Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
The Buck Strider Solution weighs 330 g and is balanced 1.25" behind the front of the grip. The 3/16" ATS-34 stainless steel blade is 0.175" with a sharpened blade of 4.25" in length. The blade is 1.75" wide at maximum with a one inch high hollow grind which tapers to a very fine edge which runs from about 0.022 to 0.030" thick and ground at a very acute 12.6 +/- 1.0 degrees per side. The solution comes with a 130 g cordura/kydex sheath.
The initial edge sharpness was low, however it was a used blade and the edge was chipped along its length, not large enough to see, but readily felt with the thumbnail. While ATS-34 isn't that easy to machine, especially at 59-61 HRC, because the edge angle was quite acute and more importantly the edge is very evenly ground, one of the best seen in awhile, the edge was honed to a razor sharpness on a Sharpmaker with 5 passes on the medium and then five on the fine.
Stock work :
Push cutting 3/8" hemp the knife required 29.0 +/- 1.5 lbs. Pointing sections of hardwood dowel the Solution was able to rough off the necessary wood in only 11 +/- 1 slices. The tip tapers is 1.4" in length and the tip is 1.6" wide at back of the point. The penetration into a phonebook was quite low, only 108 +/- 4 pages on a 50 lbs push and 431 +/- 10 on a hard vertical stab.
Kitchen :
Using the Solution on trimming fats, cutting up meats and the like it did well, those kinds of tasks are just determined by the sharpness. The same goes for soft fruits and vegetables. It is however awkward for many of the precision tasks such as peeling potatoes or trimming the stalks out of apples becuase of the blade width mainly. Also because of the blade thickness it tended to fracture vegetables rather than make thin slices. However for shallow cutting it worked well and because the edge is inline with the guard, it works well on a cutting board. There is a problem with the deep checkering on the grip as it is easily contaminated with food and can be difficult to clean, it does however give a very secure grip even when lubricated with fats and oils.
Wood / brush work :
The efficient edge on the Solution makes it a very nice wood cutter, it carves readily taking deep slices out of woods and then being easily controlable to make very shallow shaping cuts. It doesn't have very much chopping ability, even when choked back full on the handle it takes quite awhile to work through even a soft piece of 2x4, it is outchopped several times over by a small hatchet. If this was going to be relied on for such work it would best be accompanied by a decent folding saw or quality small axe.
General utility :
Cutting a variety of light materials like bubble wrap, plastics, paper and fabrics, the SOlution was very efficient as these materials are too flimsy to exert any pressure on a blade so as long as it is sharp it will cut that class of material well. However on thick cardboard the blade would bind readily due to the thicker stock and sabre grind, on such materials a higher grind would be more efficient however it still outperforms blades like the Camp Tramp which while having a higher grind has a thicker edge. In general for a tactical knife it was above average for this type of work.
Steel :
The blade steel, ATS-34, is a high carbon, high alloy stainless steel, uniformly heat treated by Paul Bos to 59-61 HRC. The steel has good corrosion resistance, high abrasion resistance, high strength, however low ductility and low impact toughness. It is difficult to bend but will snap under a low flex, and will deform very little before it chips.
Geometry :
The Solution has a decently thin and very acute edge and thus cuts very well for shallow work, it compares very well for example to some of the better Spyderco folders in this regard. However the efficient cutting edge also leads to a low durablity, that combined with the brittle steel will lead to chipping readily on significant impacts and likely blowouts of the primary grind in hard impacts. It would fare much worse than the WB for example on hard/abusive cutting.
Sharpening :
As long as the Solution is restricted to light cutting it is very easy to sharpen as the high hardness resists deformation well and the steel also has a high wear resistance so little material is lost by abrasion. The acute and very even edge also allows is to be touched up with a few passes on a Sharpmaker even after long and extended useage. However if the blade is used for rough work, such as digging, cutting heavily used materials which are contaminated with dirt and debris, the edge will chip out readily and is then very difficult to resharpen as the steel is difficult to machine and thus it takes a long time to regrind the edge back into shape.
Grip :
The grip is made of a G10 with a very aggressive checkering which is secure even when the handle is covered in fats, oils and other lubricants. However the grip is also very abrasive for the same reason and may be problematic to some for that reason. It is also very boxy and was very uncomfortable when use of batoning as the squarish edges were very high impact points, cutting through knots was near impossible.
Sheath :
The sheath is a well made from Cordura with a tight fitting Kydex insert with a side accessory pouch. It is all held together with secure and quality stitching. This type of rig over is much more robust in terms of temperature extremes over plan Kydex, however leather generally holds up better in terms of abrasion. Care needs to be taken in watching the stitching on Cordura sheaths as it it starts to unravel it should be sealed epoxy, or repair the stitching by hand.
