Estimated blade life of a traditional

When I see a hundred year old knife, I have to wonder how many years it sat in a drawer someplace. I don't think any knife used day after day will last a lifetime. I used a Buck 301 for 25 years, and it was ready to either retire or be sent to Buck for a blade replacement. An man I know has used the same Case yellow sodbuster for about 20 yeas, and it looks like it should be replaced. A knife is by nature, a disposable tool. Every time you sharpen it, a little bit of blade disappears forever. If you are in a job where you really do use the knife a lot, it's going to wear out faster than a pocket knife used by an office cubical worker.

So, it all depends.

Carl.
 
Stich2442 said:
I have put a Opinel #9 through some hard, hard use for about five years ... I love when people say Opinels are a picnic knife. No picnic for this knife just hard work.
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I love this! We just returned from a four-day weekend out in the woods. I toted along my Opinel no. 8 and it performed great (of course). Unbelievable bang for the buck. :thumbup:

-- Mark
 
With some care for the knife, I can't imagine wearing one out very quickly. I just got some knives that were carried by my grandfather for years, and that man saw knives as tools. He attached no sentimental value to them at all.

He didn't know how to sharpen a knife, and never cared. He took to a friend of his and traded fish and game for sharpening, and had his knives sharpened as needed. Since he had them professionally sharpened, the blades lasted quite well. My uncle (Dad's brother) told me that the extra large CASE stockman was his favorite, and he never knew of a time when he didn't have that knife in his pocket. As a guess, my uncle thinks that one was carried about 25 years and used at work and as his hunting and fishing knife (with a few others). I think the blades have about 75% left, and pretty good snap, too. I'm impressed.

Fast forward to today, and I would bet I am like a lot of guys here. Where Grandad had just a few knives, I have more than both Dad and Grandad owned combined. Although I carry two knives every single day, with my normal rotation I will never have one in the loop long enough to wear it out anymore.

With that in mind I use them all and enjoy them and sharpen them as much as I think they need.

Robert
 
Thanks mnblade Opinels are a "unbelievable bang for the buck" and there is still a lot of life left in the blade. The profile of the blade is starting to remind me of a Laguiole.
Opinels to me are the Sodbuster of France, nothing fancy just a honest hard working cutting tool.

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Upadate: Started stroping some of my knives on a the a leather sling I had laying around, and I have to say im likeing the results. Im not using compunds or anything, but it brings back a nice shaving sharp edge back to my edc knives. Beats wasting metal on the stone for sure.
 
Joe21 said:
Upadate: Started stroping some of my knives on a the a leather sling I had laying around, and I have to say im likeing the results. Im not using compunds or anything, but it brings back a nice shaving sharp edge back to my edc knives. Beats wasting metal on the stone for sure.
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Great to hear. If you get another piece of leather you can put some compound on it for when it needs a little more but not the stone yet :)

I have a barbers style I use. One side is linen and the other is horsehide leather. It works great for keeping my edges up until I need to go to the stone.
 
Growing up in England, the only sharpening stones that were available were carbarundum stones
My old knives still have the scratches from the fine side.
I only met Arkensaw soft and hard when I arrived in NYC and purchased a sharpening set from Buck
Then how many years later did Extra Fine DMT Diamond stones arrive?
And who ever hear of stropping knives!
Stropping is what the barber did with their razors when you got your hair cut

My point is that the wear from a weekly use on a 'fine' carbarundum is hugely different from a couple of swipes over a white compound strop.
With what does the average non knife Knut sharpen his knife?
How often will the knife be sharpened?

My mother's carbon paring kitchen knife of 50 years, sharpened once a week on a hardened steel double wheels, is now 1/4" wide at the thinnest part
 
Of all of the knives I've seen at junk and antique malls, mostly the handles are in good shape and the blades are toothpicks, or the blades are in fairly good shape, and the handles look like they were dropped from about three stories high onto concrete.

