Cougar :
If a knife is dropped point-first on concrete from a reasonable height, say one meter, we all expect the point to be damaged. Nobody is going to ask for a replacement because a knife needed sharpening after he dropped it on concrete. If the knife breaks in half from a one meter fall, then we would expect the warranty to apply.
Yes, pretty much my feelings exactly. That is actually a very mild stress by the way for those who have never done it. I just dropped my Calypso Jr. from 1m 4 times. The result was that the point was flattened so that it was less than 1 mm across. Repeating this from 2m again 4 times induced a 15 degree bend extending less than 1 mm back from the tip. This I would call reasonable behavior given the geometry, steel and temper of the blade. The lockup by the way was not effected by the impacts.
Lynn :
By that I mean, I was not aware that he was buying the knife to review. He did not state to me, that the knife would be dropped on concrete, bent in a vise, or any other type of distructive testing.
No I didn't, as I didn't intend to do any of those things to it. I am very upfront with the maker/dealer when I buy a knife. When I finally decided to get the PAB from Strider a few months ago I emailed them describing what I wanted and including a few links as references so they could have more specific details if desired.
In general I don't do limit testing on knives that I buy, only on those I am given to review. There are exceptions of course, as an example look at a recent thread in the custom forum :
http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000692.html
Anyway back to why I wanted the blade, my reasons were outlined in the first email I sent you which basically read :
Lynn, would it be possible for you do add a belt or even better a loose slip sheath with a clip for pocket carry to accompany the neck sheath that comes with the MNK-1? Lately I have been wanting to carry a fixed blade to work as its the only place left I carry a folder. The problem is that even a small 3-4" blade looks huge to the unfamiliar. The MNK-1 would be perfect for this as the reaction it would get would be curiosity mainly and I don't think anyone would feel threatened. After A few months of carrying it I should be able to move up to a full sized blade and then use the MNK-1 as it was intended. I do want the knife for use as a neck knife as well, and that is how I will use it if not at work. I really like the idea of having a fixed blade on me at all times, which the MNK-1 makes possible because of the size and weight.
Anyway, since this request is to use the knife in a manner that it was probably not intended for, I can understand reluctance on your part. No worries if it is not something you are interested in.
I had several other reasons as well, primarily I wanted to explore several aspects of the blade geometry (I was interested in a larger version of the same knife) and as well I have been looking for a knife for my mother lately and I wanted to use this as a starting point for the design. She has arthritis and has problems with folders and the MNK-1 looked very promising for many reasons. I was just concerned about the sheath and the grip.
Concerning the review, as Cougar noted, in general you don't want to do the same things on all blades, you need to adjust for the intended scope of work. As I said above I didn't really intend to stress the MNK-1 (except the edge, I eventually wanted to see how easy your ATS-34 chipped), the review was going to reference ease of carry, cutting performance, grip ergonomics as well as common reactions to the blade. I think you might have been mislead if you went to the review when I dropped you an email a few days ago and saw what was there for awhile which was the basic general outline I currently use which contains sections on durability and strength.
Anyway, if you want me to cover a stress level beyond what I intended to do I am always open to such. To be specific, if you want me to push on the MNK-1 until it gives with the agreement you noted, sure I am willing to do that. However I still want it for the reasons indicated above so I'll do that work after I carry it for a few months.
-Cliff
[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 24 December 1999).]
