jedi_pimp said:
Is there any knife with similiar geometery that would not have rippled?
That is a critical question. I have not used a knife ground that thin that didn't buckl. Even going from 0.025 - 0.030" would make a huge strength difference.
[What are the attributes that make a knife a good splitter?]
How important is edge geometery?
A thinner edge gets the knife in easier, thus requires less force. However a thicker profile will not wedge as much. Essentially with a knife you are not splitting as much as you are cutting the wood in two. Knives just don't have enough cross section to induce a split, outside of khukuris.
Do the attributes that make a knife a good splitter impair its functions as a general purpose cutting tool?
If you wanted to make it a pure splitter on its own yeah, as it would look like a splitting maul, but as a baton tool, no. Of course you need a thicker edge to split, more so if you want to be able to chisel cut knots like I was doing, and this costs you cutting ability. But then again there are very few knives of this size which are 0.025" at the edge.
How does the efficiency of splitting with a knife compare to splitting with a small axe, such as a Forest axe?
If the wood is small enough so that the axe can split it readily in a hit, then the axe beats it by a mile. On the wood I was splitting, it would be much faster with a knife because the axe would just jam. Even the GB maul I had could not split those rounds without reverse slamming and would ideally want a wedge.
Note in regards to the splitting, I don't actually split wood like that if I need it split for a functional purpose. I would not chisel cuts knots intentionally unless I had too. The above was a simulation of a survival / emergency situation, where things are not always done in ideal conditions, nor by ideal people.
If for example I had to loan my knife to my brother or one of his ape like friends, well then, they would not be overly concerned about grain, knots, etc., it is more like "smash wood, wood split, drink beer"
As well, I was using a piece of wood as a baton, I only used the axe initially for a shock test. In general its easier on the knife actually, becase the vibrations are hell on your hand. I can split with a wooden baton all day long, but try to hold a knife down against a hammer for an hour or two and your hand can be crippled.
Again, more of an emergency drill than an actual desired technique.
-Cliff
so torture testing is what it's all about
