Has your scary sharp knife ever surprised you?

[WadeF]

Time for another silly topic about scary sharp knives!

For most of my life I have had sharp knives, but never really, really, sharp knives. I've only experience scary sharp blades for the past 3-4 years as I've learned more about sharpening. I've only started stropping this past year or so and I'm still getting used to what a highly polished edge can do.

The other day I had a situation where I was taken by surprise by my knife's sharpness. I was loading the kids up in our Jeep Cherokee when I saw a carpenter bee on the trunk of the tree next to me. My neighbor's garage/barn is infested with them and the darn things come over to my property looking for more wood to bore into. So I kill them any chance I get.

So I saw the bee and reached for my Ritter Grip which was freshly stropped. My plan was to put the blade between it's head and it's body and just pop it off. With a duller knife the knife would usually work it's way between the two segments and cut them apart. However, I was taken by surprised when I kind of missed the neck and caught it around the middle of the head, near the eyes, and watched it slice effortlessly through the bee's head, making a perfectly clean cut. For a moment I saw a flat cross section of the bee's head before it fell to the ground!

Another instance of scary sharp at work was when I went to cut some rope and it literally exploded in two when I took my BM710 to it.

So does anyone have any good scary sharp stories?

 

[WileECoyote]

Dude, I don't know how catually 'scary' this is, but my Chinook II bit me bad three times the first week I owned it. Thing's a frickin' snapping turtle!

 

[GarageBoy]

At ECCKS, pressed the lockbar of a Chinook, the blade fell..INTO MY FNGER, just lightly. Nicked it pretty good.

How were you able to cut its head off and nothave it sting you?

 

[WadeF]

How were you able to cut its head off and nothave it sting you?

Most bee's aren't that agressive and you can reach out and pet them if you want and they will often ignore you and keep going about their business. This bee was on a tree doing whatever and I sliced it's head in half. After that it was to dead to sting me.

 

[wwells20]

WadeF, I just started stropping this year and I just didn't know what a really sharp knife blade was until now. I get cut all the time just doing the things I used to do with duller blades. I know what you are talking about.

 

[WileECoyote]

This bee was on a tree doing whatever and I sliced it's head in half. After that it was to dead to sting me.

Carpenter bees should be protected whenever possible. They are valuable pollinators and pose no threat to humans. They tunnel very slowly and their damage is easily curbed. Males can't sting. Females can sting but won't unless handled roughly.

P.S. I'd use a Strider

 

[ARtsig1]

I will say that the RJ Martin Devastator I received a while back is the sharpest knife I've ever received from a maker. I didn't have it in my possession for more than 15 minutes when it "bit" me nearly taking the end of my index finger off. All I was doing was wiping off some oil residue when that wicked sharp tip sliced right through the piece of chamois I was using and into the aforementioned finger. Talk about a surprise!!

 

[MJR]

WadeF, can I send you some knives to sharpen? I can get mine sharp, but never that scary sharp. Guess I need more parctice!

 

[fulloflead]

I carry a Spyderco Civillian IWB daily for SD in addition to what ever is clipped to my pocket.

I have another Civillian that I carry around the house and use for utility use just so I'm used to drawing, opening and handling it. Once, after opening some snack packages in my kitchen I found myself bleeding in several places even though I felt nothing and had to hunt for where I'd cut myself.

 

[WileECoyote]

I have another Civillian that I carry around the house and use for utility use

Isn't this kinda asking for trouble? It's like bringing a box of attack weasels to a church luncheon.

 

[WadeF]

WadeF, can I send you some knives to sharpen? I can get mine sharp, but never that scary sharp. Guess I need more parctice!

I'm getting to the point where I might be willing to sharpen a knife here and there for other people. I have just always been afraid to sharpen someone else's knife incase I screw it up. What knives do you have that you'd want to me to try and sharpen up for you?

