I'm SICK of the PRYING LECTURES!

I don't understand buying a $100.00,$200.00 or even a $300.00 knife and not trusting it enough to use it for what ever comes your way.If I am in the woods and need to split a log I'll use my knife it that's what I have,if I need to pry a rock out I'll use my knife if that's all I have.I buy mine to use and if it breaks then I know not to buy that same one again.I'll keep on until I find one that can stand up to my demands.So when you get tired of trial and error call Josh at www.grahamknives.com That's what I did to end my search for a knife that was built to deal with the job at hand.No more trial and error for me. :cool: :rolleyes: :)
 
Wunderbar said:
Ditto! I brought up the spine-whack test at the Benchmade forum and this one jerk made a big deal about it.
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Dude, was it me? I'm sorry if it was. I know your 520 shouldn't have failed the spinewhack test.

Fulloflead,

I don't do much prying with my knives, but I do whittle on occasion. That puts a huckabucka lateral stress on the blade if you use my technique-less approach. It's chipped out edges of super steel (sure, the edge was weakened by abuse, but the effects didn't show up until a whittle while longer).

There are better carving tools than the knife I chose, but I'm not going to buy and learn how to properly use the right tool for every last chore or hobby I'm into because that'd be ludicrous after a while. Unless a knife is highly specialized, it should be able to perform highly general tasks. This should include light-to-medium prying if the blade and tip aren't too thin.

Off topic: The other day I was at Wally-World with my wife and we saw some Sesame Street videos. Didn't realize how I gone I am until I saw a video with The Count on the cover, pointed, and excitedly told my wife: "That's Fulloflead!"
 
I think what should be addressed is this...

some guys have the attitude... "well, I ain't gonna pry with a knife unless all else has failed and life depends on it"

while others think...

"Wow... the window is stuck. Although the toolbox is just on the other side of the room, and there's probably a screwdriver or something in the drawer, I'm just gonna use my knife to pry this open"

or even worse... "Hell, I'll go into a life threatening situation with just my knife cause I can use it to dig, chop and pry... and, I'm just gonna ignore the chances that after I do those things, I probably can't' cut with it well ever again"
 
I think that knowledge is better than assumptions. If you know the characteristics of your blade you can make an informed decission about what you are going to do with it. If I am out in the forest with a thin hunting knife made from a hard stainless steel I am not going to baton it through some dry wood out of a stubborn opinion that it ought to work. I would probably whittle a notch and break the wood or look for some other way to do the job.

In the kitchen I have dozens of knives close to hand. If I have to break apart some frozen meat I don't grab my favorite 1.5mm thick stainless knife. I don't even grab one of my heavier stainless chefs knives. I go for an old carbon steel chefs knife or a carbon steel cleaver as my first choice. I know that these are unlikely to chip or lose a point in the process. I don't always grab the cleaver like it might say in the manual, but I do go for the tougher knife if I'm going to stab into a frozen brisket.

If something goes bump in the night at home I'm likely to grab that carbon steel chefs knife in my right hand. I'll probably have an old 10" stainless Forschner in my left. So a man has to have priorities, but be willing to use what is handy given some understanding.
 
thombrogan said:
Off topic: The other day I was at Wally-World with my wife and we saw some Sesame Street videos. Didn't realize how I gone I am until I saw a video with The Count on the cover, pointed, and excitedly told my wife: "That's Jim!"
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LOL! :D The skinny on that is that I was deathly afraid of The Count as a child and then I grew up to be a major connoisseur of horror novels and movies. I like The Count for the irony. ;) I have a tatoo drawn up that I'm going to have done someday. Someday you'll see a dude walking around a knife show with a Count tatoo and that'll be me.

(P.S. I still can't figure out how so many people know my (BLEEP) ing NAME! I never use it on the forums. I guess I've just buy/sell/traded with a lot of people. That's OK.)
 
This has been a good thread with some excellent thoughts posted mixed with some occasional language that should not be here.

There is a reason there the censor option is turned on. Going around it in the general foroms is not cool at all. Let's reserve that language usage to Pirates cove and W&C.
 
fulloflead said:
LOL! :D The skinny on that is that I was deathly afraid of The Count as a child
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I was afraid of the Mana Mana song!

fulloflead said:
P.S. I still can't figure out how so many people know my <bleeping> NAME! I never use it on the forums.
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Is now gone.
 
My eldest sister was deathly afraid of the Count. Only problem is, I don't think she ever got over it. :cool:
 
Bastid said:
This has been a good thread with some excellent thoughts posted mixed with some occasional language that should not be here.

