A few weeks ago I got a Matt Lamey knife. Well it just felt like it was something that needed to be taken out and used. Problem was that I live in a Manhattan apartment so quick trips to the woods were not something I could just up and do. I could wait until I visit my family in Virginia in the summer, but that felt like a long time away while I was fondling the knife. One option I had was to go ahead and chop in my apartment, though I'd have to take a day off work since doing it during the weekend would cause too much noise and was against buiding rules, while during a weekday the neighbors would be at work and it'd just sound like my workers were remodelling my apartment. I actually set up to do just that and kept my eyes peeled for discarded 2 x 4 scraps on the street. In NYC you can find alot of things being thrown out, and scrap wood from construction and remodeling were plentiful.
Then by luck a friend I hadn't spoken to in a while made contact with me again. She lived in Brooklyn and had a small backyard. I asked if I could come over and test some knives in her yard and she agreed. Perfect. Opportunities to hack away at wood without lugging the knives to Virginia don't come often to me so I decided to take two other customs along.
Setting up
On a cool cloudy Saturday I lugged this grouping of scraps to my friend's house. There were about 14 or so pieces, some with nails and screws in them which I'd have to aim clear of. My intention was to chop these into thirds or less, so it'd be like chopping through a 2 x 4 28 times or so.
And here are the knives. All of them forged.
Top is by Japanese bladesmith Shosui Takeda that I bought at 2006 Blade show. It measured 14.5" overall with an 8.5" blade, 1/4" thick at the spine. I forget if it's Hitachi blue or white steel. The steel is clad on either side with iron. The edge was taken down very thin by Mr. Takeda. The grind was almost Scandi like in that it was a low sabre grind going straight to the edge without a secondary bevel. It was the sharpest of the three knives by a slight margin when using copier paper slicing as the criteria. Mr. Takeda said that the core steel was at 64 rockwell. I don't know if he was right in that claim but it takes a very clean edge.
Matt's whacker is in the middle. 5160 steel at 16" total with a 10.125" long blade and 3/16" at the spine. Full flat ground. It was very very close in sharpness to the Takeda. Its toothier edge might have been the difference.
Bottom knife is by Fuad Accawi, a knife I've had for about a year. Its overall length is 16.25" with an 11.25" blade of 5160 steel, 3/8" thick at the ricasso spine but distal tapered to about 3/16" spine over the "sweet" spot. Flat grind transitioning to convex towards the edge but ending with a small V edge. It's also a very sharp knife, matching my Marbles convex hunters, which is saying alot. It's a take down design.
Getting to chopping
I didn't bother to try any scientific tests or even keep count of which how many strokes I did with each knife, etc. I just alternated the knives after I chopped a section of wood off. I wanted to have fun and not be bogged down by doing a review or anything. If any of the knives turned out to be more fun that the others to use I'd just end up using it more often. Here's a photo after some early sectionings.
It was hard keeping the wood still. The table I was using as the base didn't allow for clamping (not with my clamps anyway), so I had to use my left foot to hold the wood still. That made me scared that I'd chop off my foot as the scraps got shorter. It also didn't allow me to use full leverage on the swings, which might have been a good thing since that might have endangered my holding foot more, not to mention my right leg since it was right in the path of a hard follow through. Anyway, my not having great technique in the first place coupled with the restrictive body placement made for slower going than I wanted. By the time I finished I was bored chopping, which is a shameful thing for a knife nut to admit. There was a hot spot on my pinkie, but I don't know which knife caused it because I switched knives in and out alot.
The result
The edges of the knives held up better than I thought given my inexperienced technique. I'm sure there were plenty of twisted impacts. Here are shots of the edges, as close as I could get my camera to focus.
You can see some small chips in the edge of the Takeda. I was expecting bigger ones given the supposed hardness of the steel and how thin the edge was. The part of the edge worked didn't seem to loose much sharpness. It still sliced paper as easily as the clean parts, except with some slight hangups when the chips in the edge passed by.
Matt's edge had a small spot where the steel warped but didn't chip. You can see the slight glint of white at the edge there. The worked part of the edge no longer felt as toothy as the untouched areas, but it still sliced through paper easily.
The Accawi's edge didn't have any chips or warp, but also lost toothiness in the section that got work. And it too still sliced through paper easily.
The more interesting I found had to do with ergonomics, which is a subjective thing. The Takeda is a short partial tang, and that made it more blade heavy than it should be I think. The handle is round for about 2/3 of the way until it starts to flare into the butt. That made me feel like the knife would roll on me. I ended up holding the handle behind the front rattan wraps to get enough control. Matt's knife with the cord handle felt a bit harsh. Without the width of handle slabs it was toward the opposite extreme compared to Takeda's knife—it had no trouble staying in place in my hand but its thinness at the spine bit into my palm somewhat. I also felt the shocks more. The Accawi handle was also too round in cross section, but unlike the Takeda it stayed roundish through to the butt. It rolled on me the most. But it handled shock absorption the best. I don't know why that was, the thickness of the blade or the type of wood for the handle or what.
One interesting thing I found was that due to the way I use lanyards I caused the Accawi knife's take-down ability to start taking itself apart. Instead of wrapping lanyards around my wrist I hook it through my thumb and then wrap it around my hand and tighten the knot at the right length that would allow for this method to wrap my hand tight but comfortable. Pic here:
With the butt cap of the knife and my thumb tied to each other in position, as the knife and handle twisted in my hand, it made the butt cap screw loose, which made the blade no longer being held tightly to the handle, which would lose some power on impact I would think. I'll have to let the maker know of that. I can't really fault the take-down design though. It's more the handle shape rolling in my hand along with the way I use lanyards that caused the butt cap to start unscrewing.
