Chipped ElMax Blade on a ZT 0561

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ARundrpillow

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I just got my first ZT today. Loved it as soon as I held it. Played with it flipping it all day. Couple random little cutting tasks and it excelled after stropping. Then I was flipping it while waiting for the restroom at an outdoor BBQ joint and I dropped it on the concrete. It was closed but it opened when it hit. scuffed up the G10 a little. I was bummed but no biggie really. Im notoriously rough on equipment so I am use to dealing with some blems. Then I went to strop later and realized the edge was folded over at the tip and chipped. That sucked. I had high hopes for Elmax and I know I dropped it and everyone will say its not designed to take that, yada yada but bottom line is it didnt take that hard of a hit on the blade. it was closed so it was a secondary bouncing hit. I believe my Manix with S30V would have ate the hit for lunch and asked for another. I dont know. I guess this was a good test of the steel and it definitely failed.
 
Well if you want to look at it that way then yes I failed. If it were a folder in hand retention test then I would have definitely failed. During my failure I see it as this also accidentally tested the integrity of the blade and it did not pass the test. If other blades actually would I am not sure but I know this one wont. I guess I just didnt expect it. It did not take a hard hit on the blade at all. It took it all in the G10. I didnt even think the blade hit
 
Sharpened steel and concrete do not make a good mix, regardless of the alloy. Some roll, some chip.. but all take some damage (even if we don't care to admit it, it happens at some level).

You bought a hard use folder - smashing a tip into concrete goes beyond hard use..
 
Sharpen it out and your good to go. As for the steel failing, any steel fails against concrete. If you find one that doesn't, let me know.
 
My Manix is really dull right now so I said why not, it couldnt make it much worse. I dropped it from shoulder height edge first directly onto concrete, watched it bounce right off the edge, picked it up and proceeded to shave my face with it. S30V=Winner!! Obviously kidding but I guess i'm just mad as hell i chipped my new nicest knife ive ever owned on the first day ive owned it. I cant afford to spend the money on knifes that I wish I could and for me this was my biggest buy and much anticipated that required some saving and I f'ed it up within the first 6 hours and it hurts so I guess it makes me feel a little better if I could blame it on the steel rather than myself but it appears that doesnt fly around here. I will cry myself to sleep tonight

P.S. ElMax chips easily. Ha
 
That's a shame. I've dropped my XM-18 tip first into concrete three times before noticing that the tip was more blunt than usual. I sharpened it right up though. No biggie. At least a knife can be fixed fairly easily. Try dropping a tablet :eek:

PS: The XM-18 was in S35VN.
 
I am pretty sure that during the chopping part of that video on his 7th hit he smacks the edge directly into the concrete on the follow through after hitting the wood. You can hear it hit. Mine would be comparable to a dull butter knife if that happened and I actually thought I heard the S35VN chuckle a little bit and keep eating through that 2x4 a couple more times
 
Just thought it was very impressive and shows that ZT knows how to build a tough knife. Even so, if you drop an 0550 on cement tip down its probably going to show some damage.

Sucks to ding up a new knife, but you're in a good position right now. You no longer have a reason not to beat the living crap out of that thing. Sharpen it, use it hard and when you want a new blade its cheap and easy to get.
 
I dropped an M4 Mini-Grip on the ground and it chipped too. That doesn't mean that M4 is a crap steel, it means that dropping knives is not a good measure of how good a steel is. Sharpen out the chip and then use that sucker like it was intended.
 
ARundrpillow said:
I am pretty sure that during the chopping part of that video on his 7th hit he smacks the edge directly into the concrete on the follow through after hitting the wood. You can hear it hit. Mine would be comparable to a dull butter knife if that happened and I actually thought I heard the S35VN chuckle a little bit and keep eating through that 2x4 a couple more times
Click to expand...

Dude, you dropped your freaking knife on concrete. That's completely different than any stupid YouTube video showing "hard use", you can't compare a video chop into concrete with a drop, it stresses the edge in a completely different way. Hell, you can't even compare the same drop, as it could land a hundred different ways, each stressing the blade in different ways. Quit stressing and trying to blame the knife and own what happened. You treated it like a toy, played stupid games and won stupid prizes.
 
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