I have decided to Test a $350 Plus STRIDER

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noss4,

Based on the notion that more information is better than less, I say go for it and post your results.

Try to be objective.

Enjoy the freedom you have to post what you think here.
Just remember, that freedom (and respect) are a two-way street.


.
 
In the end who cares what specific tests he does and who is doing them, it's still energy applied to a knife and testing its limits.
It took 50 minutes or so to break the bushman and he could have done it in 1 minute, but he went progressively and piled up the abuse.
And he did it for our benefit. For the life of me I can't see why anyone is criticizing him for that.
For his paranoia about strider on the other hand, well, thats another issue all together.
 
Doing it for You ? :p

self-ag·gran·dize·ment (slf-grndz-mnt)
n.
The act or practice of enhancing or exaggerating one's own importance, power, or reputation.

Bet it makes him feel Good Too.:)

Jim
 
jdm61 said:
sometimes cheap knives are just cheap POS knives. Other times, like with this Cold Steel peice, there just isn't a lot of labor involved in amking it, but it is made of good raw materials. I'm not sure about the Striders. Looks to me like they can be blanked out with a cutter of some kind, ground, heat treated and sprayed. The para-cord handle isn't very labor intensive either. Gotta wonder ow much of the cost is just for the name? I know that happens in the full-boat custom world too.
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I noticed that for a S30V machined blade with chord handle, the largest one is 13 inches long and it goes for $450. Kinda high, but if that is what some like who am I to argue.

Anyway, what I noticed is the lack of radiused transitions on some models. From the blade to the guard is a perfect 90 degree cut with no radius. Not good if you want to stay away from high stress areas on a knife. But again, there is a customer base. I am not so sure why he uses S30V on a hard use blade. You would think he would have opeted for 3V or at least give that option at no extra cost. That's just not a hard use steel. Would have been better off going with a low carbon stainless IMO or with 1084 or O1.

I really don't think this blade is goiing to last to long after watching Noss's other videos. That steel just cannot take the abuse that those other blades took. If he's going to do it, then I agree that he should at least attempt to perform tests that are meaningfull to everyone. Cut an ammo can open, cut ammo crate bands off and pry open the ammo crates a bunch of times throw it at a log a lot. Soldiers get bored they tend to find creative stuff to do with their knives.. Dig with it, chop with it and baton it a lot. But use a wood baton not a hammer. No one in the field is going to go out and purposely hammer a knife with a metal part.

I have a knife that I have been chopping with and batoning and throwing into logs for going on 9 years. and it has yet to even consider breaking. Yet I have done this to other knives and they have broken in a day.

wb-mainpic.jpg
 
Cobalt said:
I noticed that for a S30V machined blade with chord handle, the largest one is 13 inches long and it goes for $450. Kinda high, but if that is what some like who am I to argue.

Anyway, what I noticed is the lack of radiused transitions on some models. From the blade to the guard is a perfect 90 degree cut with no radius. Not good if you want to stay away from high stress areas on a knife. But again, there is a customer base. I am not so sure why he uses S30V on a hard use blade. You would think he would have opeted for 3V or at least give that option at no extra cost. That's just not a hard use steel. Would have been better off going with a low carbon stainless IMO or with 1084 or O1.

I really don't think this blade is goiing to last to long after watching Noss's other videos. That steel just cannot take the abuse that those other blades took. If he's going to do it, then I agree that he should at least attempt to perform tests that are meaningfull to everyone. Cut an ammo can open, cut ammo crate bands off and pry open the ammo crates a bunch of times throw it at a log a lot. Soldiers get bored they tend to find creative stuff to do with their knives.. Dig with it, chop with it and baton it a lot. But use a wood baton not a hammer. No one in the field is going to go out and purposely hammer a knife with a metal part.

I have a knife that I have been chopping with and batoning and throwing into logs for going on 9 years. and it has yet to even consider breaking. Yet I have done this to other knives and they have broken in a day.

wb-mainpic.jpg
Click to expand...

sheesh.....$450 for a laser blanked knife with no real guard and a kite string handle. amazing:eek:
 
jdm61 said:
sheesh.....$450 for a laser blanked knife with no real guard and a kite string handle. amazing:eek:
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I noticed the cord wrap is a little off. You'd expect a straight cord wrap for $400:confused:
 
Cobalt said:
I noticed the cord wrap is a little off. You'd expect a straight cord wrap for $400:confused:
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Brother, in my opinion, the cord wrap should always be a little off......off the knifer and off to the side and replaced with some micarta or maybe G10 on a knife like that...lol
:D Perhaps i can put this into perspective. One of the commanders at Centcom asked master smith Charlie Ochs if he could make a cheaper version of his Special Ops bowie, whihc is a typical size fighter...7.5 inch balde or so..... that the average snuffy could afford. So, Mr. Ochs had some blanks made out of O1 (instead of his normal 52100 round bar) with the "integral" guard like the Striders. He forged the blade bevels, heat treated it, put on micarta handle scales, blued it and made a sheath. Total cost of the one I bought at Blade came to around.........wait for it........$300. I figure if you subtract the labor and materiel cost of fitting up the micarta handle and replacing it with twine, the cost should have been around $275. I'm not sure how much more the S30V costs and how much more it would be to haveit heat treated, but lets bring it back up to $300. So where did the other $150 (minimum......someone who is NOT a master smith might have to charge less) in cost come from with the Strider?
 
