How far can you bend 1095cv?

[pastormarty]

I'm not planning to do it, but I read somewhere that 1095 can bend 90deg and come back to true? Is that true? Is it true of the heat treat used on the Beckers and other Ka-bars?

 

[Free2game]

Wouldn't the heat treat make it too hard to bend that far before breaking?

 

[Moosez45]

It all depends on the heat treat. Untreated 1095 can bend 180 degrees, but BKT's can usually 45-50 degrees and come back true.

We bent a BK14 over 50 degrees before it broke.

Moose

 

[stevomiller]

Geometry and blade thickness also play a huge part in how far you can bend before failure or permanent deformation.

 

[flipaldinho]

So are we saying that the Bk14 would be a mean competitor in limbo?

 

[bdmicarta]

It all depends on the heat treat.

It also depends on the thickness, the length, how the shape varies along the length and how it is anchored. I've seen people do that bending trick where they clamp the tip and put a pipe over the handle and pull on it. The knife blade flexes some, the pipe is a bit loose on the handle so it moves a little bit before they ever start, and depending on the handle material the handle can compress within the pipe. I saw one test where the pipe that they were pulling on almost moved through 90 degrees, but the part of the knife sticking out of the handle did not move nearly that much.

As an engineer I could write for you the equation for bending deflection of a cantilever but there are a lot of complications when applying it to a knife due to the varying shape along the length. Due to these variables it should be obvious that something like a BK9 could bend a lot more than a BK2.

 

[Hunter Sharp]

I fold my Bk9 in half six times to fit in my back pocket and when I pull it out it springs back true!

 

[Bladite]

they're certainly flex around knots and such, and come back true

actually trying to bend it is abuse though

 

[daizee]

I fold my Bk9 in half six times to fit in my back pocket and when I pull it out it springs back true!

must suck if you have a sheath failure in your pocket.

The lower the Rockwell number, the springier it will be (to a point).
Ka-bar heat-treats towards the tough end of the knife hardness scale, but not toooo far. A good choice for so-called 'hard use' knives, IMO.

-Daizee

 

[Hunter Sharp]

must suck if you have a sheath failure in your pocket.

The lower the Rockwell number, the springier it will be (to a point).
Ka-bar heat-treats towards the tough end of the knife hardness scale, but not toooo far. A good choice for so-called 'hard use' knives, IMO.

-Daizee

A failure has happened before! My wife said "is that a bk9 in your pants or are you just happy to see me" lol