Broken A-2 blade (Greco) ...HELP!!!

[Chiro75]

Well, this is sort of a follow-up to the initial impressions I wrote up of that Greco MST II the other day. I went out for a light hike today, so I thought it would be a perfect time to do a little field testing. I took my Aki machete, as always, along with a 15" HI khukuri and the MST II. I did some light chopping with the Greco and wasn't blown out of the water with it, but it was nice to hold and worked well enough. I went to test point strength, and using a log of soft, wet (it rained the last two days here) wood, I stabbed the point in about 1/4-1/2" and bent the knife to pop the wood out. Unfortunately, me ears were awarded the sick sound of snapping metal! About 1/2 inch of the point broke clean off with about 10 degrees of bend added to the test! I wasn't even up to full stem yet and the thing popped right off! I am pretty sure this is an abnormal finding with an A-2 blade, and I am pretty disappointed because I just got the knife and I really liked it. Also, Greco has a reputation for bombproof knives, so the fact that it gave way so easily seems strange. It is probably a case of overly hard heat treatment or a bad piece of steel. Anyway, here's the dilemma:

1) I bought the knife in very good condition, second hand. I intend to be 100% honest with what happened and if I can't get a replacement knife, then I can contact the original owner and ask him to make a claim to Greco for me. Do you think he would honor a warranty even though I am not the original owner?
2) He will be at the Badger knife show tomorrow, as will I. I had every intention of buying another knife from him tomorrow, too, but I was thinking about approaching him with this warranty problem and seeing if I could get a new knife right away. Is a knife show the wrong time to present a broken knife to the maker and talk over possible solutions? I will probably take the knife, give a brief description of what happened, and ask if he'd like to handle it right now or at a later date. What do you think?

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[Cliff Stamp]

Chiro :

I stabbed the point in about 1/4-1/2" and bent the knife to pop the wood out. Unfortunately, me ears were awarded the sick sound of snapping metal! About 1/2 inch of the point broke clean off with about 10 degrees of bend added to the test!

How thick was the blade at the break point and do you mean that it broke at 10 degrees?

Do you think he would honor a warranty even though I am not the original owner?

I would hope so, what difference does it make who is using it. The warrenty should be on the blade.

Is a knife show the wrong time to present a broken knife to the maker and talk over possible solutions?

I would discuss it with him in private if possible and ask him if he wants to see it, don't just haul it out. It could be a simple matter of materials and you don't want people to walk away with the wrong impression about his blades.

-Cliff

 

[Chiro75]

I meant that I had the knife laterally bent about ten degrees away from the position of the knife at the entry point of the stab. I did this test MUCH harder on that D-2 TEC Fighter from Chris Hatin, and the point never felt close to bending or breaking, so obviously the knife had a defect one way or the other.......

------------------
My Knife & Sheath Pages:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/frames.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Sheath Makers Referral Directory
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html

 

[Cliff Stamp]

In that case the performance is horrible, 10 degrees is a very low flex. I would be very surprised if this was supposed to be the expected performance. For example when I mentioned awhile ago that the Marbles bowie you brought up looked to have a weak point, I didn't mean it would behave similar to what happened with your Greco but rather I was referring to full power stabs into thick wood (1"+ penetration) and hard pulls to the side - as this bent the tip on the CS Trailmaster. More details in the thread on the main forum.

-Cliff

[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 03-25-2000).]