- Joined
- Apr 20, 2011
- Messages
- 115
Darrin Sanders' HT on 5160 is...AMAZING!!
Sorry it took so long to "fully review" your work, but it took a while to put it through it's paces. Story goes like this;
I recently sent Master Sanders a fully convex ground 14" chopper(think Busse FFBM, at least that's the design I was going for) for his wonderfully done HT or so I hear...
On he phone I asked him what I might be able to expect as far as toughness and edge-holding ability. He replied with " I can get 5160 to hair-popping sharp, cut through 2 2x4's and it still pops hair" Now, 5160 isn't well known for it's edge retention, but this guy ain't joking!! I got it back, put a "hair popping" edge on it and proceeded to cut cleanly through 2 2x4's with it and litteraly still "popped" hair!!! After that I used it to split 12' diameter dry palo verde logs(very hard) for firewood. (It still gets pretty chilly in AZ). After about half a cord of that, it needed a "touch-up" edge-wise. Brought it right back up to hair popping and used it for many other tasks. A few days ago was starting another late-night fire, and was batoning it through a scrap piece of 2x4 and didn't see the nail in it...One sore shoulder later the wood was split into kindling. As I was enjoying my newest blazing creation, I noticed in the light of the fire that there was a small chip in the edge of the blade, and thought to myself (out loud) WTF!?!? Only then did I see the suspect...A well weathered, and cleanly cut 16 penny nail!!! Upon further inspection I realized that it wasn't a chip at all, but rather a roll in the edge, so I went to the kitchen and got my butcher's steel and simply straightened the edge...AND IT STILL POPS HAIRS!!!
Moral of the story is; Darrin Sanders, I am completely blown away with what you can accomplish with an old piece of leaf-spring, and you will be receiving alot more business from me. Thank you.
Sorry it took so long to "fully review" your work, but it took a while to put it through it's paces. Story goes like this;
I recently sent Master Sanders a fully convex ground 14" chopper(think Busse FFBM, at least that's the design I was going for) for his wonderfully done HT or so I hear...
On he phone I asked him what I might be able to expect as far as toughness and edge-holding ability. He replied with " I can get 5160 to hair-popping sharp, cut through 2 2x4's and it still pops hair" Now, 5160 isn't well known for it's edge retention, but this guy ain't joking!! I got it back, put a "hair popping" edge on it and proceeded to cut cleanly through 2 2x4's with it and litteraly still "popped" hair!!! After that I used it to split 12' diameter dry palo verde logs(very hard) for firewood. (It still gets pretty chilly in AZ). After about half a cord of that, it needed a "touch-up" edge-wise. Brought it right back up to hair popping and used it for many other tasks. A few days ago was starting another late-night fire, and was batoning it through a scrap piece of 2x4 and didn't see the nail in it...One sore shoulder later the wood was split into kindling. As I was enjoying my newest blazing creation, I noticed in the light of the fire that there was a small chip in the edge of the blade, and thought to myself (out loud) WTF!?!? Only then did I see the suspect...A well weathered, and cleanly cut 16 penny nail!!! Upon further inspection I realized that it wasn't a chip at all, but rather a roll in the edge, so I went to the kitchen and got my butcher's steel and simply straightened the edge...AND IT STILL POPS HAIRS!!!
Moral of the story is; Darrin Sanders, I am completely blown away with what you can accomplish with an old piece of leaf-spring, and you will be receiving alot more business from me. Thank you.