Emerson ETAK vs Zero Tolerance 0620

[Silvanus]

Some people hate on Emerson for their "soft" steel. But this is a case in point where you can see why he heat treats the 154cm in his knives a couple RC points lower. It increases toughness and decreases the chance of chipping.

 

[RevDevil]

View attachment 484696

That looks like edge roll, the darkened area below the deformation (shadow of the roll). A chip would no missing steel in the area. At least that is what I can tell from the picture.

 

[Kaizen1]

I think most modern folders should be able to handle stabbing into a piece of wood without chipping or rolling. But I don't think there's enough information to conclude that ZTs or M390 in general can't handle such a task. We don't know anything about the circumstances or if the steel on that particular knife isn't heat treated well.