Anyway, a fun Saturday afternoon.
Then by luck a friend I hadn't spoken to in a while made contact with me again. She lived in Brooklyn and had a small backyard. I asked if I could come over and test some knives in her yard and she agreed. Perfect. Opportunities to hack away at wood without lugging the knives to Virginia don't come often to me so I decided to take two other customs along.
Setting up
On a cool cloudy Saturday I lugged this grouping of scraps to my friend's house. There were about 14 or so pieces, some with nails and screws in them which I'd have to aim clear of. My intention was to chop these into thirds or less, so it'd be like chopping through a 2 x 4 28 times or so.
And here are the knives. All of them forged.
Top is by Japanese bladesmith Shosui Takeda that I bought at 2006 Blade show. It measured 14.5" overall with an 8.5" blade, 1/4" thick at the spine. I forget if it's Hitachi blue or white steel. The steel is clad on either side with iron. The edge was taken down very thin by Mr. Takeda. The grind was almost Scandi like in that it was a low sabre grind going straight to the edge without a secondary bevel. It was the sharpest of the three knives by a slight margin when using copier paper slicing as the criteria. Mr. Takeda said that the core steel was at 64 rockwell. I don't know if he was right in that claim but it takes a very clean edge.
Matt's whacker is in the middle. 5160 steel at 16" total with a 10.125" long blade and 3/16" at the spine. Full flat ground. It was very very close in sharpness to the Takeda. Its toothier edge might have been the difference.
Bottom knife is by Fuad Accawi, a knife I've had for about a year. Its overall length is 16.25" with an 11.25" blade of 5160 steel, 3/8" thick at the ricasso spine but distal tapered to about 3/16" spine over the "sweet" spot. Flat grind transitioning to convex towards the edge but ending with a small V edge. It's also a very sharp knife, matching my Marbles convex hunters, which is saying alot. It's a take down design.
Getting to chopping
I didn't bother to try any scientific tests or even keep count of which how many strokes I did with each knife, etc. I just alternated the knives after I chopped a section of wood off. I wanted to have fun and not be bogged down by doing a review or anything. If any of the knives turned out to be more fun that the others to use I'd just end up using it more often. Here's a photo after some early sectionings.
It was hard keeping the wood still. The table I was using as the base didn't allow for clamping (not with my clamps anyway), so I had to use my left foot to hold the wood still. That made me scared that I'd chop off my foot as the scraps got shorter. It also didn't allow me to use full leverage on the swings, which might have been a good thing since that might have endangered my holding foot more, not to mention my right leg since it was right in the path of a hard follow through. Anyway, my not having great technique in the first place coupled with the restrictive body placement made for slower going than I wanted. By the time I finished I was bored chopping, which is a shameful thing for a knife nut to admit. There was a hot spot on my pinkie, but I don't know which knife caused it because I switched knives in and out alot.
The result
The edges of the knives held up better than I thought given my inexperienced technique. I'm sure there were plenty of twisted impacts. Here are shots of the edges, as close as I could get my camera to focus.
You can see some small chips in the edge of the Takeda. I was expecting bigger ones given the supposed hardness of the steel and how thin the edge was. The part of the edge worked didn't seem to loose much sharpness. It still sliced paper as easily as the clean parts, except with some slight hangups when the chips in the edge passed by.
Matt's edge had a small spot where the steel warped but didn't chip. You can see the slight glint of white at the edge there. The worked part of the edge no longer felt as toothy as the untouched areas, but it still sliced through paper easily.
The Accawi's edge didn't have any chips or warp, but also lost toothiness in the section that got work. And it too still sliced through paper easily.
The more interesting I found had to do with ergonomics, which is a subjective thing. The Takeda is a short partial tang, and that made it more blade heavy than it should be I think. The handle is round for about 2/3 of the way until it starts to flare into the butt. That made me feel like the knife would roll on me. I ended up holding the handle behind the front rattan wraps to get enough control. Matt's knife with the cord handle felt a bit harsh. Without the width of handle slabs it was toward the opposite extreme compared to Takeda's knife—it had no trouble staying in place in my hand but its thinness at the spine bit into my palm somewhat. I also felt the shocks more. The Accawi handle was also too round in cross section, but unlike the Takeda it stayed roundish through to the butt. It rolled on me the most. But it handled shock absorption the best. I don't know why that was, the thickness of the blade or the type of wood for the handle or what.
One interesting thing I found was that due to the way I use lanyards I caused the Accawi knife's take-down ability to start taking itself apart. Instead of wrapping lanyards around my wrist I hook it through my thumb and then wrap it around my hand and tighten the knot at the right length that would allow for this method to wrap my hand tight but comfortable. Pic here:
With the butt cap of the knife and my thumb tied to each other in position, as the knife and handle twisted in my hand, it made the butt cap screw loose, which made the blade no longer being held tightly to the handle, which would lose some power on impact I would think. I'll have to let the maker know of that. I can't really fault the take-down design though. It's more the handle shape rolling in my hand along with the way I use lanyards that caused the butt cap to start unscrewing.
Anyway, a fun Saturday afternoon.
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