I broke my Socom Elite! What to do?

J

J. MacDonald

Joined
Jun 8, 2000
Messages
3,140
I have a plain edge M/A Microtech Socom Elite that I carry regurlarly and is generally my knife of choice if I'm going to beat on it a little. It's a little scuffed but has always served me well. Last night I was fixing dinner for my Mom who's in town visiting from the other side of the country and my wife. Because I don't see Mom but once a year and with mother's day coming up I thought I'd make the ladies a lobster and clam dinner, even though I won't eat either (had a big New York steak:)). I went to open a clam with my Socom Elite as Mom likes to eat them on the half shell and snapped off about 1/8" of the tip of the blade! I didn't realize that clams were so tough!

Now the question is what to do with the knife. It's not like it's no longer useful, especially as a beater, just not quite as pointy or cool looking as it once was. Should I just try to fix it myself and suffer with a modified look, or would it be better to send it to Microtech and see if they can do anything for it?

In retrospect I should have used my Cold Steel Voyager Tanto for theclam job, not something so pointy. I'm bummed. But at least I can take solace in the all black S90V Tactical Socom Elite still im my safe as a back up ;)

John
 
I read recently that MT is getting their service department back up to speed, but I wouldn't chance sending them work yet. Do you know any knifemakers in the area who could regrind the tip?
 
Huh? First off, Dexter/Russell makes a very fine professional grade oyster/clam knife for around $15 just for this duty. You have to keep re-dulling them as constant use makes them WAY too sharp. (Most shuckers use a thick piece of rubber with a thumb hole or steel mesh glove on the opposite hand to avoid punctures)

Be that as it may, I'd send it back to MT to be re-profiled, and keep using it. Just not for clams anymore. You need to cut the muscles holding the shell shut first BTW.

Rob
 
Wetdog, you're right. It wasn't the right tool for the job. My grandfather had a small marina on Cape Cod and he and my father used to run clam beds, scallop beds and lobster pots. I've seen a thousand of those shuckin' knives. During harvest, they used to hire a half dozen portugese women to come in and do the shuckin'. As mentioned above, I won't even eat the stuff myself, but had sort of spontaneously decided to prepare the meal. On the rare occasion that I make clams for my wife, she likes them steamed, so this isn't a problem. I did at least realize that I couldn't use a knife like the Socom like a traditional shuckin' knife as I'd probably lose a finger trying, so at least it was pointed away from me with the clams in a sink on arubber mat.

John
 
Yeah, know what you mean. When I used to live on the West Coast of Fla we could buy 'Appies' for ~$10/bushel. Got so tired of shucking them we would fire up the grill and steam them open. The guy who got the knife for me used to shuck 100 dozen BEFORE the restruant opened. That would last less than an hour and he would be shucking full speed just to keep up.

However if you want to get rid of that POS MT with the broken tip, let me know. I'll take it off your hands AND pay postage so you don't have to look at it. :))) I know, I know, I'm just a giver.

Seriously, I'd just get it re-profiled and beat on it somemore.

Rob
 
wetdog1911 said:
Seriously, I'd just get it re-profiled and beat on it somemore. Rob
Click to expand...

I agree. Would not bother sending it back to MT. There are a lot of makers here on the forum that could fix it for you a lot quicker.
 
Jm,
If it is the tip I can fix it and resharpen it easily if you can't find someone local. Contact me if you are interested.

Tom
 
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