Drop Forged Survivalist

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Comparing this to Jlauffer's photo. Wondering if there is a real structural difference.

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Man with no name said:

JoeX must have removed the grips and pieces of metal off camera before the scene where he's sitting in the lawn chair discussing the damage to the handle.
Pause the video at 13:20 and you can clearly see jagged portions of the center and plastic handle still intact.
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After watching it again I agree.
I still wonder if it had to be thinned that much.
I haven't seen any videos of a failure because of this and I definitely don't consider his testing as anything resembling normal use.
He was way over the top before the pistol was ever used.
 
When I was asking about this knife like 2 years ago people were saying the handle steel was thick enough under the scales. I maintain they probably were right and won't shoot my knife in the handle. That's common sense. I will say his knife does seem a little harder than mine, because mine has done a lot of flexing when I threw it into a tree stump when I was bored. It sprung around and had no issues. The tip is definitely a weak point on this knife, but it is definitely fine enough to be useful in non-prying situations.
 
It would cost GSM money to re-tool in order to produce a new version of that knife. If the handle were being milled out, all they would have to do is re-program the milling machine to cut a little deeper, which would be easy, but it wouldn't serve any purpose, or save them any money, because the steel removed would just be wasted. But since it's a drop-forged knife, that would mean a new forging die would have to be produced, and that would be a lot more expensive.

I find it hard to believe that they would go through all that trouble just to produce the same knife with a thinner tang and save maybe a few pennies worth of steel per blade, especially when they could just raise the price a little and save themselves the cost and hassle of re-tooling.
 
Tenbeers said:
Thanks for the pic jlauffer!
That is much thinner than I thought.
The bullet would probably destroy it but the one in the video looks completely cut out.
I guess it shattered all the way around.
It'll probably survive normal use but that seems unnecessarily thin.
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What possible normal use would destroy it? And, given that such a job is on your survival task list, what knife would handle it better, let alone for this price? I totally understand and appreciate that a true end of world survival knife might face unexpected challenges, and be called on to perform jobs that far exceed pre- apocalyptic expectations, but common sense still needs to apply or it is pointless anyway. If one need smash cinder blocks use a freaking rock, or hammer, or stick, not your irreplaceable knife. The point of a knife, the only point actually, is to cut. Anything else, including even stabbing, is optional.
 
Chris_Texas said:
What possible normal use would destroy it? And, given that such a job is on your survival task list, what knife would handle it better, let alone for this price? I totally understand and appreciate that a true end of world survival knife might face unexpected challenges, and be called on to perform jobs that far exceed pre- apocalyptic expectations, but common sense still needs to apply or it is pointless anyway. If one need smash cinder blocks use a freaking rock, or hammer, or stick, not your irreplaceable knife. The point of a knife, the only point actually, is to cut. Anything else, including even stabbing, is optional.
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Agree. His testing methodologies have nothing to do with performing as a knife; it's just stunt work to see how long it will last before he destroys it. I have no problem with him intentionally destroying knives, it's his money, not mine. Also in his defense, he appears to be pretty consistent with how he destroys them; he doesn't show favoritism and it appears to be apples-to-apples testing. One exception noted below.

What I dislike in this CS Survivalist video is his intellectual dishonesty. He wrongfully came to the conclusion that the handle was skeletonized; nothing wrong with that. However, when he was corrected in the comments, he acknowledged his error - but failed to correct it - either in his video (with an overwrite for example) or in his follow-on comments. Comments like: "Terrible handle!" "Skeletonized, Yuck!" are answered with "Yup!". No correction at all.

In all the knife destruction testing videos I saw (about a dozen or so) he only shot the CS Survivalist and the CS DF Hunter. As expected, both shattered like glass. But why doesn't shoot any other knife model??? Never mind the fact that shooting a knife pretty much proves nothing.
 
Tenbeers said:
Thanks for the pic jlauffer!
That is much thinner than I thought.
The bullet would probably destroy it but the one in the video looks completely cut out.
I guess it shattered all the way around.
It'll probably survive normal use but that seems unnecessarily thin.
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IMO , as follows :
oldmanwilly said:
Am I wrong for thinking this design would benefit from a skeletonized handle? I have a couple of the original gold models with full tangs and, although they are built to cut, I rarely use them because the weight in the handle is so lopsided that I feel like I have the wrong kind of leverage for cutting/chopping. I often wonder how much better the knife would feel with a lighter handle.

As long as the bolster/guard area and primary outline of the tang remains as thick as it is, does the knife lose any meaningful strength by losing a few ounces of steel in the middle of the handle?
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Agreed , most of the drop forged lineup could be skeletonized , either for weight saving or to shift the balance point forward , without weakening the knife enough to matter for any practical use . :cool:

Then you could shoot right thru the hole with no damage ! 😇
 
Yup,the pic kenhash froze shows small remains of the inner handle steel, so they are all the same.If you get an earlier silver one, those scales are thicker as is the inner .I had one of those but this newer version has a more comfortable handle.
 
I don't have a newer model with the scales, but as mentioned earlier the heavy handle on the original version (which I have) holds back the knife performance.

The new model with the scales seem to be an improvement overall.

The Youtuber has a small niche and gimmick that has been working in his favor, so I can't fault him for capitalizing on the extreme abuse.

There are worse things out there to spend time watching.
 
Once I saw that there were no updates I had to agree. I’ll change my mind if he edits the title and such. Right is right.
Anyone try the drop forged boot knife and care to lend some feedback by the way? Thanks
 
Well, I understand that, for instance, many Ka Bar BK knives are skeletonized to some extent, and however they can take lots of abuse even so. I wouldn't see a problem with drop forged CS knives being skeletonized, as long as the material loss isn't excessive as to weaken the structure too much. But I understand the concern. I like them to be one hell of a solid piece.
 
I have edited my initial post to reflect the mistake I made in stating that the tang was skeletonized.
I apologize for not investigating the video closer before I commented.
Thanks to man with no name for making me aware of the correct info.
I think it's best to close this thread to avoid any further misunderstandings.
 
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