How Much - For How Much

[KNIFEMAN]

It has recently been brought up, "How much does a quality tactical knife cost and what should I expect for what I spend?"

Anyone interested in the following topics can also look elsewhere on this forum, Knifeforums, and knives.alt messageboards:

What to expect when spending large amounts of money on a ($900) Tactical knife. What quality controls should be expected from a knifemaker.

What testing should be performed upon each individual knife before it is field tested. Just because you shelled out lots of cash, doesn't mean you should trust it with YOUR LIFE..

Practical costs for producing a highend high-quality tactical knife.



These subjects are not directly aimed at Kevin or Maddog products, but should be questioned of all knifemakers. The broken TUSK incident may have provided fuel for these questions, but they do not reflect negative ideas upon a single knifemaker.


-NUTS

 

[Cliff Stamp]

While the maker should obviously test their knives to make sure that they hold up to whatever standards they claim, no one can expect 100% QC. Breaks will happen eventually, bad products get out.

If you are depending on a knife or whatever make sure that *you* test it extensively. You never, never want to have to rely on an untested product. I don't think its reasonable to expect the maker to do this testing as how are they going to know exactly the tasks you intend to use it for, and for that matter would you even trust them anyway and not test it yourself?

Note that Mad Dog does testing on his knives including prying tests with the blade viced. The problem in this particular situation was the the blade cracked along a carbide fault line and this only happened when this line became the focal point for maximum stress (ie. it was imbedded in wood right at this place). It had previously passed similar work with the stress being maximized at other positions along the blade.

-Cliff