Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
I finally got around to doing this mainly because I was showing the blades to a few friends and the question arose as to how strong they were. I didn't actually know. I knew they were supposed to be fairly flexible but strength was one of two areas that I figured that the Busse Combat blades might not rate too highly in.
When I first starting hearing about them I figured that the steel must be highly wear resistant with good ductility. You can't really argue with that, well you could but you would be insane as demonstrations have been done live. So basically I took those properties as a given.
However there are usually consequences to that. Make a steel very ductile and it tends to be very weak. Make a steel very abrasion resistant and it tends to be very brittle. So at first it seemed to be that the INFI blades could very well be brittle and or weak. This was not very likely however as it didn't seem to be a commonly reported problem - but then again that isn't 100% proof of anything.
After using the Battle Mistress and Basic for a short length of time it was readily obvious that neither of those problems were present. While the steel may in fact be able to bend a great deal it is very resistant to being bent in the first place.
I had my brother who was about 180 lbs do pull ups off of the Basic with just the edge supporting it and the handle didn't even flex excessively. I also dug with it and the edge didn't readily chip out. It dented up and rolled - but cam back strong after some steeling.
Back to the question at hand. I didn't really know how strong the blades were. I had done some light work with them and didn't see any major bending, but never strained them seriously. They are supposed to take a good deal of flex so I figured that this would be a safety net as I knew both could go beyond 45 degrees.
So off we go to have a look at the strength of the blades. I passed both blades around and they get lodged in some stumps and pulled on hard. No problems and a lot of wood is being ripped apart. After things settle down I take the basic and stick it halfway in a piece of spruce about 6-7 " across. I mark out 45 degrees and have a few friends watch the mark. I intended to stop if I passed this and look up the angles before going beyond it.
I start pulling and get about 45 with the handle arcing beyond it. This is about as far as I can go so I bounce on it a few times and give up. I repeat this going the other way and it holds fine. I then try a few times to move the blade out so I can get more leverage. However this just tears the wood apart and the stump splits. Nice sound effect.
I move on to the Battle Mistress, and even though it is much longer, I have no luck getting it to reach 45 degrees when it is lodged at the halfway point. It is simply too strong. Againt I try with the point but it just readily breaks the wood apart.
I have also heavily stressed just the edge but since the blades are not differentially tempered it is not overly weak either. Chop the edge stright into a piece of 4x4 and torque down hard and it splits the wood easily. The points will also take very hard stabs and torques into wood as again they are not soft.
So in conclusion Jerry the knives are pretty strong, of course since you made them you probably already knew that.
-Cliff
When I first starting hearing about them I figured that the steel must be highly wear resistant with good ductility. You can't really argue with that, well you could but you would be insane as demonstrations have been done live. So basically I took those properties as a given.
However there are usually consequences to that. Make a steel very ductile and it tends to be very weak. Make a steel very abrasion resistant and it tends to be very brittle. So at first it seemed to be that the INFI blades could very well be brittle and or weak. This was not very likely however as it didn't seem to be a commonly reported problem - but then again that isn't 100% proof of anything.
After using the Battle Mistress and Basic for a short length of time it was readily obvious that neither of those problems were present. While the steel may in fact be able to bend a great deal it is very resistant to being bent in the first place.
I had my brother who was about 180 lbs do pull ups off of the Basic with just the edge supporting it and the handle didn't even flex excessively. I also dug with it and the edge didn't readily chip out. It dented up and rolled - but cam back strong after some steeling.
Back to the question at hand. I didn't really know how strong the blades were. I had done some light work with them and didn't see any major bending, but never strained them seriously. They are supposed to take a good deal of flex so I figured that this would be a safety net as I knew both could go beyond 45 degrees.
So off we go to have a look at the strength of the blades. I passed both blades around and they get lodged in some stumps and pulled on hard. No problems and a lot of wood is being ripped apart. After things settle down I take the basic and stick it halfway in a piece of spruce about 6-7 " across. I mark out 45 degrees and have a few friends watch the mark. I intended to stop if I passed this and look up the angles before going beyond it.
I start pulling and get about 45 with the handle arcing beyond it. This is about as far as I can go so I bounce on it a few times and give up. I repeat this going the other way and it holds fine. I then try a few times to move the blade out so I can get more leverage. However this just tears the wood apart and the stump splits. Nice sound effect.
I move on to the Battle Mistress, and even though it is much longer, I have no luck getting it to reach 45 degrees when it is lodged at the halfway point. It is simply too strong. Againt I try with the point but it just readily breaks the wood apart.
I have also heavily stressed just the edge but since the blades are not differentially tempered it is not overly weak either. Chop the edge stright into a piece of 4x4 and torque down hard and it splits the wood easily. The points will also take very hard stabs and torques into wood as again they are not soft.
So in conclusion Jerry the knives are pretty strong, of course since you made them you probably already knew that.
-Cliff
