CW Tip Failure!

338 Stalker said:
I hope not. Swamp Rat make fine knives! You still don't get the point behind the pictures do you. It's not for my sake, I couldn't give a damn about a new CW. But I will get PM's & questions regarding the tip, when I do more tests like this one.

I know I will. So that's why I thought it was in SR best interest, that all. If I didn't post tests it would matter, but I do. Are you starting to catch on.

Look, sorry for all the confusion. I meant nothing by this. And maybe I worded it wrong. If so, I didn't mean too. So can we please move on :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I wish you had the better attitude earlier in this thread. I made a non aggressive response to your first postings pointing out that you may have come off as threatening and you came back at me with a very aggressive response. It simply went down hill from there.

Again, is the knife getting sent back or not? I'd really hate to see "the knife that Swamp Rat wouldnt take back" spread all over the internet.

Rats, see what happens when testosterone gets in the way of reasonable behavior? :p
 
I still can't believe that the tip broke! Like I said earlier... I have beat the hell out of my chopweiler and honestly didn't think it was possible to damage that knife. The main thing is that Swamp Rat will take care of it.

I bought a sig-sauer p228 once that was a complete Jam-O-matic. It wouldn't make it through a full clip without jamming at least twice. It was very strange since sig's have such an excellent reputation. I don't think Sig's are junk... just that when you produce anything in volume, you will have a small percentage of product that will be defective in some way. It is just the law of averages. It appears that 338 Stalker may have gotten a Chopweiler that for some reason wasn't up to SR's high standards.

What do you guys think caused the break? Maybe a bubble in the steel or something? What would cause such a thing?
 
Last edited:
Like someone mentioned earlier, it might have been a bad heat treat. The sooner they get the knife back, the sooner they (in Ahia) will know...
 
kdstrick said:
What do you guys think caused the break? Maybe a bubble in the steel or something? What would cause such a thing?
Click to expand...

Hard to say. The tip on the Chopweiler is enormously thick - you'd have to put huge lateral pressure on it for it to break 'naturally'. I think it must have been a defect of some kind - a fault in the steel or the heat treat. It happens...
 
Since the blades are heat treated in large batches (I assume), it seems unlikely to me that the heat treatment would be the fault. If so, I think we would have seen the same problem in other CR's.

It seems like a problem with the steel in this individual knife. I'm very curious what kind of defect would cause this problem. What do you guys think...
 
I think on the SR site Eric says this is the first tip failure in Ratwielers, CW camp tramps and maybe one more knife???...thousands of knives and one failure- no biggee.

Swamp Rats rock and are my favs...now if I could just get some scoop on the rodent line... ;) actually, maybe that would improve everyone's mood!! :)
 
kdstrick said:
Since the blades are heat treated in large batches (I assume), it seems unlikely to me that the heat treatment would be the fault. If so, I think we would have seen the same problem in other CR's.

It seems like a problem with the steel in this individual knife. I'm very curious what kind of defect would cause this problem. What do you guys think...
Click to expand...

There's two things to keep in mind here. 1) Depending on how exactly the heat treat is performed, it may not be entirely the same for every knife in a batch - some parts of the heat treat oven may slightly differ in temperature, and that can cause differences. Someone more knowledgeable about heat treating should be able to elaborate on that subject further. As for 2) I think we all know that many Busses, Scrap Yards and Swamp Rats never see actual use, rather staying as safe queens in collectors' possession. Among the ones that are never used might well be some defective specimens.

As for a problem in the steel, I really couldn't say - not smart enough about those topics. I'm just guessing here, but I think an air bubble in the steel, as was the case with the Dogfathers, would not look as smooth as this one.

Strange failure, really. But as said, it happens to everyone at times. That's what the warranty is for. :thumbup:
 
I taught a basic metallurgy and metallography a few years back. I speculated from the picture that it could be a heat treat problem. Doing metallography from a picture is purely speculative and this is a hypothesis. Batches of steel are not always homogeneous and the rolling process is not always as uniform as we would like. Even the best knifemaker is as good as the steel he uses and the application of the heat treating process. Your control starts with high quality suppliers and use of best processes. You cannot test every blank and every inch of the blank for hardness or quality. Aberrations occur in the best of items. Failure analysis is a statistical science. One failure does not make a product defective, many failures invite further investigation. Anecdotal evidence is not science. This problem is not going to be solved with a forum post war. Send in the knife or tip for proper analysis. SW is just as interested in cause of the failure as you are.
 
doesnt scrapyard knives do some kind of inspection on all there knives. where any defects show up under some kinda light?
 
Maquahuitl said:
I just LOL'ed crown and 7 all over myself.:D
Click to expand...

Cheers bro, I'm glad at least one person found it funny, sometimes these posts get too serious.....at the end of the day we are talking about a knife, a 12"ish piece of steel and it's gonna be replaced anyways.....how'd this forum cope with real tragedies such as Cancers, Tsunami's and earthquakes !!!!:rolleyes:
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Talk less, learn more. This is NOT the right thread -- or forum -- for your trolling.
Click to expand...

I don't think he is trolling. Early on Swamprat advertised that they inspected each blade with a process where cracks would show under a UV light. Can't recall the term just yet but you put a chemical on the steel then view under the UV and if even small cracks are present they will glow.
 
Thanks, Bill. I can accept that explanation. He has been spewing so much trash around, I twitch when I see him in a serious thread.
 
Bill Siegle said:
I don't think he is trolling. Early on Swamprat advertised that they inspected each blade with a process where cracks would show under a UV light. Can't recall the term just yet but you put a chemical on the steel then view under the UV and if even small cracks are present they will glow.
Click to expand...

Under normal circumstances Bill, you would be entirely correct. Unfortunately, in this case, Esav is correct, he is a troll and only trying to cause trouble. He is best ignored.

As for the cracks, I can imagine that would work well if the crack came all the way to the surface however, if there was, for instance, a bubble in the steel, I'm not sure that practice would show any problems.

I could be wrong too, I was wrong once before, back in 1978 I think it was. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top