Extreme testing 1

Recently, on the Buck forum, I learned that Wal-Mart was selling the venerable Buck 110 in a collectors tin for about $23.00, which I thought was a very sweet deal.
So I went and bought two 110's, one of which I had planned to give to a friend of mine.

Handling that 110 reminded me of just what a great knife it really is--but I still was'nt that thrilled with the 420HC.
And then, after researching the forum about the 110, I learned of Buck's custom shop.
I could send the 110 back and get a BG-42 blade--awesome!
But then I also learned of a Cabela's exclusive Buck 110 with S30V (the Alaskan Guide series)--and it was only about $75.00 shipped--awesome again!

So, when all was said and done, I ended up with three Buck 110's.
I decided to EDC the Cabela's Buck 110, and I ordered a Cabela's for my friend as well, so that left me with two standard 110's.
Hmmm....

Well, since I was going to EDC the Cabela's 110, and give one to my friend also, I thought that it would be nice to see if it could hold up to a little abuse.

We already know that sand and syrup will gum up any lock.
And we already know that a truck can roll over nearly any folder and leave it virtually unaffected.

But Cliff has recently brought up (in the Survival forum) the possiblity of needing to split wood, to get to the dry center, for fire-starting in cold rain-soaked survival situations.
I think that's a realistic possiblity.

THE LOG-SPLITTER TEST:
So, with a wood makeshift baton and my shiney new Idaho Buck 110 in hand, I set out to split a 14" piece of 2x4.
I was going with the grain, not against it, and it was smooth sailing at first.
But soon the locking rocker-bar developed a very slight upward bend, not enough to disengage the lock, but visible still.
I pressed onward, and three hits later the lock broke.
The locking lug portion broke off inside the blade notch, rather cleanly too.

This made me wonder if a large frame-lock would fare better.
Hmmm....
So, I then retrieved my CRKT S-2 from the tool-box where it lives and got busy.
If you're unfamiliar with the S-2 you can do a google search or a forum search, but basically it's a "poor man's Sebenza".
It has thick titanium slabs and an ATS-34 blade, and it's a frame-lock.
It split another 14" piece of 2x4 and had no problem except the screws had come loose and the blade had plenty of side-to-side play, and the edge was rather dull.
I tightened the screws and it was good to go.

This was interesting, but could it be done with a strong slip-joint?
Next up was the Camillus Marlin-Spike.
I was very surprised at how well the MS performed.
It split the 2x4 with no trouble--however, after inspecting the knife, I did notice that the pivot was a little loose and there was an increase in the gap between the liners and the back-springs at the pivot.
I used the wood baton to tap the pivot tighter--no problem, the knife works just fine.

More to follow...
 
allenC said:
... a 14" piece of 2x4
Click to expand...

Was the wood clear or knotty, did the grain run fairly vertical or did it twist?

I pressed onward, and three hits later the lock broke.
The locking lug portion broke off inside the blade notch, rather cleanly too.
Click to expand...

I had a similar break with a CS small Voyager, I think it is likely defective, those kinds of impacts are actually really low considering the break points of those steels.

...the edge was rather dull.
Click to expand...

Before or after?

[slip joint]

I used the wood baton to tap the pivot tighter--no problem, the knife works just fine.
Click to expand...

Based on what I have seen I think this may be the ideal method, have the lock disengaged, you can do this readily on liners with a small wedge, and just rotate the wrist to keep the handle stable. This allows heavy impacts and thus a wider scope of wood with little to no stress on the lock itself. I am fairly curious about axis locks based on what Ritter has wrote because he did it with the lock engaged and his description was not light tapping.

-Cliff
 
During my last bout of insanity, it became obvious that the DROP-ZONE test was the most damaging and brutal test of all.
Unfortunately, it's also something that can happen very easily in real life.
You could be working on the roof, or cutting branches from a tree, or climbing a rocky cliff, or just hiking the ridge-line, and your knife could slip out of your pocket and fall onto some rocks or on to concrete.

So, I had to see how the 110 would do if it suffered a high-fall impact.
The only problem was that one of the new 110's was already broken at the lock, and I did'nt want to drop the other 110 (I might send it to Buck's custom shop), but I did have a Schrade LB7....

THE DROP-ZONE TEST II:
As I did in the first Drop-Zone test, I dropped the knives from the roof of my two-story home, and I gave each one a small flip as I released so that it would hit in a random manner.

The LB7 did very well overall.
The first 3 drops only scuffed and dinged the brass and scales some--the lock still worked fine.
The 4th drop chipped off a piece of wood scale.
The the next 4 drops broke both scales and the brass edges were chewed and dinged quite severely--but the knife still functioned.
The blade opened on some of the impacts and it dinged the edge just a bit.
I was very pleased that it had survived 8 drops.

The CRKT S-2 was even more surprising.
It survived all 8 drops with only cosmetic damage around the edges of the titanium slabs, and a broken blade-tip (about 1/16").
It came open with each impact and bounced every time and that is what broke the tip.
The screws were loose again and there was wobble at the pivot.
But afterwards, I disassembled the knife and filed/sanded the scuffs and dings, and when I put her back together, she was just fine--even passed the spine-whack test.

The S-2 had impressed me so much that I decided to test another frame-lock--the Gerber Game-Pro.
The results were stunning and not at all the same as the S-2.
On the very first impact the blade opened and the knife bounced.
When I recovered the knife I discovered that the frame-lock had "sprung" straight in to a permanent unlocked position.
I pushed it back across the tang but it would spring back in the unlocked position--maybe the steel had faulty "memory".
The blade would not remain closed or locked and would flop back and forth.
On the 4th drop the blade snapped at the tang.

