Extreme testing of one of my D2 knives (with pics)

G

Gossman Knives

Edged Toolmaker
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Apr 9, 2004
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First thing I like to say is this type of testing is to far of an extreme for someone who payed good money for a knife. I only did this to prove to myself that my D2 knives with my heat treat are up to hard use in the field. I really don't expect anyone to run up against the extreme tests I put this knife through. In the first pic I'm cutting a nail in half by hitting the spine of the blade with a 3lb. hammer. As I expected a small portion of the edge chipped out. It wasn't enough to render the edge useless.(fisrt pic left to right)



In the next pic I drove the knife point first into... what else a cinder block. :D It split the block in two. I did this twice with no point damage or breakage. (second pic)



The next pic I chopped a V in the side of the block, this time with no edge chipping. Of course it dulled the edge somewhat.(third pic)



Here I tested point strength by hammering the blade in a 2x6 about an inch and using lateral bending split the board with no point damage.(fourth pic)



I batoned the knife into the board and split it simulating splitting firewood. It sailed right through.(fifth pic)



After all that I whittle the board into a point. The edge was of course rough but it was still servicable.(sixth pic)



Finally after about 15 minutes on the grinder and strop, I had the blade cleaned up and the edge popping hair again.(seventh pic)
The last two pics are in my next post.



Scott
 
Perfect review, simple and to the point, nothing important left out and nothing pointless left in. Looks like quite a tough knife you made. Cleared up some of the questions I previously had about D2. Thanks.
 
kaosu04 said:
Perfect review, simple and to the point, nothing important left out and nothing pointless left in. Looks like quite a tough knife you made. Cleared up some of the questions I previously had about D2. Thanks.
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Thank you. This is why I like the convex grind in an outdoor use knife. It's a very durable grind.
Scott
Here are the sixth and seventh pics
 
Great review Scott, as someone who owns one of your D2 blades I can appreciate how tough they are!

What are the handles on the test knife?
 
Thanks LC. The specs on the knife are 3/16" thick by 1" D2. 4" blade and handle with black canvas micarta scales. 8" overall. It's HTed to 59/60 HRC.
Scott
 
Great looking knife!

Bashing hard stuff is a good test of blade strength but what I would rather see you do for testing your blade is go to the nearest slaughter house and ask if you can pay them a couple of bucks to spend a day (not just and hour or two but a full hard working day) cleaning/gutting, skinning, and quartering cattle, hogs, or whatever. Then see at the end of the day how you like your knife's design. That would be not only be a real test of toughness but a test of usability which IMHO is the #1 most important quality in a knife.
 
DDG, you're right about the other testing which would test edge retention more then strength. It will get a work out this fall when I hit the woods in pursuit of whitetails.
Scott
 
Razorback - Knives said:
I'm cutting a nail in half by hitting the spine of the blade with a 3lb. hammer. As I expected a small portion of the edge chipped out.
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You can easily cut 2.5" and 3.5" nails with really thin edged knives if you avoid lateral stress. I cut a bunch with some Deerhunters which have really thin and acute edges, ~0.015 at ~15 degrees per side. The number of hits is critical. What is the thickness of the D2 blade at 1/16" and 1/8" back from the edge?


I did this twice with no point damage or breakage.
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It usually takes more impacts to induce fractures, it took 18 full power stabs to break the AUS-8A Deerhunter.

The next pic I chopped a V in the side of the block, this time with no edge chipping.
Click to expand...
I don't actually see a v there. It might be informative to do this with a D2 and 5160 blade of the same dimensions and note the difference in damage and resulting sharpening time. It is hard to get any impact energy with a small blade of course so they take impacts much better than larger blades which hit much harder.


Here I tested point strength by hammering the blade in a 2x6 about an inch and using lateral bending split the board with no point damage.
Click to expand...
An inch is a little too deep, try progressing up from 1/4", as if you go to far you will crack the board before stressing the knife. Some wood also cracks really easily, I have seen knives split one piece of 2x6 then crack on the next. It is one of the reasons why you have to repeat such work a huge number of times to be able to draw a decent conclusion. Point geometry is key here, how thick is the point at 1/8" and 1/4" back from the point?

I batoned the knife into the board and split it simulating splitting firewood.
Click to expand...
Lumber splits way easier than most woods, you can actually chop/split it with a larger knife. Knives in general are really strong along that axis, you can even split knotty wood with a small puukko.

Finally after about 15 minutes on the grinder and strop, I had the blade cleaned up and the edge popping hair again.
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That is a lot of grinding time, did you actually bring the primary grind down full again or just recreate the edge bevel?