There is a reason there the censor option is turned on. Going around it in the general foroms is not cool at all. Let's reserve that language usage to Pirates cove and W&C.
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:confused: Are you referring to phonetic spellings of cuss words? :eek:
-------------------------------------------------------------------- added by Gus (Bastid) Exactly. It needs to stop in the general forums.
 
fulloflead said:
It wasn't you. I actually liked your answer a lot. It was the "other" one that irritated me, and having seen that kind of reply happen again and again to people on these forums I had to vent.
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Being the "other" one... :o , I should probably answer...:footinmou
It was not intended as a lecture, it was [in total]
I've heard from several sources that a knife is the most expensive and least effective prybar you will ever buy...
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.
I did NOT comment about doing it, having done it myself, nor did I take you to task over it.
To answer you question more accurately "No I have not heard of someone breaking a Tigershark by prying". That being said MOST (not all) company's warranty policies will not cover prying damage. :eek:
Anyway... I am sorry if that statement offended you.
Regards,
Rob
 
Bobby B said:
Anyway... I am sorry if that statement offended you.
Regards,
Rob
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Awww, shucks! :o It's OK! :D

It wasn't ALL you! You were just the straw that broke...
I've seen it a million times where someone will ask about what kind of abuse a knife will sake and some (Ahem!) rectal opening like you (Kidding! :D ) will scold them, seemingly, for even asking. And since I asked here and got it, then I there there and then YOU gave it to me... I just kinda went "Ahhhhh!" had to vent, man. I'm cool with you if you're cool with me. :D

Hey, it opened up a dialogue and became a decent thread.
 
fulloflead said:
Awww, shucks! :o It's OK! :D
Hey, it opened up a dialogue and became a decent thread.
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And now they all know the name of the Count [ha ha!!!] :D :eek:
 
Bobby B said:
And now they all know the name of the Count [ha ha!!!] :D :eek:
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Yeah, lots of people did anyway:rolleyes:because I've only traded with about 50 people on here. [ONE, one trading partner, ha ha ha...:D ]

Dude, The Count was just on the news minutes ago. He was giving an award or something to the guy who does "The Countdown" on the MSNBC cable news channel. Creepy. (And I couldn't find my mama! :( )
 
Ya know what's great for prying is a bayonet. If you find a WWII-vintage bayonet and trim off the mounting ring you have a blade built to have a ten pound rifle ramming it into things. I used to use a modified Italian folding Carcano bayonet as my camp knife. I trimmed and removed some of the hardware. The blade was about 7" long when folded out and about 3" long when folded in. I reground the bevel to be a scandinavian flat grind and reblued it. When shortened it made a great hunting knife, when extended it was good for long blade tasks. I would guess the steel on most bayonets is down around 50 RC (sometimes even lower).
 
Jeff Clark said:
Ya know what's great for prying is a bayonet. If you find a WWII-vintage bayonet and trim off the mounting ring you have a blade built to have a ten pound rifle ramming it into things. I used to use a modified Italian folding Carcano bayonet as my camp knife. I trimmed and removed some of the hardware. The blade was about 7" long when folded out and about 3" long when folded in. I reground the bevel to be a scandinavian flat grind and reblued it. When shortened it made a great hunting knife, when extended it was good for long blade tasks. I would guess the steel on most bayonets is down around 50 RC (sometimes even lower).
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That's an idea. You know, I HAVE a bayonet, but it was my grandfather's FROM WWII and it's up on my wall with some of his medals and stuff; so, obviously, I wouldn't be using that, but I keep meaning to get another one. I see them at gun shows all the time with the prices marked way up. Then there's places like Cheaper Than Dirt, but I don't like them because they sell patent infringement knives. I really need to find an Army Surplus store in Denver! There's no end to the goodies you can find in one of those places!
 
Funny you should mention looking for a place to buy a bayonet, I stumbled into an interesting place in the Springs about 3 weeks ago. I was looking for a classic 60's vintage Legitimus Collins machete. I went down to Old Colorado City and poked into a surplus store there--didn't find what I was looking for. I tried to look in a neighboring antique mall that has some militaria, but it closed at 5:00. Across the street was a sort of funky old motel with a modest sign that said they sold guns, swords, and edge weapons. There was nothing facing the street, not even a store window. I was not optomistic, I expected a display case of junk in an old motel office. I expected I might have to ring a bell to get some old woman out of her living quarters. I went inside Leasures Treasures.

Wow, the place was small, but it was packed all the way to 12 foot ceilings with guns, knives, swords, and militaria. I found a bucket by the door with half a dozen old Collins machetes. I found what I was looking for in about 30 seconds. Walls and counters are covered with portable display boxes so that almost the entire store inventory can get transported to gun shows. I had to walk around either an MG-34 or MG-42 (I don't know enough to distinguish those old German machine guns). There was a bayonet section with maybe a dozen varieties that I couldn't identify (the prices on these were rather high for my taste). They didn't have an old folding Carcano bayonet, but they had a Carcano with the integral folding spike bayonet. They had a collection of tactical firearms that would make you weep. The pistols took be back to my childhood. So if you're ever down in the Springs be sure to stop by 2801 W. Colorado Ave.

Now my problem is that my machete looks like it might have some collector value and I just wanted it as a user. BTW Collins used something like 1084 alloy steel and made them harder than Tramontina does these days. I was trying to recapture the distinctive ring that you get when you draw or tap on a good Collins blade.
 
I have family down there so I go down there every few months. I'll have to check that place out. I lived in CS for 13 years. They do have good military surplus stores there. (With 4 military bases in one town; it's not surprising!)
 
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