The Camillus Marlin-Spike...
Wow, I am very impressed with this knife.
It took all 8 drops and still functions fine.
The plastic scales did'nt even crack or break, but they are pitted and scuffed.
The entire knife now feels much more loose and the pivots are loose when you open the blade and the spike, but they work--and the spike still locks!
A very impressive slip-joint.

More later...
 
Hi Cliff,
Was the wood clear or knotty, did the grain run fairly vertical or did it twist?
Click to expand...

It did a have a few knots but the grain ran rather vertical--it made for easy splitting overall.

I was'nt doing light taps either.
It was'nt as if I were driving a 16p nail, but they were rather hard hits.

I might try it again with the Schrade Old Timer 6OT to see if it was perhaps a defect.

The blade was sharp before the batoning, perhaps it dulled on the smaller knots?

I would believe that the Axis-lock could survive since the baton never actually impacts the lock itself--but on a lock-back it's difficult to not hit the lock itself.

Allen.
 
allenC said:
.... the frame-lock had "sprung" straight in to a permanent unlocked position.
Click to expand...

I think that is the first time I have seen that described. Gerber is fairly low end though so it isn't surprising that the blade broke, likely just a high variance defect.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
...
-for heavier work, can the knives function as drills, chisels, and wedges on wood....
-Cliff
Click to expand...

I once used a SE delica, and only a SE delica (aus-8 with the FRN clip) to saw, pry, and chisel a place to install an extra deadbolt on my girlfriend's door at her apartment. aside from one chipped serration, and the blunting fo the last millimeter or so of the tip, the knife came away fine. I wasn't gentle with it either. :cool:

pete
 
Allen, that's the kind of callous disregard for money spent that I like to see from you.:D

It's interesting how well the time tested, low tech, old fashioned slip joint does.
 
In my estimation, even a cheap Balisong would open and close after the Syrup and Sand test.

I also think one of the better quality Balisongs, with either steel or titanium handles would compete quite favorably in most of the other tests.

Since I am unwilling to subject my Balis to extra abuse, the above are only thoughts, up to this point in time.
 
Edgy Codger said:
In my estimation, even a cheap Balisong would open and close after the Syrup and Sand test.
Click to expand...

Chas Clements recently argued for the utility of balisongs as utility tools on rec.knives alongwith a history of the design, too bad they are illegal in so many areas.

-Cliff
 
-open a pain can

now i heard of opening a can of whip-ass or butt-kick,but i aint never haid of a can of pain
 
i think it's cool.the only way to know the limits of your tool is to test it to the limit,and beyond.so be prepared for sore hands.wait,i mean knife testing ya monkey spankers:jerkit: :D
 
Edgy,

I also think one of the better quality Balisongs, with either steel or titanium handles would compete quite favorably in most of the other tests.
Click to expand...

I agree, I've often said that the latch-lock is probably the strongest lock that a folder can have and bali-songs are tough.
Maybe I'll get my hands on a cheapie knock-off bali-song and see what it can do.

I might do some testing with water, fire, and ice next.

Also, the Marlin-spikes performance has made me curious as to how a swiss army knife would fare.
So I will sacrifice one of my Wengers and a Leatherman PST that I don't use much these days.
I'll repeat the "hit-and-run(over)" and "drop-zone" tests on the SAK and the Leatherman at the least.
I predict that the leatherman will probably survive, but I'm not so sure about the SAK.
We'll see.

Allen.
 
Cool testing. Folks can criticize if they want, but I think it's great that some people are willing to do this type of testing so the rest of us don't have to.

The thing that really stood out to me is how the FRN handles held up vs. the G-10. I've lost count of how many times I've heard people bitching because one model or other isn't available in G-10 but only in "cheap plastic" (read: any RitterGrip thread). I think it's great that someone finally backed w/ practical evidence the claim that designers and manufacturers have been putting out for years...The FRN,GTX, Zytel, et al handles are lighter, stronger, and more cost effective than G-10!:thumbup:
 
In regards to Zytel, what may be a significant influence is that the lighter nature of the Zytel models means they will impact with a lot less force at a given drop distance. You can scale the distance so that they all have the same impact energy, or simply drop a weight on them to compare Zytel vs G10 directly.

-Cliff
 
This is true, about the weight difference.
I'll bet that my Opinel No. 8 would survive the "drop-zone" test because it is extremely light-weight.

But I have noticed that G-10 does'nt seem to take even small impacts without chipping.
I once dropped my old Spyderco G-10 Police from only waist-height and it chipped the edge of the G-10 where it landed.
But I've dropped various FRN Spydercos plenty of times without any chipping.
I wonder if the it is because of the rigidity of the G-10 verses the flexibility of the FRN?

Allen.
 
allenC said:
I predict that the leatherman will probably survive, but I'm not so sure about the SAK.
We'll see.

Allen.
Click to expand...

You'll pop the scales off, unless you use an Alox SAK, but I'll bet it lives.
 
"But Cliff has recently brought up (in the Survival forum) the possiblity of needing to split wood, to get to the dry center, "

What planet is that happening on that the wood dries from the inside out!


"but I think it's great that some people are willing to do this type of testing so the rest of us don't have to."

I have to agree with that. It's like that world's worst job show.

"i think it's cool.the only way to know the limits of your tool is to test it to the limit,and beyond"

That's why we kept running over the violins with our SUVs until we found the best performer.
 
What planet is that happening on that the wood dries from the inside out!
Click to expand...

Have you ever been camping and been caught in the rain?

Have you ever noticed how the outside of the trees and logs get wet first when it rains?

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to get the outside of the wet wood to catch fire and burn?


If not, then you really should spend more time outdoors--you're missing out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top