Edge retention of the One Piece line

T

tique

Joined
Oct 28, 2000
Messages
970
I did a couple searches on here to see what kind of edge holding the A2 heat treated by CRK has. I unfortunately came up with little to no info on the subject. I would appreciate any and all input from you guys, both in edge holding tests, and real world experience. Also links to any threads I may have missed would be appreciated. The reason I ask this is due to the fact that the RC 55-57 of the A2 seems a bit low to me for good edge holding, but I am by far not an expert in this yet, and have no previous experience with knives in A2.

I'm just curious about how my Project I and Mountaineer I will hold up out in the woods.
 
Does CRK make something besides the Sebenza?
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My experience with the One Piece range afield has been very good. The edges are a bit fine, but seem to hold up really well. I have not used the P-1 for heavy chopping (though it would likely perform well) but have used the OPR Knives for just about everything else one does outdoors and find them to require little if any attention other than wiping down and/or light coating of oil.

[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited 04-07-2001).]
 
I keep my edges on the keen side. This is the way I like it as the whole point of a knife is to cut things. My Chris Reeve Projects can take a real beating and for their size are the best of compromises being able to cut deep and take abuse.

Smash into rock or chop into heavy bone and you can chip the finest of edge. However, you haven't broken the knife, you just have to do a sharpen. The chip is no more than that of a burr. (Some of this can be put down to my sharpening technique as I don't produce the best moran/convex edge as I often use a Lanskey jigged sharpening system to save time.) Most of the time when cutting or chopping normal stuff like wood the edge keeps working keen for a very long time and all that is needed is a quick steel or a bit of lapping on a leather strop.

You can thinly slice a ripe tomato and chop your wood with every confidence. Dig and pry as well; what else do you need?
 
To answer your question, the edges are a compromise between edge holding ability and toughness, that leans a little more towards being tough. They don't hold an edge as well as some of my other knives, but still DO hold a good edge. As far as tough, they're very tough, I've never chipped one. I think they're perfect for something like my Project 1, but I'd like more edge holding ability, even at the price of less toughness in the smaller knives, like my Shadow III.
 
The most hards used knife out of my all CRK fixed lines was Mountainer I. It held the adge surprisingly well
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I mean I wasn't expecting that much. After aprox. 200 inches of cardboard and some wood whittling it coud still shave.

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Have Fun,
Alligator
 
I've had a Project I for a while now. It holds to field use just fine. The edge is relatively easy to keep sharp and holds an edge at least as well as CS Carbon V with less corrosion problems.

You will wear the finish but that is only cosmetic. The butt cap becomes disfigured easier than the rest of the knife.

No problems with chewing the skin off your hands with normal use or light chopping. Heavy chopping using a lanyard set-up will quickly eat through a heavy leather glove shell. When using the lanyard while chopping it would be nice if the buttcap was indexed so the lanyard hole was 90 degrees to the blade, both for efficiency and safety.

Suggest either another sheath or a heavy rubber band around the stud through the belt slot then back onto the stud to help retain the knife. If using the original sheath and rubber band a good length for your lanyard (550 cord) knot is just below the stud allowing the rubber band to also hold the lanyard down.

Overall real good knives.

S/F, Mike
 
mikekc130, I agree that it would be nice to have the lanyard butt cap hole in line. My Project II and Shadow III are close, but my Project I is 30 degrees out. Cosmetic reasons mainly.

I don't use or have fitted the lanyard as they all too easily become cought up when crawling about. Although lanyards can be a real boon when applied correctly. I like the sheath as it is, though I do tie the knife on when I know I might end up upside down. A second knob, but half the height/size on the edge side, might well add even greater security for those who are worried. A soft grenade pull pin through the lanyard hole and attached to the sheath might work but I haven't tried it. I've carried mine for a long time as it is and never lost it so this is really nit picking. I hate snap fasteners.

Yes, the butt cap does get a beating, though I use the spine of the knife now for hammering. The coating wears well and if not warn away takes on a certain lustre that adds to the blades appeal.