jdm61 said:
Brother, in my opinion, the cord wrap should always be a little off......off the knifer and off to the side and replaced with some micarta or maybe G10 on a knife like that...lol
:D Perhaps i can put this into perspective. One of the commanders at Centcom asked master smith Charlie Ochs if he could make a cheaper version of his Special Ops bowie, whihc is a typical size fighter...7.5 inch balde or so..... that the average snuffy could afford. So, Mr. Ochs had some blanks made out of O1 (instead of his normal 52100 round bar) with the "integral" guard like the Striders. He forged the blade bevels, heat treated it, put on micarta handle scales, blued it and made a sheath. Total cost of the one I bought at Blade came to around.........wait for it........$300. I figure if you subtract the labor and materiel cost of fitting up the micarta handle and replacing it with twine, the cost should have been around $275. I'm not sure how much more the S30V costs and how much more it would be to haveit heat treated, but lets bring it back up to $300. So where did the other $150 (minimum......someone who is NOT a master smith might have to charge less) in cost come from with the Strider?
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Oh, c'mon, isn't paracord worth it:D
Good story.:thumbup: You could not get me to trade an ochs O-1 blade for what's in that picture:D
 
Cobalt said:
Oh, c'mon, isn't paracord worth it:D
Good story.:thumbup: You could not get me to trade an ochs O-1 blade for what's in that picture:D
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Heck, I would. Then I'd sell it, buy another Ochs and have some extra cash left over :D
 
Cobalt said:
Cut an ammo can open, cut ammo crate bands off and pry open the ammo crates a bunch of times throw it at a log a lot. Soldiers get bored they tend to find creative stuff to do with their knives.. Dig with it, chop with it and baton it a lot. But use a wood baton not a hammer. No one in the field is going to go out and purposely hammer a knife with a metal part.
Click to expand...

He has done these types of things with the other knives, one thing to be wary of though is that is opening up another type of problem as these activities can be very variable. While the vice type tests are somewhat artificial, then are easier to control. Ideally you do both, I would take the suggested proposed knife from Strider and do the field work with one and the vice work with the other.

-Cliff
 
hardheart said:
Heck, I would. Then I'd sell it, buy another Ochs and have some extra cash left over :D
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yeah.....for $450, yo are getting inot the range where you can buy a pretty nice decent sized blade form a number of very good journeyman smiths and voting Guild members.
 
:thumbup: Noss,I can`t wait for you to test a Busse,also wouldn`t be bad to perform a chemical analysis of INFI,these knives are now worth much more than their weight in silver,so hurry up before they`ll be worth their weight in polonium 210.PS>Using S30V for hard use knives doesn`t merit discussion since a hard-use knife made from any stainless steel is worthless and has only entertainment value as a "knife-like" object.
 
Ach, some people will belly ache weather they have eaten or not.
My guess is it's knife collectors who only cut paper with their knives while wearing latex gloves who are appalled at the testing.
About half of us here are into it, why be so critical? Go start a thread about
best ways to preserve your blades in argon filled bulletproof observation chambers and turn your negative energy into something positive.
At the very least if you can't be civil then keep it to yourself.
 
I'm so sick of hearing people complain that I'm all for you doing it. Regardless of what anyone says, you are following the path of science IMO. It's a blade claimed to be nigh indestructible, I say test that. If it's abuse fine. I as a former Marine can tell you I used to do things with knives I wouldn't dream of now and Strider caters to the military; that said go for it but I would try to simulate extreme field conditions.
 
Strider blades are cheap, laser cut blanks that are single-pass, CNC milled, then painted with ridiculous looking "urban" camouflage, cord-wrapped, and sold to unsuspecting dupes for ridiculously high prices.

If Strider replaces your blade 20 times, he's still made money off you. The sheath they supply (they buy them aftermarket) costs them more than the blade does.

SMARTEN UP PEOPLE.
 
I predict that the Strider will snap as soon as it meets the vice. Almost pointless.

S30V just isn't tough. I still can't wait to see it, but more for entertainment than to learn anything. I can't wait to see all the excuses and pissing and moaning from the Striderists.

I'd really like to see these tests done on a Busse FBM or a Ranger RD9 or something. Ultimately, the Strider will be a waste of time and money.

More power to the guy, though. The Bushman video was great, and Ill be picking up one as a beater as a direct result of the test.
 
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