked up a few Old Timer slipjoints, assuming they were made with 1095 carbon like they always had been. I read somewhere in this forum that towards the end Schrade starting making the Old Timers with stainless blades, and failed to put the + sign on the tang, Schrade's way of identifying stainless. So I tested a couple of the blades on my 2004 Old Timers with vinegar this weekend, and sure enough, they were stainless.

 

[kidwholaughs]

It could be the particular knife. I have pried the crap out of my sharpfinger for a long time. Doing everything that a knife wasn't supposed to but it held up.