Good arn't they?

[This message has been edited by GREENJACKET (edited 04-09-2001).]
 
GREENJACKET,

I had the exact opposite problem, w/o the lanyard and rubber band the handle catching on too may thing while attempting to leave on it’s own accord. I usually wear my knife on the off (weak) side of my 782 (LBE) with a pistol on the strong side.

Wearing the Project I on the weak place the stud to the rear. Tie a lanyard so the knot is just below the stud when the lanyard is fairly tight. Run a heavy rubber band around (which will go over the lanyard knot) through the belt loop then over the stud again. You thus get more friction rubber itself on the handle and holding the everything closer to the body. POL products will eat the rubber bands but they’re cheap, and less a hassle than disintegrating handles of kraton.

Alternative to use the cloth blousing bands wrapped through the belt loop and over the handle. You have to be careful when withdrawing the knife not to cut the blousing bands but you can make the decision as to which has priority, speed of retrieval or band.

I (w/ assistance from a MSgt.) actually fashioned what is probably the worse looking kydex sheath out of a bright blue kydex HazMat barrel using tin snips, and welding gloves. Then covered it with O.D. green ordnance (100 MPH) tape to quiet it down, both visually and auditorily!

The reason for the thong hole being perpendicular is for chopping. Place your hand through the lanyard palm down. Grip the knife near the buttcap junction with your thumb and first two fingers. Adjust the lanyard length so it’s reasonable tight. While chopping bring your wrist all the way up and let blade pivot back on a point defined between your thumb and first finger being controlled by your middle finger. Lots more chopping "work" for time/effort expended. Without the thong hole perpendicular to the blade there is a strong tendency to twist that results in lack of efficiency and possibly a bouncing bladeJ.

Agreed on using either the blade back (preferred) or flat for pounding things when able. Mine was looking kind ratty and a friend at the aviation depot offered to refinish it. The sheath is still in pretty good shape and it gets used for less strenuous field work, gotta have (or at least pretend to) some class.
 
mikekc130,
Correct use of a lanyard is choked up quite tightly. I can see that the cap alignment could be a problem. It is just that I've never used a lanyard much with mine and the knife I used most is not much out of line. Anne or Chris might put some light on this and have a view or even decide a manufacturing method that puts this straight
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I also used to carry my Project weak side, way back attached to the left of a thriple set of pouches at the back. The sheath was stuck in an elasticated open pocket sewn to the outer side of the pouch. The sheath was of the older type and wasn't going anywhere. I could draw it right handed around the back, but had to replace it left handed. I really considered it as a utilitarian tool rather than part of my armoury. I can shoot a pistol very well, but didn't carry one often when I had my rifle on me (had enough to carry anyway).

Interesting to see how others do it. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

 
I was reading that review and this jumped out at me.

"I was chopping through some birch about 4" in diameter on a picnic table"

Cliff, you vandal you
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The beast we are, lest the beast we become.
 
GREENJACKET,

I have the lanyard tied so it will be taut when using gloves/mittens but then loose with bare hands. A couple of twists tightens it up. The buttcap on mine, #132, aligns approx. 11:30 - 5:30 viewed from the end with the edge down and tight.

I wear it with the edge forward and about even with the aft portion of my left hip to maybe a little farther rearward. I try and keep everything off the frontal arc of my deuce gear, less stuff keeping me off the ground when appropriate.

I also consider primarily a tool and a weapon only secondarily. The pistol usually goes with job and have to scrounge a rifle. We took a lot of ribbing last summer during a joint exercise. Seems that the airborne, paras, and RMs all thought it odd that the majority of our officers and SNCOs preferred to have rifles in addition to the pistol. Different priorities plus we prefer to have no absolutely distinguishing characteristics, to include rank if we still could, on our utility uniforms. Not using the pistol as some badge of rank/position.

