Flea market find?

E

EatingSarma

Joined
Jun 22, 2020
Messages
617
So with weird chain of events this "masterpiece" came to me from AliExpress.
It's apparently worth $9 with shipping and each time I check that thing out on there it shows me different steel. It is possible they make it in multiple steels, they claim it's 440 and D2 but I think it's 8Cr13MoV.
Pics are here below:
https://ibb.co/7Y8Y7nW
https://ibb.co/w4B1j0w
https://ibb.co/X57fPm7
https://ibb.co/BfYtFR0

So first thing I noticed is that the tip is rounded. Second thing I noticed is that there's a crack on the handle, but that handle is actually real wood. Looking from close at one of the scales I can actually see a small knot.
The handle is exceptionally good, it's very comfortable and feels natural in the hand.
The knife itself came razor sharp which was shocking to me.
And there's hard plastic on the inside of the nylon sheath where the blade is which is surprising.

I spent very short time with the knife but I did brief durability test on it.

The already rounded tip suffered no damage during tip test.
Chopping into dry knot also did nothing to such a small knife. So I took rubber hammer and batonned it into some wood. No damage whatsoever, and after cutting some cardboard blade was almost completley clean again.
I stropped and cleaned the knife afterwards and it's just as sharp as it originally was.

Should I subject this to more extreme durability test or call it a day and be happy with this find?
I still kinda think this is a crappy knife, but so far it passed those tests with no damage. It's kinda hard for me to accept that I might be wrong and that this is not just a piece of junk. I kinda don't want to like this knife, but I'm scared I'm starting to.
 
DangerZone98 said:
I say just keep it as a user knife and don’t worry about it bro.
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I second this.

Poor knife just got unboxed and you already used it's tip to pry, tried to chop with it, batonned it and then cut cardboard with it.
Even "Forged in fire" wouldn't abuse that tiny knife the way you did.
For $9 it's a golden find. Grind it's tip to make it pointy and use the hell out of that knife. Even if you break it - it's cheaper than a Mora.

Also, now that we know it's tough, you should test it's edge retention. Comfortable handle and fact it withstood batonning is already outmatched it's price range. If it has decent edge retention too then I also want one :D
 
EatingSarma said:
I spent very short time with the knife but I did brief durability test on it.
Click to expand...

Of all the tools, for some reason people like to beat on knives. I never hear about durability tests on sledge hammers or wrecking bars. I used a jack hammer yesterday, you could call it a test. My conclusion is that it's more durable than I am.
 
Bastler said:
Of all the tools, for some reason people like to beat on knives. I never hear about durability tests on sledge hammers or wrecking bars. I used a jack hammer yesterday, you could call it a test. My conclusion is that it's more durable than I am.
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I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to know what a knife is capable of before actually carrying it and potentially relying on it.

If it needs to break during chopping or if it's tip will snap off, then it's better to have that happen during the test in my back yard. If I needed it for something and have a knife fail on me it would be much worse.

Edit: At $9 price point I would be crazy to trust it blindly without any kind of test first.
 
EatingSarma said:
I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to know what a knife is capable of before actually carrying it and potentially relying on it.
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Look, you're the biggest knife breaker I know. You even broke a Mora prying open some paint can. You're literally worse than my ex :D

Get a small custom made tanto. Definitley full tang, and preferably at least 5mm thick CPM-3V blade :D
 
Smiling said:
Look, you're the biggest knife breaker I know. You even broke a Mora prying open some paint can. You're literally worse than my ex :D

Get a small custom made tanto. Definitley full tang, and preferably at least 5mm thick CPM-3V blade :D
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If only I could afford that :^)
 
If you like beating on knives, that is your business. If you do, please wear eye protection and gloves.

As for the multiple listings of steel, it's Aliexpress. I'm not surprised.
 
gazz98 said:
If you like beating on knives, that is your business. If you do, please wear eye protection and gloves.

As for the multiple listings of steel, it's Aliexpress. I'm not surprised.
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I wear the same eye protection that's used for motocross.

And over 90% knives on AliExpress is nothing but garbage, and I still don't know how did I get this one. This is only third knife that I have from such place, and it can never replace knives from decent and reputable manufacturers.
 
So, to people that are annoyed by the way I test knives:
1. I don't usually baton for test, since I don't usually baton my knives at all, I made exception here since this knife is too small to do chop test efficiently. But if I usually batonned my knives, then I'd baton them for the test each time too.
2. I usually test them with chopping and test sthrenght of the tip, because that way I can know if there's something wrong with either heat treatment or the geometry itself is bad for my intended use, sometimes both.
3. These tests are not overkill, I have knives that passed those tests and I use them in similar way I tested them which is chopping and sometimes stabbing or prying.
4. I believe in "Right tool for the job" but I can't have a toolbox with me entire time. And if all knives were used only for "knife jobs" then we would all be well just with slipjoints or utility blades for cutting boxes. At the end of the day, lots of knives are even designed for tasks like batoning.
5. It's my money. I'm almost broke anyways as I'm paying my own college.
6. I have no safe queens, so it's natural that I want to see if a knife is strong before I actually use it. I usually do that by doing the same tasks I bought the knife for, but on harder medium and with full force. If it needs to fail then it's better to have it fail in controlled environment than somewhere out there.
7. I don't think that there's anything wrong in getting excitement from those tests. I'm also very happy and excited at the same time when I see my knives perform.
As long as you enjoy what you're doing - keep doing it. If you enjoy fondling your safe queens then do that. I'm OK with it. If you enjoy beating the snot out of your tools then by all means do that.

Thank you for taking your time to read.
 
Update:
Today when I picked it up I realized it did suffer some damage. Tip itself has no visible damage but top part of the knife did pick up some curve to it. I straightened it out by doing the same that got it curved at a first place. Edge retention is a joke. I also batonned it again, with serious force this time and scale started to separate and the edge is distorted (vavy) despite the fact the edge is rather obtuse and it's definitley not either a cutter or slicer.
This is a piece of junk.
 
EatingSarma said:
Update:
Today when I picked it up I realized it did suffer some damage. Tip itself has no visible damage but top part of the knife did pick up some curve to it. I straightened it out by doing the same that got it curved at a first place. Edge retention is a joke. I also batonned it again, with serious force this time and scale started to separate and the edge is distorted (vavy) despite the fact the edge is rather obtuse and it's definitley not either a cutter or slicer.
This is a piece of junk.
Click to expand...
That's what I imagine new Trail Master will be :D
 
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