Overall :
Much of the promotion for this knife is centered on extreme toughness "where failure is not an option", however this knife is actually focused much more on shallow cutting ability than extreme toughness. This really isn't a sharpened prybar kind of knife. Ref :
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/knives/solution.html
-Cliff
The initial edge sharpness was low, however it was a used blade and the edge was chipped along its length, not large enough to see, but readily felt with the thumbnail. While ATS-34 isn't that easy to machine, especially at 59-61 HRC, because the edge angle was quite acute and more importantly the edge is very evenly ground, one of the best seen in awhile, the edge was honed to a razor sharpness on a Sharpmaker with 5 passes on the medium and then five on the fine.
Stock work :
Push cutting 3/8" hemp the knife required 29.0 +/- 1.5 lbs. Pointing sections of hardwood dowel the Solution was able to rough off the necessary wood in only 11 +/- 1 slices. The tip tapers is 1.4" in length and the tip is 1.6" wide at back of the point. The penetration into a phonebook was quite low, only 108 +/- 4 pages on a 50 lbs push and 431 +/- 10 on a hard vertical stab.
Kitchen :
Using the Solution on trimming fats, cutting up meats and the like it did well, those kinds of tasks are just determined by the sharpness. The same goes for soft fruits and vegetables. It is however awkward for many of the precision tasks such as peeling potatoes or trimming the stalks out of apples becuase of the blade width mainly. Also because of the blade thickness it tended to fracture vegetables rather than make thin slices. However for shallow cutting it worked well and because the edge is inline with the guard, it works well on a cutting board. There is a problem with the deep checkering on the grip as it is easily contaminated with food and can be difficult to clean, it does however give a very secure grip even when lubricated with fats and oils.
Wood / brush work :
The efficient edge on the Solution makes it a very nice wood cutter, it carves readily taking deep slices out of woods and then being easily controlable to make very shallow shaping cuts. It doesn't have very much chopping ability, even when choked back full on the handle it takes quite awhile to work through even a soft piece of 2x4, it is outchopped several times over by a small hatchet. If this was going to be relied on for such work it would best be accompanied by a decent folding saw or quality small axe.
General utility :
Cutting a variety of light materials like bubble wrap, plastics, paper and fabrics, the SOlution was very efficient as these materials are too flimsy to exert any pressure on a blade so as long as it is sharp it will cut that class of material well. However on thick cardboard the blade would bind readily due to the thicker stock and sabre grind, on such materials a higher grind would be more efficient however it still outperforms blades like the Camp Tramp which while having a higher grind has a thicker edge. In general for a tactical knife it was above average for this type of work.
Steel :
The blade steel, ATS-34, is a high carbon, high alloy stainless steel, uniformly heat treated by Paul Bos to 59-61 HRC. The steel has good corrosion resistance, high abrasion resistance, high strength, however low ductility and low impact toughness. It is difficult to bend but will snap under a low flex, and will deform very little before it chips.
Geometry :
The Solution has a decently thin and very acute edge and thus cuts very well for shallow work, it compares very well for example to some of the better Spyderco folders in this regard. However the efficient cutting edge also leads to a low durablity, that combined with the brittle steel will lead to chipping readily on significant impacts and likely blowouts of the primary grind in hard impacts. It would fare much worse than the WB for example on hard/abusive cutting.
Sharpening :
As long as the Solution is restricted to light cutting it is very easy to sharpen as the high hardness resists deformation well and the steel also has a high wear resistance so little material is lost by abrasion. The acute and very even edge also allows is to be touched up with a few passes on a Sharpmaker even after long and extended useage. However if the blade is used for rough work, such as digging, cutting heavily used materials which are contaminated with dirt and debris, the edge will chip out readily and is then very difficult to resharpen as the steel is difficult to machine and thus it takes a long time to regrind the edge back into shape.
Grip :
The grip is made of a G10 with a very aggressive checkering which is secure even when the handle is covered in fats, oils and other lubricants. However the grip is also very abrasive for the same reason and may be problematic to some for that reason. It is also very boxy and was very uncomfortable when use of batoning as the squarish edges were very high impact points, cutting through knots was near impossible.
Sheath :
The sheath is a well made from Cordura with a tight fitting Kydex insert with a side accessory pouch. It is all held together with secure and quality stitching. This type of rig over is much more robust in terms of temperature extremes over plan Kydex, however leather generally holds up better in terms of abrasion. Care needs to be taken in watching the stitching on Cordura sheaths as it it starts to unravel it should be sealed epoxy, or repair the stitching by hand.
Overall :
Much of the promotion for this knife is centered on extreme toughness "where failure is not an option", however this knife is actually focused much more on shallow cutting ability than extreme toughness. This really isn't a sharpened prybar kind of knife. Ref :
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/knives/solution.html
-Cliff
