differential heat treatment on tweeners?

Creaky Bones

Creaky Bones

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Feb 28, 2012
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I recommended a BK15 on the ESEE forum for someone looking for a knife. The 15 fit his requirements. One of the members responded with this "I would have to recommend against any heavy duty batonning with any of the tweeners. They're differentially heat treated, so the skeletonized tang is left pretty soft. The metal around the handle can and will bend out of shape." Is this true? Not the part about the handle bending. That's one person's opinion, and he's entitled to it. I'm just curious about the differential heat treating statement. If so, what would be the benefit?
 
The Becker series have hard blades with softer tangs, I am assuming its just how they are quenched. There have been some thoughts that this is to create a tougher knife, essentially the tang being more "springy" than the blade. However, I would not call them "pretty soft." Ask anyone who has tried drilling/cutting on any of the Becker tangs. All of this being said I have only seen 2 knives here on the forums with deflected tangs from serious battoning. I would hardly call that something to worry about. Furthermore, I think it speaks volumes considering neither of these knives broke.
 
I *believe* that ALL the skeletonized Beckers are not hardened through the tang - not necessarily differential hardened. AFAIK this done because hard can also equal brittle - and that's precisely the area of a knife you WANT to be a little forgiving. Better to have a bent WHOLE knife than a blade with no handle. That's why throwing knives are so "soft"; it gives them the ability to absorb shock. IMO, tweeners will still withstand some very "hard use", provided it's not stupid use - like beating on the handle with the blade wedged into 5 inches of bog oak.
 
As I understand it, differential heat treating requires covering parts of the blade in insulating materials such as special clays. I seriously doubt Kabar does this (not at these prices!)

Though the tang seems 'softer' than the blade (like when I reshape the pommel vs deramping), it's not 'too soft'.

As for a 15 bending while batoning :eek: I 'd have to see it to believe it.

That guy may be entitled to his opinion but then so are you dissing him as a hater. ;)
 
We saw a 16 bent from Batoning, but it was admittedly bad batoning. He wasnt using the correct form, There is a reason that most makers consider batoning abuse. Its very easy to do it wrong, and it is hard on a knife.
 
Not to derail my own thread, but I never understood why people feel the need to jump in and criticize a post that was intended to be helpful. He didn't offer his own recommendation to the OP, just felt the need to jump in and say why my suggestion was bad. Maybe I'm just getting old. I was raised with the "if you don't have something good to say, don't say anything" concept. Not that I'm always good at it, but I try.
 
Ahhh, well it was the Esee forum, and while Esee and Becker groups are friendly, both groups have their obvious preferences. Really though its mostly about a decrease in the amount of courtesy that people show now adays. Especially on the internet where they have super phone courage...lol
 
Lots of people feel pride in their companies of choice, and thus want to stand up for them in any way they can. Many people also just feel like posting their opinions as often as possible in the hopes of informing people as thoroughly as possible. Often it is seen as selfish or rude when it was just meant to be a second opinion or critical observation intended to help the OP steer in the right direction, at least in the mind of the poster.

As much as I agree with you, I sometimes find myself posting criticism as you described, so I can't really be that judgmental. It's something I am working on, though.
 
TravisH said:
As I understand it, differential heat treating requires covering parts of the blade in insulating materials such as special clays. I seriously doubt Kabar does this (not at these prices!)

Though the tang seems 'softer' than the blade (like when I reshape the pommel vs deramping), it's not 'too soft'.

As for a 15 bending while batoning :eek: I 'd have to see it to believe it.

That guy may be entitled to his opinion but then so are you dissing him as a hater. ;)
Click to expand...
Or when quenching the blade, you don't submerge the handle....which I believe is what Ka-Bar (along with other manufacturers) does. If you want to see a bent tweener - and I'm not criticizing - check out what our fellow 'Head mountainmist did to his 16. IIRC he's also on the ESEE forum.....which may be where this info comes from.
 
A very legitimate inquiry....... The tangs on all the Becker blades are less hard than the blade........It acts as a safety if the knife is bent too far out of true (IMHO much more important on a stick tang knife)......It may bend back ok but if you have two pieces you have bupkis. There are two schools of thought on this and KaBar has been doing it this way through many, many thousands of "KaBars" for seventy years...... It seems to work..... Their return rate is phenomenally low....... And that tells the tale.....

E
 
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