Extreme knife use

G

Gossman Knives

Edged Toolmaker
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
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How much stress do you think you would ever put a knife through? I always pondered this while reading the many threads that come up on hard use knives, toughest knife out there, strongest/toughest steel and see the threads with broken blades.
Every so often I test one of my blades to the point of breakage. Today while heat treating a Mini Tusker blade it came out warped. So I thought I'd do a bend test and break it to check the grain structure. I was able to bend it 45 to 50 degrees 5 times. It came back to true. The fifth time it broke. The constant stress of bending weakened it to the point of breakage. Still not bad for a 5/32" thick by 1" wide blade. I was pretty happy with the results.
Scott
 
I'd be happy with that for sure, brother.
I gotta admit I'm pretty hard on a knife. Not out of some kind of bragging thing but mainly because I'm lazy. I'll grab what ever is near to batton with and I'm to lazy to go get an axe when I'm doing something. So pounding on the spine an pommel is pretty common for me.
Not much prying though.
Iz
p.s. I've never run into any concrete blocks that needed splitting in the woods.:D So that kind of knife isn't in my pack or on my belt.
 
One thing about lateral stress like bending in a vise is that every steel will react differently to it. That is the most stress anyone will encounter. Like you said, knives aren't made for prying. The thick stock blades are better because of their strength if the need arised in a survival situation.
I've never come across any cinder blocks in the field either. :D
Scott
 
You know, I'm probably gonna get cruixcified for saying this but here it goes. All this stuff that goes on about the tuffest knife out there and shooting blades with different calibers and blah blah my knife is tuffer than yours is getting a little old. As long as I have a well built knife with a good heat treat with me I'm perfectly confident in any situation from the streets to the field. I don't need the knife to be "bulletproof" that's not what they are for and never was.
 
I'm one that although I've never needed to, I've always said that I'll do whatever I have to to survive. For example, I put the stock of my Remington 870 under the tire of my pickup when I was stuck in the sand. It was what I had and it saved me from walking out of the desert.
When it comes to tough knives, I would be more worried about the tang breaking than the blade itself. So many Bowie type blades have stick tangs. How strong are they?
 
KnifeKnut66 said:
You know, I'm probably gonna get cruixcified for saying this but here it goes. All this stuff that goes on about the tuffest knife out there and shooting blades with different calibers and blah blah my knife is tuffer than yours is getting a little old. As long as I have a well built knife with a good heat treat with me I'm perfectly confident in any situation from the streets to the field. I don't need the knife to be "bulletproof" that's not what they are for and never was.
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Absolutely correct. I only do off the wall testing because it needs to be done occasionally to be sure the heat treat and temper are where they should be. Funny you mention shooting a blade. I only did that one time with an S7 blade just to see how much shock the steel was able to withstand.
Scott
 
Gossman Knives said:
I've never come across any cinder blocks in the field either. :D
Scott
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Great quote! My only concern on toughness is for a bowie/chopper. Even then, I just want it to be able to do what it's supposed to; chop and cut. I'm usually more concerned with tip strength to be honest. There is a fine line when it comes to this. I want it sturdy enough so that it doesn't snap if dropped on something hard or laterally stressed on accident (or out of stupidity), yet not so thick that it makes even having a point useless. I've always found my Fallkniven A1 to have the perfect compromise out of the knives I own.
 
Thanks J.Davey. Point strength is important to me also. That's one reason I don't care for false edges.
Scott
 
It's not a big deal to me.

For me I want a blade with a comfortable handle, that has a fine edge that cuts easily, and that I can sharpen fairly easily but that holds a good edge.

I have thick edged thick bladed tough knives for if I would really want to dig or pry with them a lot but I hardly ever break them out.:rolleyes:
 
hollowdweller said:
For me I want a blade with a comfortable handle, that has a fine edge that cuts easily, and that I can sharpen fairly easily but that holds a good edge.
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That's all I'm looking for. My fifty odd knives are the OCD part of me though.

I have to admit, I used to beat the hell out of my Swamp Rat choppers. But, it was nothing I couldn't do with my hatchet or camp axe.

I did, however, use my Cold Steel kukri machete to "take on" a cinderblock. Still not the dumbest thing I've ever done. That was the one and only time. I should add that was about ten years ago.
 
Awesome Scott. I love 5/32 A2. Especially the way you HT it.

I too have never encountered a cinder block in the woods. Must be hangin with the Snipes..;)
 
Thanks Jake. That test just reassures me that A2 can handle anything thrown it's way. That much lateral stress is very unlikely to ever be encountered.
Scott
 
I for one can attest to the strength of Scott's A2 knives. I own several and have assisted him in the real world, woods testing of his blades. He just hands them to us and says go use them. I have beaten his knives like they owe me money and never had a problem. Some of the wood lengths we have batoned were great tests of edge strength and lateral stress. Fine cutting chores were performed as well showing that a knife doesn't have to be a beast to be tough. One of our friends chipped and rolled the edge on another maker's knife during firewood making. All Scott did was shake his head and say " that should never happen to a knife." An oath Scott lives by. That's why we test knives.
 
Thanks kahuana. To truely test a knife takes time. Actual use of the knife in the field is the only way to go.
Scott
 
I am impressed with the amount of flex that you got in the mini tusker. I know that I would never be bending a knife like tht in the woods, so it should hold up to just about anything that I can throw at it. Thanks for sharing those results, it makes me even more confident in using your blades.
 
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