S/F, Mike
 
The choice of the hardness of our one piece knives at 55-57 RC was made to provide the best compromise between shock abosorbancy and edge retention. As a general principle, the higher the RC, the less ability the blade has to absorb shock, a quality that is vital in a fixed blade it will be used for chopping and higher impact tasks. At 55-57, the knife can be sharpened in the field with relative ease, something that would be far more difficult if the blade were up at 59-60.

Anne

 
Anne,

I guess I didn't directly address the edge holding very well.

For field work I use a Spyderco two-sided hone (white and dark brown). It flattens the edge somewhat and makes it look kind of fugly but works.

When out of the field I straighten up the edge with a large hone. You don't need to get a specific hone and test to see what will give a good edge like a lot of knives, anything I've used to (include emery paper on a hard surface) will give a good edge. Then using something with a little give (hard rubber, etc.) lay a piece of 600-800 grit emery paper an strop away from the edge to get you the small radius back. Follow with finer paper if available or a loaded strop.

The edge doesn't seem to loose it's edge as fast as a certain "high end carbon" steel from corrosion. I know it's not listed as a stainless but it does resist somewhat.

I haven't had any edge damage but choose the I to get the spearpoint. Old trick is to use spear top edge top down for chopping stainless comm wire, metal banding straps, etc, to save the primary edge.

I'll also disagree with the review posted on the utility for food preperation. I try knives in the kitchen for carving and other tasks. It worked just fine for carving turkey, beer butt chicken, ribs to name a few. I haven't tried it on fish as I'm not much of a fisherman. It is a little big for squirrel but usable on rabbit, pheasant, deer, and antelope. Obviously not it won't perform as well as a well executed knife designed for the respective tasks but there is a limit to what one can carry.

S/F, Mike
 
mikekc130, good point about using the false edge to smash comm wire and steel straps. Tried trip flaire wire? Hard! don't use your teath
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Got to the point where I bought some expensive snip pliers which worked great until I lent them to someone one dark night and never saw them again. Gave up and reverted back to brute force. That wire is the fastest way to roll an edge.

The bone I refered to was from some wild boar that we were quartering. We had bone flying to get the joints into a cooler box. I've done many a rabbit and hare, birds fine too, especially to lob off the legs. Trout, gut and head easy, but forget filleting Sole.

Chris, I think you have it just about right. Still fishing for an answer to the landyard hole question.
 
GREENJACKET,

Trip wire, snare (aviation safety wire), and ss comm wire all eat knife edges rather well. The comm wire is easily smashed with the false edge and brute force. On the trip and safety wire, if able because of length available, try putting a kink in it where you want the break then work the joint a little then drawing the ends together so the strands are next to each other briskly go through the pre-stressed failure point with the false edge. Not as good as a set of dykes but we’re talking workable solutions with less than optimum toolsJ.

I really haven’t chopped much bone. I generally try and go for the joints to include unzipping the breast bone. I haven’t had a chance to hunt hogs in a while and didn’t use the I.

S/F, Mike
 
I guess if we started cutting the thread of every butt cap at a given point, we could get the lanyard hole sit at a specific place on the handle. This would presuppose that the thread on every handle was also begun at a specific point. To interpret the above two sentences, please read - production nightmare! However, I do appreciate your comments and will pass them along!

Anne
 
Anne,

From my understanding indexing is relatively easy to accomplish, if you have the right equipment
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. If it's more trouble than an easy, simple and quick fix/adjustment then it's probably not going to be worth it. How many other people have made comments about let alone use their knives for chopping by extending the leverage, etc.?

S/F, Mike
 
Setting up two jigs to do the alignment of the screw threads shouldn't be too hard. Once done it could even save time. It would shut us up
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I screw my caps down fully as there is a natural stop, and the O ring don't seem to be stressed (well my ten year old one is fine).

mikekc130, I don't chop bone either much, this was more of a one off, but a real marathon.
I often use quite a relaxed hold, utilizing the back end of the handle, for chopping. There was a thread for an handle extension. (Chris, we'll pay cash for one, hint.)

[This message has been edited by GREENJACKET (edited 04-12-2001).]
 
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