Common materials being cut

[Gossman Knives]

I would like opinions on what you feel you use your cutting tools in the wilderness for the most. Mainly your knives. What materials do you feel are encountered the most. I came up with fabric, flesh, wood, rope, and possibly plastic. Is there anything else you can think of. I would like to know for my testing. Thanks
Scott

 

[WayneH]

Sometimes ice. Also a knife may react to frozen wood differently than non-frozen. Some people test their knives on bone, but I personally would use a rock or saw if I really needed bone that bad. You may end up carving antler or horn though.

I guess the original question suggests the most common items. What you mentioned is a good selection. I would suggest the frozen/non-frozen tests with those items though. I'd hate my nice new knife shatter because I decided it would be a good idea to hack through a frozen deer with it!

 

[JD Mandrell]

Your list about covers it Scott.

Maybe hacking through light metal, but that would be absolute worse case, and more of an urban need probably???

 

[Blueeyeddevil]

I would like opinions on what you feel you use your cutting tools in the wilderness for the most. Mainly your knives. What materials do you feel are encountered the most. I came up with fabric, flesh, wood, rope, and possibly plastic. Is there anything else you can think of. I would like to know for my testing. Thanks
Scott

Hm... in the "wilderness"? probably mostly wood. At home, it's mostly meat and bread.

 

[Booger]

Mine would be mostly wood and rope. During hunting season I would add animal hide. Gutting and skinning seem to test the edge pretty well.

 

[skammer]

Just got through teaching another widerness survival course.

Again, I am reminded that a blade that can handle extreme abuse buy surviving batoning, massive torque and the ability to dig and hit rocks without ruining the edge is a good test that most blades fail to pass.

Any sharp blade can cut rope and gut a fish .

Skam

 

[powells85]

Maybe some barb wire or fence guage wire. I don't run into this, but for testing purposes it couldn't hurt.

Can't wait for some pics :thumbup:

 

[sodak]

By flesh I assume that you mean fur/hide (unless I need to be watching over my shoulder...). In that fur is a lot of junk such as fine sand and dirt from the animal not taking daily showers... I would want a hunting knife to be able to hold an edge while cutting this kind of dirty hide.

 

[Lobo103]

Sodak- most animals I've seen usually have flesh attached to there fur and hide...otherwise they would make a pretty crappy meal You'll have to excuse me I'm being a wise-a$$ if that wasn't obvious.

 

[sodak]

No problem, I was trying that a little myself but couldn't get the emoticons to work.... There we go!

 

[Cliff Stamp]

I personally would use a rock or saw if I really needed bone that bad.

It is useful to be able to cut bone to be able to carve pins, hooks and similar.

Maybe hacking through light metal, but that would be absolute worse case, and more of an urban need probably?

Cutting light metal is less demanding than batoning through less than ideal wood, by light metal I mean food containers. An edge at 10 degrees per side with a 20 degree non-visble micro-bevel can do this, even on production stainless steels. It has its uses in wilderness work, for example taking a pop can and cutting out a swivel to use fishing.

...massive torque

Details?

I would like to know for my testing.

You need some reference blade to make the results meaningful, what can't do what you are doing. I can do do any chopping and batoning with a cheap fantasy blade, however if I compare the time it takes to do so alongside a quality blade it presents a very different viewpoint.

Similar with most results on edge holding and similar. This is greatly dependent on quality of wood and user skill. So it is impossible for a reader to tell if you are actually offering them anything they can not get in a decent production blade without something to use for comparison.

-Cliff

 

[Gossman Knives]

Thanks for all the comments. I think I've got what I need from some of the posts. I'm done here because I can see where this thread is heading. Thanks again, See Ya.
Scott

 

[Brian Jones]

Scott,

Definitely want to add the digging thing...I like diggin' up roots!

 

[Gossman Knives]

Scott,

Definitely want to add the digging thing...I like diggin' up roots!

You're right about that. :thumbup: Thanks B.
Scott

 

[skammer]

Massive Torque.

Details?

-Cliff

I teach my students how to gain access to the dry centers of logs.

4-6 inch diameter logs can be split the length by batoning the blade into the center and then pryed apart with brute force. The dry center burns readily.

I do ask if any of them would like to try the above with their knives and usually 100% say no. Out of 10 students, 5 who use their knives for batoning we loose 2-3 of the blades to fracture or shattering. Most of the blades get taken back to the mass made in china stores they bought them from for a full refund.

Its a sobering lesson for all, especially the (Percieved) expensive blade owners who paid good money for their knives.

Afterword they all want to know what make of blade I use.

Skam

 

[Gossman Knives]

Afterword they all want to know what make of blade I use.

Skam

What do you prefer? Steel, grind and hardness?
Scott

 

[Cliff Stamp]

4-6 inch diameter logs can be split the length by batoning the blade into the center and then pryed apart with brute force.

I don't follow this exactly, if you are splitting the log lengthwise, why not just complete the split - blade is too short? I don't quite see how you apply a lot of splitting force with a blade on a round though as it is difficult to hold the round down. You can twist split some smaller woods, just rotate the grip by turning the wrist, but this isn't hard on a blade because it isn't a direct lateral load. Is there any way you can take a few pictures? I think I am picturing something very different than you are doing.

-Cliff

 

[skammer]

Dreaded double post

 

[randjack]

Sodak, you are so right. We have a lot of feral hogs down here, and they are a lot of fun to shoot, and a lot of fun to eat. The part in between is not so fun.

The sand and grit they have imbedded in their coats is death to a knife edge. What you quickly learn to do is make a short incision, loosen the hide, and slit from behind, from the inside. It's like gutting a deer with two fingers in the body cavity and the knife edge up in between them, except you have to work the hide loose every step of the way. You need a short drop point for that, and when you get to quartering, the longer the better -- these guys get big, 300 pounds and more.

You just can't do a long smooth cut on the hide from the outside. When I first moved down here, I did that once, and it took the edge right off my Randall Custom Little Bear in no time. It is like cutting 200 grit sandpaper from the front.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Skammer, could you provide a little more detail on the splitting process, I can't picture it exactly. The closest I can think on that was something my brother does which is drive the blade partially into the wood and just jump in it in order to split the wood by a violent twist. This is insanely dangerous though and not something I would recommend.

-Cliff