Nice work, it would be nice to have another blade there for comparison, a common production one would be ideal, but as a maker it probably isn't the best path to take, so you could compare other steels with a known heat treat, from Bos for example.
-Cliff
 
Cliff, there is a V cut in the block below the blade edge. It's tough to see in the pic. At a 1/16" back it's 0.075 at 1/8" back it's 0.108
Scott
 
That would be interesting Cerberus. :D
Cliff, I wasn't trying to push the knife to the breaking point as you indicated. I was merely employing some extreme conditions that may be encountered in the wilderness. The possibility of hitting rock and metal in the wild is very real. I'm sure you do much more extensive testing pushing to the breaking point. This was not my intention with this testing. Thanks for the additional info you provided. ;)
Scott
 
Cliff, how does this performance compare to your Dozier you tested with D2 but w/o a convex grind?
 
Scott,

Do you have a better picture of the edge after you cut the nail in 2? I have done this with 440A and 50100 and am curious about how D2 chips, though those knives were thinner V grinds.
 
Razorback - Knives said:
The possibility of hitting rock and metal in the wild is very real.
Click to expand...

That was one of the early things that made me like D2, I was hacking some small maple saplings down with my Queen Mountain Man in D2, (yeah I should have went and got a machete, but I was lazy). I hit one so hard the knife sliced through it and the blade hit a cinder block one the other side of it.

Didn't even blink, that's when I thought, "crap D2 is pretty tough".
 
Scott,
Thanks for sharing the results with us, interesting. How did your knife's response to those test compare to how other knives you have used?

Nice looking knife as well.
 
Scott, nice job.............. your knives are without a doubt up to almost any task a person may encounter in the woods or anywhere else, thats not counting what they are designed for. :D

By the way, I have been very busy lately and failed to mention just how beautiful your knives are looking, especially the smaller stag handled models. :eek:

Robbie Roberson ;)
 
TIR said:
Scott,

Do you have a better picture of the edge after you cut the nail in 2? I have done this with 440A and 50100 and am curious about how D2 chips, though those knives were thinner V grinds.
Click to expand...
TIR, my camera doesn't do well with real close up pics, but if you look at the third pic down, look at the edge about half way down the blade from the point, you can see where it chipped out. I fully expected that to happen. I had a slight secondary bevel. Cutting a nail is way over the top for a knife blade but it was still something I've been wanting to try. That why it took so long on the grinder, getting that chip out.
knifetester, I've never done this type of testing with any knives I've bought because of the potential of ruining an overwise good knife. As far as a comparision, I think the D2 faired well because of the grind, blade geometry and edge. When I do a convex grind it's slack belt grinding from the beginning. I've heard of flat grinding to a point then switch to slack belt. I do total slack belt so my blades have more meat along the center line. A real thinned out edge would chip out alot faster because there is less steel there.
Thanks Robbie, the Revolver is still on my top use list of the knives I use regularly. ;) If people would just try it the would understand what a truely versital knife the Revolver is.
Scott
 
Razorback - Knives said:
I only did this to prove to myself that my D2 knives with my heat treat are up to hard use in the field. I really don't expect anyone to run up against the extreme tests I put this knife through.
Click to expand...

Nice review, beautiful knife (as usual).
But what has changed since April?
Allow me to quote you:

"You say stabbing into concrete. This is what I'm talking about. What the hell are you doing that for!? Look, you go ahead and keep doing what you've been doing and the knowledgable knife enthusist can draw their own conclusion. I disagree with what you do to knives, but that's my opinion."

"As far as someone testing my knives, I have my customers do that for me. I get real world use feedback and that's what I would rather have."

"Knives cut, use a maul to bust a cider block and use a crow bar to pry open a door or window. Does the knife cut well or not, what else do you need to know."

"Hey I'm not against field testing, but when you do something the knife is not intended for you make it look bad for the buying public. Reading this stuff makes me Anybody with an once of common sense can do these test for themselves. Listen to a real world user that's who counts."

"Not only what you said, but what's the purpose of ALL these so called tests. How many users are really going to use a knife to the extreme of some of these tests."

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you "saw the light", but Clark just may throw you out of the Cliff-hangers club.
 
AAHH HAA :D I knew it was coming. I sound like a hypocrite I know but as a maker this type of testing was necessary for my own satisfaction. I still do not recommend it unless you are willing to ruin a knife you paid good money for. Let me also emphasise, that I did not push this knife to the breaking point as Cliff does "sometimes". I've been thinking about wilderness scenerios and it is very possible to contact rock and or metal while out and about. If I would have destroyed this knife, no big deal to me, I can always make another one, but no way I'd take a Dozier or my prized Randall model 25 and do this. I guess I really can't knock Cliff too much if the knives are given to him and he's told to destroy them. If a maker "gave" me a knife and said to try and break it then I guess that would be what they wanted. Again this test was not to try and break the knife, just put it up against extreme and not so common situations to see how it faired.
Scott
 
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