I intentionally broke it as a test

J

jungleblade

Joined
Aug 17, 2000
Messages
24
This is my first post. For years I have been reading posts and have slowly been building my collection and knowledge. I always enjoyed reading the posts in which knives were testing to the limit.

I used to say that I never win contests until three months ago when I won a $15 Imperial folder with a 3” blade marked “Stainless Ireland”. This knife was cheap. The blade was thin, but very sharp. The black plastic handle looked like it was made of recycled milk cartons.

In the name of science and for the sake of mankind I was willing to sacrifice it. In the garage I eyed the recycling bin. I literally cut six empty steel cans that originally held canned vegetables completely in half around the circumference. The blade lost its edge but seemed fine. After sharpening I whittled a stick and realized that was boring. Using a hammer to hit the back of the blade I chopped a 1”x1” piece of wood into ten small blocks, still no problems. I sharpened it with a sharpmaker.

Looking for a challenge I spotted a metal garbage can. I stabbed the knife into the can three different times and twisted the knife 360 degrees to enlarge the holes. There was some play developing where the blade meets the handle and the blade had some slight waves in it. I sharpened it again. Even though I did not need to paint I opened three one quart steel paint cans by placing the edge of the blade against the lid and prying. The blade developed another wave and would not longer close smoothly but it was asking for more. So far I was impressed…especially since this was a cheap knife I would never buy.

Realizing that I could use my Dewalt saw to dismantle a cabinet I placed the cheap knife blade in the crack where the door meets the hinges and pried. Well, the blade snapped. Not bad for a cheap knife. I finished prying off the doors with a recon tanto.

It was fun and I learned that knives in general are pretty tough. I also realized that by trying things like this you gain more experience than just reading. I have not decided which knife I will sacrifice next.
 
There's nothing more valuable than actual hands-on testing! I'm glad you learned something from it :D

Apart from learning, some of that stuff just sounds fun :cool:
 
you should try a BM next, that would be ten times as fun. Welcome to the posting aspect of the forums :D

I'd like to see a side by side compairison between the G10 Police and the AFCK. Not limited to, but including the tests you described.
 
Not trying to be a wiseacre...but...what, exactly, is it that you learned?
:confused:
 
Good question. I am a relatively new to the world of knives. I have built a little collection but have never really pushed any to the breaking point until this one. One friend has amassed large collection with some very expensive folders.

After reading your post I asked the guy with the large collection if his knives were capable of opening paint can lids, prying, and punching holes in metal garbage cans and enlarging the holes. He said he did not know even though he claims that he carries them because he has a survival instinct. Come to find other than looking at his knives he has not done anything with them, just carried them. He agreed that he should know if his knives can make a hole in thin metal or pry away fence boards or something similar.

Well I now know first hand what a cheap knife can do so I have a pretty good idea what my Benchmades and recon 1 knives can do. I can only imagine (for now) what a buck strider can do.

My next task is to test and destroy a cheap fixed blade. Your probably right, it was more fun than anything else! :D
 
jungleblade :

It was fun and I learned that knives in general are pretty tough.
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Indeed, you will find that many of the "high performance" claims are actually not that high, like the car door stabbing as Cougar is found of pointing out. A knife blade, even a really cheap one will be 45+ RC, this is easily enough to cut tin and other soft metals.

One thing you might want to try to do with another lock blade is to see how difficult it is to get the lock to release, by a combination of twisting / pressing, not just break it, though that usually isn't difficult either.

The Cold Steel Bushman is a very cheap fixed blade which is pretty tough, it would set a decent benchmaker for durability.

-Cliff
 
Well that's a fair enough answer. Thank you for not taking exception to my question (I was second guessing myself after I pressed 'send').
If you want a good fixed blade for very little cash, that Swedish Army Knife (Frosts of Sweden) looks like a winner. I bought 5 for stocking stuffers and so far I'm impressed what $9 will buy ;)
It is a stick tang so I doubt that it'll be much of a pry-er...but boy oh boy does it cut!
 
suddenly the trick of stabbing a knife through a car door does not seem like such a big deal. I will be "testing" another knife soon.
 
Oh no!!. My world is crumbling b4 me!!. You mean Cold Steel's claims are nothing but BS and dumb propaganda? :)
 
I had one of those cheap Imperial Ireland lock backs once, cost less than $10.00. I thought it was stainless, but the package only said something about "high carbon cutlery steel" 'looked like stainless. The blade was very well ground, nice and thin, it took a razor edge, kept it reasonably well, and was very easily touched with a butchers steel. The rest of the knife was cheesy and rough, but admirably most of the cost of manufacture seems to have been expended in the blade. Which is as it should be. This is a good example of a cheap knife that is amazingly good for its cost rather than amazingly bad.
 
It is enlightening to find out how much more price is tied into scarcity and demand than it is to quality.

Jungleblade,

You may want to try a 152OT Schrade Sharpfinger. If I've been good, Santa may put one in my holiday stocking. It looks like a lot of knife for $17-30.

My wife bought me a cute set of stainless steel pocket knives that had two swiss-army style knives, to pen knives, and one imitation Spyderco (eye hole and pointy serrated blade) for about $20 total. They've seen more use than all of my 'collectibles' (the BM 921 is catching up, though) and have only suffered cosmetic damage. There's also something about an inexpensive cutting tool that lets you dare to unclog the shower drain with it.
 
You mean Cold Steel's claims are nothing but BS and dumb propaganda?
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Not at all!
Their claims are true, just irrelevant ;)

Kinda like answering a question that wasn't asked :D

I'll second the motion for the Sharpfinger. That was my 'go to' blade for years, before I discovered the forums.
 
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