- Joined
- Oct 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,178
Those of you who know me from the HI forum are probably aware that I like to test things rather severely if I think that they're up to the task. I don't normally wail on production knives but I'd heard much about Busse/SR/SY, SR-77, and the Dogfather in particular. I was lucky enough to get one. Today was my first real day off since it arrived so I decided to put it through its paces.
The basic specs can be found at the Scrap Yard Knife Co. web page. My scale indicates a weight of 20 ounces. Point of balance is approximately 2.5" forward of the handle. According to the cardboard sleeve, it was inspected by "13." As you might imagine, this is a large, hefty knife with a decidedly point-heavy balance to it. It was mentioned in another thread that the Dogfather's overall feel reminded at least one owner of a khukuri and I'm inclined to agree with this. The edge was well formed and sharp enough for a chopper like this, but it wouldn't shave.
Now, on to the fun stuff:
Some chopping on a fire-hardened piece of...I'm not sure, actually. Alder? It's good and seasoned, whatever it is, so I worked with it a bit to see how the factory edge held up. There were no issues. If you noticed the rusted nail next to the wood I applaud your attention to detail. Don't forget it -- we'll be revisiting that shortly.
Well, I remembered that pic of the chopped-up concrete and I've done that with other knives, so why not this one?
This chewed the edge up a bit and reduced it to what could be charitably called dead dull. The bevel still remained at this point and the knife could conceivably continue to chop wood and such.
Moving on, I was curious about what would happen if a nail were encountered during the chopping process. I was unable to hammer one in to the piece of wood with the knife itself and an actual hammer wasn't much help either, so I settled on laying it down and using the wood as a chopping block.
It took a few chops to get through each nail. Don't ask me where the other half went, but it departed with enough velocity that I was glad to be wearing eye protection. This generated small chips in the edge which did not impair chopping, although it probably would've caused some issues with slicing.
I also remembered the flex test. I dutifully chucked the Dogfather up in my vise (using pads to preserve the finish
) around the midpoint and began reefing on it. By the time I'd resorted to bracing my feet on the bench to apply more force, the bench itself was making cracking noises. I stopped before I broke the vise loose. The Dogfather wins this one by forfeit.
It seems that I'm always running out of the small pieces of firewood necessary for starting a fire so I decided to split some. I opted for a few pieces of last year's leftovers, as it's good and seasoned. I did not have a baton handy so I used the back of my splitting maul.
Continued...
The basic specs can be found at the Scrap Yard Knife Co. web page. My scale indicates a weight of 20 ounces. Point of balance is approximately 2.5" forward of the handle. According to the cardboard sleeve, it was inspected by "13." As you might imagine, this is a large, hefty knife with a decidedly point-heavy balance to it. It was mentioned in another thread that the Dogfather's overall feel reminded at least one owner of a khukuri and I'm inclined to agree with this. The edge was well formed and sharp enough for a chopper like this, but it wouldn't shave.
Now, on to the fun stuff:
Some chopping on a fire-hardened piece of...I'm not sure, actually. Alder? It's good and seasoned, whatever it is, so I worked with it a bit to see how the factory edge held up. There were no issues. If you noticed the rusted nail next to the wood I applaud your attention to detail. Don't forget it -- we'll be revisiting that shortly.
Well, I remembered that pic of the chopped-up concrete and I've done that with other knives, so why not this one?
This chewed the edge up a bit and reduced it to what could be charitably called dead dull. The bevel still remained at this point and the knife could conceivably continue to chop wood and such.
Moving on, I was curious about what would happen if a nail were encountered during the chopping process. I was unable to hammer one in to the piece of wood with the knife itself and an actual hammer wasn't much help either, so I settled on laying it down and using the wood as a chopping block.
It took a few chops to get through each nail. Don't ask me where the other half went, but it departed with enough velocity that I was glad to be wearing eye protection. This generated small chips in the edge which did not impair chopping, although it probably would've caused some issues with slicing.
I also remembered the flex test. I dutifully chucked the Dogfather up in my vise (using pads to preserve the finish
) around the midpoint and began reefing on it. By the time I'd resorted to bracing my feet on the bench to apply more force, the bench itself was making cracking noises. I stopped before I broke the vise loose. The Dogfather wins this one by forfeit.It seems that I'm always running out of the small pieces of firewood necessary for starting a fire so I decided to split some. I opted for a few pieces of last year's leftovers, as it's good and seasoned. I did not have a baton handy so I used the back of my splitting maul.
Continued...