Even though most knives weren't considered collectibles but tools back in the day, these men and women that used them knew how to properly care for a good tool.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Of all of the knives I've seen at junk and antique malls, mostly the handles are in good shape and the blades are toothpicks, or the blades are in fairly good shape, and the handles look like they were dropped from about three stories high onto concrete.

Even though most knives weren't considered collectibles but tools back in the day, these men and women that used them knew how to properly care for a good tool.
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Yes, back then people knew what a good tool was, and they treated their tools with respect. They also had the belief in that the right tool for the job was used. A pocket knife was a cutting tool, and they were treated as such. There was no 'hard use' or unrealistic fantasies of prying open car doors or other magazine or video game fed misconceptions about how to use their pocket knives. These were simple working men, who knew how to get it done, and not break up their tools while doing it.

Preventive maintenance was done on them. I'd watch my father every night after dinner lean back in his chair and reach into the kitchen drawer and take out his strop. He taken a 5 gallon paint stir paddle and sawn it off to half length, and glued an old belt to it, rough inside up. Over time the rough inside of that work belt became smooth as a barbers strop. He'd quietly strop his peanut with that every night until he was happy with the razor edge he'd have on it. Only maybe once week he's give it a touchup on a stone, and then he'd carefully feel the blade every few strokes, and stop when he was there. Then it was the stropping on his homemade paddle strop. In all the time he had that little Case, I don't believe it saw as much stone time as one year as some of the people who obsess over the hair whittling edge on these forums. Yet time did take it's toll anyways. After 40 some years, the main blade was badly worn, and a good deal smaller.

How a tool is treated will be more important than any other factor.

Carl.
 
I put my Opinel up as a "extreme" it is a working tool that needed to be sharp, cutting R8 insulation in a attic where the space was tight and sometimes you had nothing behind to apply pressure, maybe a joist. On the job I used a carbide/ceramic pocket sharpener ( never used on another knife it's rather aggressive ) getting paid to get a job done, you can't stop to bust out a bunch of sharpening gear, I had bigger more important things to take care of ie. metal work, penatrations, zoning, wiring, line sets etc. My Opinel, was just a tool that was dependable and made life easier. I trust my Opi will be around for many years to come. I still have my first pocket knife and it's about 34 years old and other than the patina is still functional and shows little wear. My Opinal just has character, scars not disabled.
 
Yeah, I'd have to agree that where and how a knife gets used has a lot to do with how it gets sharpened and how it lasts.

The only knife I have ever seen my dad show any affection toward is his big old Frontier folding hunter. Since he only sharpened it when he was preparing for deer season or actually processing a deer I suppose it got treated rather well when sharpening. It was more of a ritual. The pocket knives he carried? Well, it was a good thing they all had delrin handles. He'd have that little arkansas stone on him or around where he was working and when he needed to sharpen it he just whipped it out and had at it. I won't say he abused them but I would not say he really took care with them either.

Strip a length of wire? Scrape a gasket off of a cast iron part? Poke a hole in those old oil cans with the metal lids? You name the job and he did it with those old knives. Needless to say he went through some knives in his life. He has a little graveyard for them in a drawer in his gun cabinet. :)

I've tried to reform him. Bought him several really high quality Queen knives with 440C or D-2 steel. Even sharpened them before I gave them to him. But they never got used. I asked why one time and he just told me they were too fancy to use. Guess he was a man made for delrin or micarta and carbon steel. He was a heavy equipment operator and the way he looks at tools and machines is just plain different than the way I do. They were made to work, period. For me as an engine guy and someone who works in test labs the tools and equipment are treated very differently.

Will
 
Joe21 said:
Thanks for the info guys! What would you guys reccomend for a decent strop?
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I use an Illinois Razor Strop Co. #206 with green compound. The canvas side gets used if I have forgotten to strop my blade or if there's rust on the edge, and the leather side gets used on my edc after every day of use. 5 strokes on each side and I'm back in action.
 
DrPenguin said:
Strip a length of wire? Scrape a gasket off of a cast iron part? Poke a hole in those old oil cans with the metal lids? You name the job and he did it with those old knives.
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Been there. Done that. Must be why I mostly carry users.
 
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