Dylan Fletcher knife broke under questionable use.

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dsgibbs1

dsgibbs1

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Nov 1, 2005
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Let me preface this by saying, this is not a complaint. Today i decided to trim some of the shoots coming off the crape myrtle trees in my yard. After cleaning most of them, the blade slipped free from my hand and landed in the gravel bed around the tree. In two pieces. It landed on its side. On the very tip of a rock. I have used this knife while hiking, fishing, camping and never had a problem. I even battened it through seasoned oak for camp fires. No problems at all. Have any of y'all had this happen to you?
 
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Have you talked to the maker? Seems like the thing to do before posting it on the 'net.

I strongly suspect that the breaking occurred far before the final drop. Crack, micro-crack, whatever, but it must have developed over time and finally failed on the drop.
 
I sent an email. This is just me wondering what went wrong. This was a good knife. I never had a problem with it. I was just musing about how and why it may have happened.
 
jkf96a said:
Have you talked to the maker? Seems like the thing to do before posting it on the 'net.

I strongly suspect that the breaking occurred far before the final drop. Crack, micro-crack, whatever, but it must have developed over time and finally failed on the drop.
Click to expand...

I agree,the batoning may have caused cracking that wasn't visiable but the drop just finished it off.Got any pic's of the break as it may show old cracking from the new.

Stan
 
Google chevron impact marks. Look carefully at the break surfaces and see if any are there. It doesnt necessarily mean anything, but its neat to see if they're visible.
 
Yep,see the dark spot at the top of the blade,that has been broke for a while,probably from the batoning.That's a pretty small knife to be whacking on.

Stan
 
You may want to preface the thread title with something like "under abnormal abuse" , just to clarify for people searching and not actually reading the forum thread. Otherwise they may get a bad impression of the maker which is probably unwarranted.
 
Yeah Fletcher is a damn good maker....post like this can hurt.
I think you should edit it....or a mod should step in and close it.
You really should take this up with the maker.
 
If thats what it from, well it happens. Now i got a wharnie. If his warranty applies. Thats fine. If not, I need to get back on his list. Lol. It was a nice knife.
 
JBS TOOLMAKER said:
Yeah Fletcher is a damn good maker....post like this can hurt.
I think you should edit it....or a mod should step in and close it.
You really should take this up with the maker.
Click to expand...

I think he is a great maker also. So no harm is intended. I will edit it. I was mearly asking how i may have done it. The fault is mine, mine alone.
 
Shoot Dylan a message. He's been resting lately because his back is jacked up. Check his forum.
 
If you look at the break you will see three things.
1) the dark spots. Those are previous micro-cracks that happened a while back and have oxidized. If they had been there since the blade was made, you would probably have seen them long ago as rust spots or a small crack.
2) the curved gray place in the center and to one side. That is where the blade was bent sideways and broke under stress. The crack had started previously, and separated there.
3) The fine white surfaces. That is good fine martensite and the separation there occurred when the blade bent and broke.

Notice I said bent..... That curved stress area did not likely happen in just hitting a hard object. I suspect that the force you were applying when cutting off the last branch twisted the knife and broke it. It flew from your hand and struck the rock/ground, falling apart. It almost surely broke before it hit. It doubt the rock had any major role in this.
 
In no way was this thread meant to malign his name as a maker. I wasjust asking how and maybe why. Its not a big deal. I took the advise of JBS and edited the thread title. I shot him a message through here also.
 
Bladsmth. I used this knife well. The craftsman ship and materials were never in question. Mearly wondering what happened. The laterial force could have happened anywhere. As I use my knives hard. Clearing fire lanes and hiking. Also while doing pond surveys. So if something went bad it was how i did something not Dylan.
 
Hey brother. Poop happens. I've made a thousand knives and a better knifemaker than myself once said, "one day a customer's knife is going to break. Don't let it get you down. If you make enough of them, eventually one is going to snap." What that means is that people USE my knives. That's what I want. The good news is that I pride myself on having the best guarantee possible, "you break, I fix or replace it, period." In all the knives I've made, I've had two failures including this one. The other was a handle coming apart while someone batonned the handle. Pretty good track record.:)

I've got your email and will have you a new knife on the way in no time. I'll also shoot you a reply in just a sec with my address. Do me a favor and ship that sucker back to me so I can look at the grain under a microscope and see what's going on. Chances are that it was just a freak thing that happened in that particular blade. I'll shoot you a paypal for the shipping. Thanks bud.
 
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