Do you test your new knives?

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SteelSnob

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I'm wondering how many people here test their knives when they get them. And if so how do you test them?

All I do so far is push on the spine and cut coax, cat5 and stab through soup cans. I do the wire pushcuts a bunch of times to see if it chips the blade same with stabbing to test tip strength.

What about you?
 
I de-animate several tangos, defuse a few IEDs, and then see if I can baton it through my smatchet.
 
about as long as it takes you to wake up after you think you'll ever need stabbing tip strength.
 
You never heard of tip snapping? I didn't mean to stab people, friend. I meant to stab through materials as part of edc knife use. And the knives I use usually don't have a problem doing that. Small sebenzas ,customs etc. The ones that do chip from that I usually don't carry again.
 
I don't understand the point behind getting a new knife and then doing all you possibly can to destroy it. Neither do I understand the morons who post it on youtube and think they're doing us all a service.

I get a new knife and I use it. Sure, I check for blade play and that the lock is fully engaging, and then I assume that the knife is fine. I haven't had a lock failure or a blade break yet. I also buy from reputable companies who I know will take care of me if something does go wrong.

None of us need a knife that'll stab through a car door, and if I ever break my knife in a survival situation, I'm not going to complain too much. Being alive with a broken knife is a lot better than being dead with a knife that'll stab through a car door.
 
1. Nail test to see if it's sharp
2. Cut-paper-test to see if it's sharp
3. Spine-tap test on the ball of my wrist to see if the lock is going to fail
4. Test for play (up-down/side-side)

#1 and #2 aren't too important, though; I don't expect my knives to come sharp anymore (mine never do).
 
I always let other people do the destruction tests for me. After 100 or so youtube reviews of people trying to blow up their RC5 with C4 I figured it was good enough to trust my life to.
 
Whether I test the knife, and how I test it, depends on the knife and why I bought it.

I like trying different alloys. If I bought the knife to test the alloy, I test the Rockwell hardness and do some manila rope cutting comparisons after I adjust the edge bevel angles.

If I bought the knife for the design, I check the fit, finish, how it balances in my hand, whether there is any blade wobble. etc. Then I adjust the edge bevels.

In either case, then I will EDC the knife for a few weeks to see how the design works for me.

Oh yeah, in either case, I do not compute the stabbing coefficient. In ~50 years of carrying a knife, I've never needed to stab anything, so the stabbing coefficient is not important to me.
 
Psychopomp said:
I don't understand the point behind getting a new knife and then doing all you possibly can to destroy it. Neither do I understand the morons who post it on youtube and think they're doing us all a service.

I get a new knife and I use it. Sure, I check for blade play and that the lock is fully engaging, and then I assume that the knife is fine. I haven't had a lock failure or a blade break yet. I also buy from reputable companies who I know will take care of me if something does go wrong.

None of us need a knife that'll stab through a car door, and if I ever break my knife in a survival situation, I'm not going to complain too much. Being alive with a broken knife is a lot better than being dead with a knife that'll stab through a car door.
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Folder folks never do seem to get the testing stuff. They seem to have an idea that a knife is made only for slicing cheese and paper.

I'm not a folder guy, I'm a fixed blade guy. I buy fixed blades as wilderness tools. I test the hell out of them and put them through agony before they ever get into the bush. I want to know what they can take and rarely do I take them so far as that in the actual field.

So batoning, nasty knarly wood. Drilling out oak or other hardwoods with tip. Cross batoning 1 " limbs. Chopping (which is far harder on the edge than batoning) hardwood are all part of the course. I usually do this within about 10 minutes of opening up a new blade. Never broke one yet, but rolled a couple edges. On one, I straightened out the edge by steeling, re-sharpened and it rolled again after more testing. Got rid of that one pretty quick. I don't do knife destruction tests. But I expect knives to perform in certain activities. If they don't meet my expectations than I move along. Rather have a knife fail my expectations on my back porch than 5 miles away from nowhere.
 
I hear what youre saying. I stab stuff all the time though. Sometimes to start of a cut or sometimes just for fun. I'm a knife enthusiast and I like hard using my knives. Especially knives like xm18 or Yuna. It's fun to me. And I would rather have a knife fail when testing it rather than out in the world. I don't fully trust a knife until I've done that.
 
I also edc all the folders. Since I use fixed blades mostly for hunting and fishing, they get tested on the next trip out or in the kitchen. I am a all knife fan, folder or fixed blade. I carry almost all folders around town.
 
I agree. Today I did a bunch of chopping with my scrapyard SOD to test it before I take it to the mountains this weekend. Well to test it and to have fun too.


kgd said:
Folder folks never do seem to get the testing stuff. They seem to have an idea that a knife is made only for slicing cheese and paper.

I'm not a folder guy, I'm a fixed blade guy. I buy fixed blades as wilderness tools. I test the hell out of them and put them through agony before they ever get into the bush. I want to know what they can take and rarely do I take them so far as that in the actual field.

So batoning, nasty knarly wood. Drilling out oak or other hardwoods with tip. Cross batoning 1 " limbs. Chopping (which is far harder on the edge than batoning) hardwood are all part of the course. I usually do this within about 10 minutes of opening up a new blade. Never broke one yet, but rolled a couple edges. On one, I straightened out the edge by steeling, re-sharpened and it rolled again after more testing. Got rid of that one pretty quick. I don't do knife destruction tests. But I expect knives to perform in certain activities. If they don't meet my expectations than I move along. Rather have a knife fail my expectations on my back porch than 5 miles away from nowhere.
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Azraell said:
I never got the smatchet joke.

... and not going to lie, I sorta want one.
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There is an awesome old thread, wher a guy asked (in all seriousness) for a fighting knife that was everything that a smatchet is, but he did not want a smatchet. The thread went on and on with smatchet jokes. I think the nostalgia still lingers on with all who read it.
 
I check to see if it can shave arm hair and if it's a folder I will try to wiggle the blade to check the lockup.
 
kgd said:
Folder folks never do seem to get the testing stuff. They seem to have an idea that a knife is made only for slicing cheese and paper.

I'm not a folder guy, I'm a fixed blade guy. I buy fixed blades as wilderness tools. I test the hell out of them and put them through agony before they ever get into the bush. I want to know what they can take and rarely do I take them so far as that in the actual field.

---snip---
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Words of truth. Its however it does not hurt to know that most knives can hold against themselves in case angry cheese and or stack of paper attacks you. But knife test should be make that you test that knife intended use. Sure its knife to know most fixed blades can cut thru a paper, but you don't get fixed blade like RC 5 for that.
 
I generally check fit and finish all around, but I will specifically do a pressure test on the lock (not spine whack). No matter the design, you'll eventually find a faulty one.
 
I check that everything is operating smoothly, lock is engaging, test blade play, adjust pivot, maybe shave some hair.

I don't see the point in dulling, chipping or otherwise messing with a factory edge. Might as well just see how it holds up to my everyday uses. Besides, most of the knives I buy have already been tested to extremes by other people. Why should I ruin mine?
 
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