 

[WadeF]

Carpenter bees should be protected whenever possible. They are valuable pollinators and pose no threat to humans. They tunnel very slowly and their damage is easily curbed. Males can't sting. Females can sting but won't unless handled roughly.

P.S. I'd use a Strider

So I take it you suggest I kill them anyway? Thanks for the information on them. I always thought there was one type of "Bumble Bee" that could sting, and one that couldn't. So it's just the sex? Are all "Bumble Bee's" carpenter bees?

It's a shame they are beneficial and like to tunnel into wood. There are always dozens of them buzzing around my neighbor's garage and they find their way over to our porch and start looking for places to bore into.

Is there something I could do to attract them away from my porch? Like build a carpenter bee hotel?

 

[fulloflead]

Are Bumble bees and carpenter bees the same thing?

I've been stung dozens of times by dozens of bees and things. Once when I was a kid, I knelt down on a big fat bumble bee and it stung me on top of my foot. THAT'S the ONE I didn't forget!

Is it just me or does it drive you nuts when people panic when they see a bee? There are VERY few animals on this planet that will go out of their way to hurt you. A bee is not one of them.

 

[Sam Pai Kenpo]

My Spyderco Endura touched my thumb ever so slightly, but drew blood. I was impressed.

 

[ChaserAlpha]

I'd picked up my new Benchmade 520 last weekend and while sitting in the passenger seat I became impatient, started flicking my knife (I know -- very stupid thing to be doing in a moving vehicle). All of a sudden -- ahhh , and blood started pouring out from my pinky finger. Damn, it sure hurt. While retracting the blade, I managed to have a brain fart and put the finger in the blade path.

 

[Minjin]

I was a bit unkind to bees when I was younger. Had one of those smaller plastic snow shovels at the farm and when the big ole bubble bees would come buzzing around the stalls, I would play some bubble bee baseball.

Mark

 

[Laceration]

I had a Buck that I got scary sharp and for some retarded reason I tried to slice one of my hairs lengthwise down the middle. It didn't work but I tapped my knife into my index finger and got a cut. It was split open but after a few seconds the cut disappeared! It just sealed back together. I thought that I may have just been temporarily insane but I have had the same thing happen with scary sharp knives on two more occasions. Very strange. Has anyone else had this instantly healing cut thing happen to them?

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Has anyone else had this instantly healing cut thing happen to them?

I wish!

One time, I drew the tip of a CUDA Maxx backwards across my finger. The back of the tip cut deep enough to bleed.

Most times I've cut myself were like that: I was cutting up food and my hands were wet. It saves on ketchup, I guess.

 

[Thirteenth Star]

Are Bumble bees and carpenter bees the same thing?

I've been stung dozens of times by dozens of bees and things. Once when I was a kid, I knelt down on a big fat bumble bee and it stung me on top of my foot. THAT'S the ONE I didn't forget!

Is it just me or does it drive you nuts when people panic when they see a bee? There are VERY few animals on this planet that will go out of their way to hurt you. A bee is not one of them.

I think they're refering to big black bees. We have those in CA and they're a pain in the ass. They will really do a lot of damage to trees.

 

[Planterz]

ery strange. Has anyone else had this instantly healing cut thing happen to them?

A couple times. Usually with stabs. Stabbed myself in the finger with my DKD Destiny auto, The blade was sharp from the factory, but a couple strokes with ultra-fine Spyderco Sharpmaker rods, and it was insanely sharp. Easily the sharpest of any of my knives. Very stabby too. I bumped the back of my index finger into the point, hurt like heck, drew some blood. 5 minutes later I couldn't find the cut.

Another time I was cleaning broken glass from a cut dish (these things shatter into billions of pieces) and a half inch sliver went 2/3 the way into my palm. I pulled it out and the glass was not supprisingly red. Looked at my hand to check the wound, and there wasn't one.

Just a couple days ago I took the tip of my thumb off with my MT SOCOM D/A. Just finished polishing it with 3000 grit tape. Took no effort whatsoever to push cut my skin.